Theriot Resident Claims $459,166 Lotto Jackpot

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When commercial fisherman Guy Lirette's wife mentioned the jackpot-winning Lotto ticket from the June 18 drawing was sold in their area, he had a feeling his ticket was the winner.  Lirette's intuition turned out to be correct when he claimed the $459,166 Lotto jackpot yesterday at Lottery headquarters in Baton Rouge.

"I had the strangest feeling the moment my wife told me the winning ticket was sold in our area," shared Lirette, age 49.  "I can't explain it, but without even seeing the winning numbers I knew I had the winning ticket.  I stopped dead in my tracks."

The Theriot resident and his wife Roxanne immediately searched for the winning numbers online.  "Originally, when I was calling out the numbers to him I missed one so we thought he only won $2,000," said Roxanne Lirette.  "Then I looked again and realized we had all of them!"

The couple spent the next few hours trying to convince their daughter they actually had the jackpot-winning ticket.  "I love to send her joking text messages about winning the Lottery, so she naturally didn't believe me this time," said Lirette.  "We had to go get a print-out of the winning numbers and bring those to her along with our ticket before she believed me!"

Lirette shared that he plans to use his winnings to help family members and take his wife on a vacation.   

Wilson's Kountry Korner Inc., on Bull Run Road in Schriever sold Lirette his jackpot-winning ticket. The store will receive a bonus of $4,592, which is 1 percent of the prize, for selling the winning ticket. The winning numbers for the June 18 Lotto drawing were 12-17-23-24-28-31.

After federal and state taxes were withheld, Lirette received $321,416.

Lottery ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age.  Draw-style game tickets must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing.  Anyone who may have a gambling problem or friends and family of anyone with a gambling problem should 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.