Twenty-Five Year Lottery Retailer Sells $1 Million Winning Powerball Ticket

BATON ROUGE – Twenty-five year Louisiana Lottery retailer Corner Pantry, located on Foreman Drive in Lafayette, recently became the latest outlet to make one of their customers a millionaire after selling a $1 million winning match-5 Powerball ticket for the Feb. 18 drawing.

“We were very excited when we found out that our store sold the $1 million winning ticket,” said Corner Pantry co-owner Connie DuBose. “We’ve been selling Lottery for 25 years and feel very blessed to know that one of our customers is now a millionaire!”

The store received a one-time selling bonus of $10,000, which is 1 percent of the prize.

Joni Blankfield of Lafayette claimed the winning ticket Wednesday at Louisiana Lottery headquarters. The 49-year-old’s winning ticket matched all five white-ball numbers to win $1 million. The winning numbers for the Feb. 18 drawing were 03-07-09-31-33 and the Powerball was 20. She received $700,000 after state and federal tax withholdings.

Blankfield joins a long list of Louisiana Powerball millionaires. There have been 60 winning Powerball match-5 plays of $1 million or more sold by Louisiana retailers since the Lottery joined the game in 1995, plus 15 jackpot winners.

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. More information about Powerball and other jackpot winners can be found on the Lottery’s website, www.louisianalottery.com.