Natchez &8212; Ronald Panda and his wife Jackie have been playing the same lottery numbers &8212; a combination of birthdays &8212; just about every week for the past eight years.

This week their persistence finally paid off.

The Natchez residents are $750,000 richer &8212; well, $533,871.21 after taxes &8212; thanks to winning the Louisiana Lottery&8217;s Lotto jackpot Wednesday night.

&8220;It&8217;s a surprise,&8221; a low-key Panda said by phone Friday.

The Pandas were even luckier than usual this time.

&8220;I almost didn&8217;t buy the ticket,&8221; Panda said. &8220;But my wife would have probably killed me.&8221;

Jackie Panda is the one who discovered the win. She checked the newspaper and then double-checked them on the Louisiana Lottery Web site.

&8220;I read this horror story about a man who had always played the same numbers, and the one time he forgot to buy a ticket is when those numbers came up,&8221; Mrs. Panda told state lottery officials for a press statement.

Ron Panda said his wife called him as soon as she saw the winning numbers to make sure he had bought the ticket.

&8220;She just said, &8216;You won&8217;t believe this,&8217;&8221; Panda said.

The Pandas haven&8217;t decided quite what to do with all of their winnings, but Mr. Panda does have some immediate plans. &8220;Pay bills &8212; that&8217;s the first thing,&8221; he said.

By Friday, the Pandas had only told a few close friends of their good fortune.

For the record, the winning numbers were 7-13-14-15-20-22, and Panda bought the ticket at Raceway in Vidalia.

Raceway, also known as Top Speed Inc., will receive a one-time bonus of $7,626, or 1 percent of the prize amount. Raceway owner Lynnette Moser said her store is the top seller of lottery tickets in the Alexandria region.

The odds of winning Louisiana Lotto are one in 3,838,380.