Tax office workers win Powerball lottery jackpot
Posted: 3/17/2008 11:35:02 AM
Eight female employees of the Monongalia County sheriff's tax office in West Virginia won Saturday night's $276.3 million Powerball jackpot, officials said today.
Reportedly, the women will take a lump sum payment amounting to about $17 million each.
All of them showed up for work today at the courthouse in Morgantown, according to MetroNews.
Chief Tax Deputy Linda Famico was bombarded with phone calls from media outlets from the time the office opened at 9 a.m.
Famico told a reporter from MetroNews that she plans to stay on the job.
"You know it, but you can't really comprehend it quite yet," she said. "It's kind of early. Everyone is talking. They all have plans, but it's hard to have that sink in."
Famico said employees of the office had a regular Powerball pool, but only eight of the 11 women were in it last week.
She said the winners would give some money to the three who didn't play.
"We're all actually very upset about that," Famico told radio station WAJR.
Famico said her first priority would be to take care of her family.
Nancy Bulla, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Lottery, said the winning ticket was sold last Thursday at 5:14 p.m. at Paula's, a limited video lottery parlor in Westover.
Eight female employees of the Monongalia County sheriff's tax office won Saturday night's $276.3 million Powerball jackpot, officials said today.
Reportedly, the women will take a lump sum payment amounting to about $17 million each.
All of them showed up for work today at the courthouse in Morgantown, according to MetroNews.
Chief Tax Deputy Linda Famico was bombarded with phone calls from media outlets from the time the office opened at 9 a.m.
Famico told a reporter from MetroNews that she plans to stay on the job.
"You know it, but you can't really comprehend it quite yet," she said. "It's kind of early. Everyone is talking. They all have plans, but it's hard to have that sink in."
Famico said employees of the office had a regular Powerball pool, but only eight of the 11 women were in it last week.
She said the winners would give some money to the three who didn't play.
"We're all actually very upset about that," Famico told radio station WAJR.
Famico said her first priority would be to take care of her family.
Nancy Bulla, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Lottery, said the winning ticket was sold last Thursday at 5:14 p.m. at Paula's, a limited video lottery parlor in Westover.
Bulla said lottery officials spent Sunday verifying where the ticket was sold.
She said officials performed security checks, including analyzing the original paper stock in the lottery machine, to make sure the ticket came from Paula's.
Maria Skidmore, regional manager for the company that owns Paula's, said she planned to place a sign in a window at the parlor today announcing the big win.
"We thought it was great," Skidmore said. "We were glad it was in West Virginia."
For selling the winning ticket, Paula's can win up to $100,000, according to the lottery's Web site.
This jackpot marks the seventh time a ticket sold in West Virginia has won Powerball. It is the largest win since December 2002, when Jack Whittaker won the $314.9 million jackpot.
More than 1.5 million tickets were sold in West Virginia for Saturday's drawing.
Nearly 2 million other players won prizes totaling more than $12 million.
The winning numbers were six, 22, 42, 43 and 47. The Powerball was 16 and the Power Play was two.
The estimated jackpot for Wednesday is $15 million dollars.
Source: Charleston Daily Mail
