Lucky Break: Co-workers win lottery

Nov 23, 2005, 10:06 am (12 comments)

Mega Millions

Pooling resources can sometimes pay off in a big way — just ask the 14 co-workers at United Plastics Corp. in Mount Airy, North Carolina, who won $250,000 in the Nov. 15 Mega Millions drawing by matching five of six numbers.

The group — machinists, production workers and some of their supervisors — picked up a check yesterday from the Virginia Lottery. Each will get about $13,000 after taxes, money they say will be used to pay off bills, take long-awaited vacations and make Christmas morning extra nice for their families.

"It's been jubilation on everybody's part," said Larry Conner, a supervisor from Ararat, who has worked 25 years at the plant.

When the Mega Millions jackpot swelled to $250 million earlier this month, Conner suggested to his co-worker Murphy Jones of Cana, Va., that they should get some people together and buy tickets.

Each of the 14 chipped in $5 for a total of $70, and bought 70 "easy pick" tickets for Nov. 10. They did it again for Nov. 15.

Jones was in charge of buying the tickets, and after the Nov. 15 drawing, he began comparing the tickets to the winning numbers.

He confirmed the numbers with lottery officials before telling his fellow workers.

About 2 p.m. Thursday, the news hit the plant floor. The co-workers had matched every winning number — 2, 4, 5, 40, 48 — except the Mega Ball (7), which meant a cash prize of $250,000.

"Not a bad investment," Conner said. "It's a blessing from God."

"We had one guy in the group, his wife passed away one year ago this Thanksgiving. He made the statement he would be able to pay off funeral expenses and be able to buy her a headstone.... A lot of the young guys who have families — it's going to be a good Christmas," Conner said.

Winston-Salem Journal

Comments

DoubleDown

I love a good story about good fortune that doesn't involve lawsuits and bickering.....

CASH Only

I love a good story about good fortune that doesn't involve lawsuits and bickering.....

Those stories always seem to involved MA annuity-only tickets.

bellyache's avatarbellyache

Although having the full $250,000 would have been better, I wouldn't turn down 13,000 dollars.

Editgap

Glad to see people who appreciate a small cash windfall.

othertrucker's avatarothertrucker

I love it when a plan comes together. The only way I could be happier would be to be a winner myself. My day's a comin'.

Litebets27's avatarLitebets27

This is a nice heart-warming story. One that encourage group participation in the work place. On my job people have been threatened to be " Fired" if they were caught participating in any gambling pool, although I have had a Supervisor and a Manager participate in pools that I had established in the past.

I like reading stories when these work place pools workout. But, hold on to your hats. If everyone didnot get into this pool, some jealous or distraught person may come forward. I hope not but stay tune.

litebets

rundown99's avatarrundown99

I always buy lottery tickets alone. I never play in groups, because of the potential lawsuits and bickering.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

There's strength in numbers and I'd like to join a local lottery pool. I disagree there has to be any lawsuits or bickering if everything is spelled out in writing from the beginning.  If I recall, the co-workers in CA who won a few weeks ago didn't have any trouble collecting even though some people said they usually participated in the pool.  200 tickets have a much better chance of winning a big jackpot than 10. One rule would be that any tickets not bought by the group would belong to the owner. I've been betting the same sets of numbers for over 10 years and I'm not sharing!

Hmm..maybe you do have a point after all ! LOL

PrisonerSix

In my office, me and 3 of my coworkers have a lottery pool going. We each put up $3 every payday(every 2 weeks), and buy a total of $12 worth of tickets. We buy 2 Powerall and 1 Lotto for each drawing. So far all we've won is $4. We agreed to take our winnings and split them up 4 ways minus costs of claiming them(legal fees, etc.) if we win anything.

We even have a plan on what to do if we win the big one. We plan to incorporate, have a lawyer collect the money so as to keep a low profile, then quit our jobs one at a time so nobody will be suspicious. Two of us plan on leaving the city, don't know about the other two.

Pools can work out well if everything is agreed upon and understood ahead of time, and followed through once the pool starts.

CASH Only

This is a nice heart-warming story. One that encourage group participation in the work place. On my job people have been threatened to be " Fired" if they were caught participating in any gambling pool, although I have had a Supervisor and a Manager participate in pools that I had established in the past.

I like reading stories when these work place pools workout. But, hold on to your hats. If everyone didnot get into this pool, some jealous or distraught person may come forward. I hope not but stay tune.

litebets

Construction (hard) hats?

KyMystikal's avatarKyMystikal

There's strength in numbers and I'd like to join a local lottery pool. I disagree there has to be any lawsuits or bickering if everything is spelled out in writing from the beginning.  If I recall, the co-workers in CA who won a few weeks ago didn't have any trouble collecting even though some people said they usually participated in the pool.  200 tickets have a much better chance of winning a big jackpot than 10. One rule would be that any tickets not bought by the group would belong to the owner. I've been betting the same sets of numbers for over 10 years and I'm not sharing!

Hmm..maybe you do have a point after all ! LOL

that's why you make copies of the tickets that are in the pool and give them out so everyone knows what numbers are in the pool. If you win on your own tickets nobody can complain because they knew before the draw what numbers were theirs.

CASH Only

If the A&P that I work at joined a Mega Millions pool, I would play along. But not for NY Lotto.

End of comments
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