The Louisiana Lottery's first bonus drawing for its newest $10 raffle game, Millionaire Bonus Raffle, was held Thursday morning.

Raffle number 099007 was randomly selected as the $20,000 winner from the 145,499 tickets which were sold as of midnight Wednesday.

The winning ticket was sold by Lapalco Chevron on Lapalco Boulevard in Marrero, which will receive a $200 selling bonus.

Besides offering the best odds of winning $1 million in the May 12 finale drawing, Millionaire Bonus Raffle has four remaining bonus drawings in which players can win $20,000 if they purchase their ticket before midnight March 30.

Already, more than 146,000 raffle tickets have been sold and will be entered into the remaining preliminary bonus drawings and the finale drawing.

Like a traditional raffle game, only 300,000 tickets were available for sale starting Feb. 28. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, 49% of those have been sold.

"In celebration of our 20th anniversary, the Lottery is excited to pump up our raffle game with bonus drawings to reward our loyal players," explained Lottery President Rose Hudson. "With Millionaire Bonus Raffle, it's true that the early bird does get the worm — with four additional chances to win. In the meantime, we look forward to meeting our first $20,000 winner."

Millionaire Bonus Raffle bonus drawing winners must claim their prize at any of the Lottery's six regional offices, where they will be given an Exchange Ticket good for all remaining raffle drawings.

Remaining preliminary bonus drawings for $20,000 each will be held on March 31, April 7, April 14 and April 21. Tickets purchased before midnight the day before these drawings will be eligible for that drawing and all subsequent Millionaire Bonus Raffle drawings, including the finale drawing on May 12. In the finale drawing, one $1 million winning raffle number will be drawn from those sold, along with 20 numbers worth $20,000 each. In all, 26 players will win $1.5 million in cash prizes.

All raffle lottery results, including the bonus draws and the finale drawing, will be published on Lottery Post's Louisiana Lottery Results page soon after the draw.

Unique raffle numbers are generated in sequential order from 000001 to 300000. Players can purchase more than one raffle ticket at $10 each, but each number will print on a separate ticket.

"For security purposes, we strongly suggest that players sign the back of their ticket immediately after purchasing and treat the ticket as cash, securing it until all drawings have been held," advised Hudson.

Raffle prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing in which the prize is won. All Millionaire Bonus Raffle prizes are subject to state and federal tax withholdings.

If all 300,000 tickets are sold for the finale drawing, the odds of winning the $1 million prize are 1 in 300,000, and the odds of winning any prize are 1 in 14,286. For bonus drawings, the odds of winning $20,000 are dependent upon the number of tickets sold by each drawing deadline, as only those raffle numbers sold by the deadline will be included in the drawing.