7/25/2006 - 4:43 PM

St. Francisville Resident Claims $350,000 Lotto Jackpot

BATON ROUGE - This past weekend, Delmus Hodge Jr. had more luck with Lotto than he did with one of his favorite hobbies, fishing. After catching only a few speckled trout and redfish on Sunday, Hodge returned home, checked his Lotto ticket from the drawing the night before and discovered that he won the $350,000 jackpot.
          The St. Francisville resident matched all six numbers from the July 19 drawing to win his prize, but said he has won smaller prizes twice before by matching five of six Lotto numbers.
          Hodge is also no stranger to the store that sold him the winning ticket, 61 Chevron Food Mart in Jackson. "I've done some electrical work for the owner of the store. I'll definitely have to visit him to let him know that I won," Hodge said. 
          He received $245,000 after state and federal income taxes were withheld. 61 Chevron Food Mart will receive a one-time bonus of $3,500, or 1 percent of the jackpot. Hodge said he plans to save his money for retirement.
The winning numbers for the July 19 Lotto drawing were 17-18-22-30-31-35. Nearly 8,300 other Lotto players also won prizes, including 12 players who won $2,428 each.
          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.  Ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age.