With just 15 days left until the April 15 drawing, sales for the Louisiana Lottery's $1,000,000 RAFFLE have hit the 70 percent mark.  As of 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, just over 82,000 tickets remained of the 300,000 originally available for sale on Feb. 8.

"This is an exciting milestone as we enter the home stretch for $1,000,000 RAFFLE," explained Lottery President Rose Hudson.  "The $10 game offers the Lottery's best odds for winning $1 million."

On April 15, one $1 million-winning raffle number will be drawn from those sold, along with five numbers worth $50,000 and another 500 numbers worth $500.  In all, 506 players will win $1.5 million in cash prizes.

Players should sign the back of their tickets immediately after purchase, for security purposes, and keep them in a safe place until the drawing.  Original tickets are needed to claim any prize by the Oct. 12, 2010 deadline.

Odds of winning the $1 million prize are 1 in 300,000.  Odds of winning any prize are 1 in 593.  Like all Lottery games, 50 percent of $1,000,000 RAFFLE ticket sales is used to fund the game's prizes and 35 percent is transferred to the state for public education.  Finally, at least 5 percent is paid as commission to retailers that sell tickets and less than 10 percent is retained by the Lottery to fund operations.

$1,000,000 RAFFLE drawing results, including a listing of all 506 winning raffle numbers for all three prize tiers, will be available on the Lottery's Web site immediately following the April 15 drawing. 

As with all of its games, $1,000,000 RAFFLE tickets may be purchased legally only from an authorized Louisiana Lottery retailer and only by those age 21 and older.  The Lottery cautions players to play responsibly and know that help is available to those who may have a gambling problem by calling toll-free, 1-877-770-7867.