Two Louisiana Tickets Claim $40,000 Prizes in Mega Millions

Two tickets sold in Louisiana for Friday night's Mega Millions Lottery game are $40,000 winners. The Louisiana Lottery confirms that the big money tickets were the first to claim top prizes in that game since a ticket sold in Leesville Louisiana took a $10,000 prize back in October. Another winner was sold in early October in Laplace so these big wins break the Mega Millions dry spell that's been going on for the past six weeks.

If you didn't get the chance to see the Mega Millions drawing as it happened. Here's what it looked like when the ping pong balls dropped at about 10pm Louisiana time on Friday night.

The numbers drawn according to the Mega Millions website were:

08   19   53   61   69   Mega Ball  19  Megaplier x4

The December 9th game did not produce a jackpot winner so that total will grow from an estimated $379,000,000 to $400,000,000 or more for next the drawing which is scheduled to be held on December 13,2022. Maybe next Tuesday the 13th will be someone's lucky day in Louisiana.

Last night's drawing, despite the fact that it did not produce a jackpot winner did create several new millionaires across the nation. The Mega Millions website shows there were two Match 5 winners worth $1,000,000 each in California and North Carolina. The game's stats page also indicated there were 23 total tickets sold across the nation that matched four of the white-balls and the mega ball. Of those 23 winners, two of them were Louisiana sold tickets.

Last night's Mega Millions also added to the Christmas coffers of more than 300 players in Louisiana. In fact, there were 331 tickets sold in Louisiana that now carry a prize attached of $10 or more. 23 of those tickets are worth quite a bit more than that.

The Louisiana Lottery's Big Wins page shows five tickets earned a prize of $200 in last night's drawing. Another six Mega Millions tickets sold in the state can claim a prize of $500 too. None of those winning tickets opted-in on the Megaplier option in the game. But there were several winners that did.

Those tickets include 10 tickets that matched three of the white balls and the Mega Ball. Those tickets now carry a winning value of $800. And, there were another two Louisiana winners that matched four of the white balls with the mega ball. Those tickets according to the rules of the game are worth $2,000. This morning.

The state's two big money winners from last night both matched four white balls and had the Megaplier option as part of their ticket. Those prizes according to the Louisiana Lottery website are worth $40,000 just in time for Christmas.

Where Were the Winning Mega Millions Tickets Sold in Louisiana?

The big-money winners, $40,000, were sold in Metairie Louisiana and New Iberia Louisiana. As we mentioned both tickets matched four and the Mega Ball and invoked the Megaplier option. The Metairie ticket was purchased at West Metairie Shell on Metairie Drive. The New Iberia winner was purchased at Food N Fun on Lewis Street.

Players who have the winning tickets are encouraged to sign the back for their own safety and security. You'll need to contact your local Louisiana Lottery office to arrange the pick up of your prize.

Saturday's Powerball drawing will be held at 10 pm on December 10th. The estimated top prize in that multi-state lottery game is $116 million dollars. But, there are also some pretty hefty prizes available in the Lotto game and the Easy 5 game from the Louisiana Lottery. The Lotto top prize is at least $2.6 million, while the Easy 5 jackpot will be at least $90,000.

If you do choose to play, please play responsibly and if you or someone you love appears to have an issue with gambling, please call 1-877-770 STOP (7867). Trained counselors are standing by to help.

Who knows, maybe the New Iberia winner will soon find themselves on this list. It could certainly be a start.