Natchez Resident Wins $100,000 Top Prize

When Christopher Stephens of Natchez, Miss., bought a $5 Slots of Money scratch-off ticket from the Louisiana Lottery, he wasn't feeling very confident that it was winner. He was wrong.

"At first I thought, 'Oh well, I won't win,'" recalled Stephens. "Then it slapped me in the face -- I won $100,000!"

Stephens' good friend, Lindsay Clark, accompanied Stephens to Lottery headquarters in Baton Rouge to claim the prize and was also overwhelmed by his prize.  "He called me right after he found out, and he wasn't making any sense because he was so excited," she quipped.

Stephens said he plans to use his winnings to buy a piece of property and a house. He purchased his winning scratch-off from Raceway on Carter Street in Vidalia.

"The Lottery congratulates Mr. Stephens among the thousands of scratch-offs winners who were paid more than $6.4 million on average every month this fiscal year," said Lottery President Rose Hudson. "We enjoy sharing in our players' exciting stories of the moment they scratched their ticket's latex and realized they were winners. It gives us a reason to smile, too!"

According to Louisiana Lottery policy, a scratch-off game is closed and removed from sale when all top prizes for the game have been claimed. All top prizes from Slots of Money have been claimed, and the game closed April 2. The last day to redeem prizes from the game is July 30, 2009.

Persons must be at least 21 years of age to purchase a Lottery ticket.  Anyone who has a gambling problem or friends and family of anyone with a gambling problem are encouraged to call toll-free 1-877-770-7867. For security purposes, the Lottery strongly encourages players to sign the back of their ticket immediately after purchasing.  Information about the Louisiana Lottery Corporation, including other $5 scratch-off games, can be found on its Web site, www.louisianalottery.com.