Powerball: Federal Workers Share $10M Powerball Lottery Jackpot
A group of federal disaster workers, used to helping others facing misfortune, are instead basking in their own good fortune as they get ready to claim a $10 million Powerball jackpot, officials said Wednesday.
Fourteen of the 15 Federal Emergency Management Agency workers were scheduled to present the winning ticket on Wednesday afternoon at the Lottery's headquarters in Charleston, Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said.
The other worker cannot attend because he is working on relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Dennis, she said.
The workers purchased the winning ticket for the June 29 drawing at a Sheetz convenience store in Charles Town in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. They later submitted a copy of it by fax to the Lottery.
Bulla said the ticket cannot be validated until Lottery officials run it through a security system that checks not only the numbers but the paper stock on which the ticket was printed.
But "I rest easy that this is a valid ticket," she said.
Three of the workers are from West Virginia and the others are from Virginia, she said.
Bulla said the workers chose the lump sum cash option, which will be $5.8 million before taxes that include a 25 percent cut for the federal government and 6.5 percent in state taxes for the West Virginians. The Virginia residents will settle their tax obligation in that state at the end of the tax year, Bulla said.
The store will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The winning numbers were 3, 8, 22, 42, 49, Powerball 39, Power Play 5.