When Cynthia Richardson of Baton Rouge stopped for gas with a $10 bill in her pocket, she had an overwhelming urge to purchase $2 worth of Powerball tickets.  Days later, Richardson was shocked to learn one of her tickets was a $10,000 winner from the Feb. 5 drawing.

"I don't really know why, but I just had a feeling I should purchase some tickets," explained Richardson.  "Then I put them in my wallet and forgot about them for a few days."

Richardson, age 54, shared that she had no idea she won until she brought her tickets into a convenience store to be validated.  "I could tell something was up after the clerk scanned the tickets," said Richardson.  "She told me to sign the back of my ticket and bring it to a Lottery office immediately.  So we started checking my numbers against the winning numbers and they kept matching."

Richardson's ticket matched four of the five white ball numbers drawn and the red Powerball number to win $10,000. The winning numbers for the Feb. 5 Powerball drawing were 15-37-41-56-59 and the Powerball number was 05.

Richardson purchased her winning ticket from Circle K #8047 on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge.  She plans to put her winnings into savings. 

Ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age. The Lottery encourages anyone who may have a gambling problem or friends and family of anyone with a gambling problem to call toll free 1-877-770-7867 for help.

For security purposes, the Lottery strongly encourages players to sign the back of their tickets immediately after purchasing.