BATON ROUGE – Booking a summer vacation and paying for home renovations were just a few of the plans Louisiana Lottery players had for some of the more than $13.2 million in scratch-off prizes claimed in March. The Lottery also reported more than $62 million won during drawings held in March, thanks to a $55.9 million winning Powerball jackpot ticket for the March 24 drawing, the 17th Powerball jackpot prize in Lottery history. 

March’s other draw-style game winnings included one Powerball match-4 + PB with Power Play prize of $150,000, one Powerball match-4 + PB with Power Play prize of $100,000, three Powerball match-4 + PB prizes totaling $150,000 and 75 Powerball match-4 prizes totaling $7,500. There was also one Mega Millions match-4 + MB with Megaplier prize worth $30,000, one Mega Millions match-4 + MB prize of $10,000 and 43 Mega Millions match-4 prizes totaling $21,500. 

“Over 37,000 Power Play purchasers won a bonus total of $392,824 in addition to their regular Powerball prizes,” Lottery President Rose Hudson said. “More than 28,000 Megaplier purchasers won a bonus total of $270,474 in addition to their regular Mega Millions prizes.” The Power Play option offers Powerball players the chance to increase any nonjackpot winnings. The $1 Megaplier add-on multiplies nonjackpot Mega Millions prizes by a multiplier number selected during the drawing. 

One-hundred-fourteen players won Lotto match-5 prizes totaling $239,303, helping to bring Lotto’s monthly total winnings to $692,763. Pick 3 winning tickets totaled $1,919,980 and Pick 4 winning tickets totaled $1,799,900. 

One player won an Easy 5 jackpot worth $237,344 and 230 Easy 5 players won match-4 prizes totaling $23,000, which brought the game’s monthly total winnings to $404,917 with an additional $148,404 won on ezmatch, an instant-win option available for an additional $1.  

In total, draw-style game winnings from drawings held in March were $62,916,444. Lottery draw-style game players have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim the winnings from those tickets. 

“We encourage players to sign the back of their tickets immediately after purchasing and to check them promptly after the drawing. Even if a ticket does not win the jackpot, it could have won another prize,” Hudson added.

In addition to $13,294,328 in scratch-off cash prizes paid during March, players also claimed $2,342,771 worth of free-ticket prizes. According to Lottery policy, scratch-off games are closed when all top prizes are claimed, and scratch-off players have 90 days from the official game closure date to redeem a winning ticket. A list of current scratch-off games, prizes remaining and claim deadlines can be found on its website, www.louisianalottery.com/scratch-offs.

While actual game performance and the amount of prizes claimed will vary from month to month, the Lottery allocates 53.4 percent of sales to fund prizes. At least 35 percent of sales is transferred to the state treasury for the Minimum Foundation Program that funds K-12 public education in Louisiana. Retailers are paid 5.6 percent compensation, and the Lottery retains approximately 6 percent of sales to operate.

Hudson reminded ticket purchasers to play responsibly, encouraging anyone who has a gambling problem, or friends and family of anyone with a gambling problem, to call toll-free 1-877-770-7867 for help.  Ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age.