2/22/2006 - 3:19 PM

Lake Charles Resident Claims Match-5 Powerball Prize on Behalf of Group

When Lake Charles resident Neal Moore Sr. received a call last Sunday from his coworker at PPG Industries, he just knew there was a problem on the job and he'd have to go in to work, but the news was much better - the Powerball ticket that they and five others had purchased for the record-setting Feb. 18 Powerball drawing matched all five white ball numbers to win $667,142.

Moore claimed the prize today at Lottery headquarters on behalf of six others with whom he plans to divide the prize, John Morris Thomas, Vera T. Jones, James M. Joseph, Joseph W. Gallien, Terrell B. Cormier and Jerry LaSalle.

Since Powerball was first offered by the Louisiana Lottery in 1995, the group has pooled its money to purchase $5 worth of Powerball plays and $2 worth of Lotto plays every Wednesday, and again on Saturdays whenever the Powerball jackpot topped $100 million.

Moore claimed the $200,000 prize for matching the five numbers, plus an additional $467,142 Match 5 Bonus prize. Added to Powerball in 2002, the Match 5 Bonus feature pays a bonus to players who match the five white ball numbers, but do not correctly match the red Powerball number, when a new record Powerball jackpot is won.

The Match-5 Bonus Prize pool for the Feb. 18 drawing was $19.6 million and was divided equally between 42 "match-5" winning tickets nationwide, two of which were sold in Louisiana. The second winning ticket, purchased in Baton Rouge, was claimed yesterday.

After state and federal taxes were withheld, the total prize was $466,999.40.

The winning ticket was purchased at Fast Stop on J. Bennett Johnston Street in Lake Charles.  The retailer will receive $6,671.42 or one percent of the total Match 5 prize, as a bonus incentive for selling the winning ticket.

Since the $365 million jackpot surpassed the previous jackpot record of $340 million, Powerball's unique Match 5 Bonus feature kicked in for Saturday's draw. The Match 5 Bonus feature caps jackpot growth at $25 million. At that time all additional funds from sales that would have gone into the Powerball jackpot prize go to the Match 5 Bonus prize pool, which is divided equally among Match 5 Bonus winners when the jackpot is won.

The winning numbers from the Feb. 18 Powerball drawing were 15-17-43-44-48 and the Powerball number was 29. A single ticket sold in Nebraska matched all the numbers and won the $365 million Powerball jackpot, which was claimed today by a group of eight coworkers at a Nebraska meat processing plant.