Error gives man bigger lotto win
Thibodaux, a 70-year-old Thibodaux resident, won $1 million in the Oct. 29 Louisiana Lottery drawing thanks to a mistake made while he was buying his Lottery tickets.“I was in the right place at the right time,” he said in an interview Thursday evening. “Somebody bought a ticket before me; somebody bought one after me.”
Thibodaux normally purchases $5 in tickets every Saturday: Two Lotto tickets, two Powerball tickets and one Easy 5 ticket.
For the drawing he won, the cashier at the Shop Rite off La. 308 accidentally added Power Play options to each of his Powerball tickets.
Instead of refusing the tickets, Thibodaux paid the extra $2 — a small amount that made a big difference.
His wife Brenda, who made a habit of checking the winning numbers every Sunday, was the first to realize he had won the money. robert thibodaux sr 1 million,
“I went to bed Saturday night, and I was a millionaire and didn't know it,” he said.
Powerball players who add the $1 Power Play option to their ticket increase any non-jackpot prize up to five times. Match-5 winners, like Thibodaux, win $1 million instead of the usual $200,000, lottery officials said.
The winning numbers for the Oct. 29 Powerball drawing were 11-16-40-51-56, and the Powerball number was 38, lottery officials said.
Thibodaux and about a dozen family members drove to Baton Rouge on Thursday to claim the prize. Later, Thibodaux's family ate dinner at Fremin's to celebrate.
“Today was a fun day,” he said.
He received $700,000 after federal and state taxes are taken out. Shop Rite No. 51, 310 E. Bayou Road, will receive a bonus of $10,000, or 1 percent of the total prize, for selling Thibodaux his winning ticket.
Brenda said if she ever won the lottery she would “bulldoze her house and build a new one.”
Thibodaux, who has been a commissioner on the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District for about three years, agreed a new home on the bayou is in their future.
Archie Chiasson, manager of the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District, said Thibodaux is a dedicated commissioner and has been coming to the meetings since the mid-1990s.
“He has nothing but the best interest of the bayou at heart,” he said. “What you see with Robert is what you get. He is honest and dedicated.”
Thibodaux has lived in the city since 1960. He is a retired pipe welder from McDermott.
Despite this most recent episode of tremendous luck, Thibodaux said the money will not change him. He still plans, for example, to buy $5 worth of lottery tickets every week.
“The only thing that's going to change is my pocketbook,” he said. “I'm staying here. A lot of this money will be spent in Thibodaux.”
Source: houmatoday