Seven Albany state workers won $319 million lottery prize

Mar 27, 2011, 9:45 am (49 comments)

Mega Millions

ALBANY, N.Y. — Seven lucky New York state government workers earned some 'Capitol gains' when their office pool won a whopping $319 million jackpot in Friday night's drawing.

The big winners are information-technology pros who work in Homes and Community Renewal, said sources. The agency has been slammed with more than $30 million in budget cuts.

The brand-new millionaires hit it big with several Quick Pick tickets bought at Coulson's News Center, a century-old family-run convenience store in downtown Albany. They have a year to come forward and claim the prize.

Once the workers lay claim to their millions, they have 60 days to decide if they'll take the money in payments over 25 years, or go for the lump-sum option, which would give them $202.9 million before taxes.

After taxes — 25 percent, or $50.7 million, to Uncle Sam, and 8.97 percent, or $18.2 million, to the state — the workers would split $134 million, or $19.1 million each.

Albany's new millionaires may soon be able to give up their jobs tending to servers and computers at DHCR, said Emanuel Biondi, a union representative with the state Public Employees Federation.

"They're all just middle-class folks," Biondi said. "I'm thrilled for them."

They've also got a newfound sense of financial security their colleagues lack. Albany's budget troubles have left many state workers worried that their jobs are in danger.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has threatened as many as 9,800 layoffs statewide and ordered every agency to cut its budget by 10 percent. While sources confirmed general details about the winning workers, they didn't provide The Post with any of the workers' names.

One IT supervisor, Duane Averill, said he wasn't sure of the identities of his lucky colleagues — the IT section has dozens of employees. "I'd love to see them win," Averill said, laughing. "I might lose my entire unit, though."

Coulson's store owner Steve Hutchins, 63, will get a $10,000 bonus from the state Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

"It's very neat to know someone who comes into my store is going to be very wealthy from a ticket we sold them," Hutchins said. "It makes me feel warm inside."

The Mega Millions multi-state lottery game is played in 41 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Friday's jackpot was the 5th highest in the game's history, and the 9th largest for any U.S. lottery game.  It is the largest Mega Millions jackpot won by a single ticket.

The largest jackpot of all-time was a $390 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2007, split by two tickets from Georgia and New Jersey.

The winning numbers in Friday's draw were 22, 24, 31, 52, and 54, with a Mega Ball number of 4.  The Megaplier was 4.

New York Post

Comments

Piaceri

Yay! Congrats to the IT geeks. Best of luck to them. PartyDanceWhite BounceGroup Hug

AmbientLight

Im truly happy for them.  One day I hope I catch a break like that in life.

beaudad's avatarbeaudad

you don't win.....if you don't play !!!       beaudad

Jon D's avatarJon D

"Coulson's store owner Steve Hutchins, 63, will get a $10,000 bonus from the state Lottery for selling the winning ticket."

Is that all they pay stores in NY for a jackpot selling bonus?

In CA, the stores get 1/2 of one percent of the jackpot. In this case would have been about $1,000,000 for the store bonus. Just a tad sweeter than $10,000.

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

This is another "pool" win.  Hope it doesn't end up with "you were supposed to put me in for this week" or any other type of claim.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

In these winning pool situations I always wonder about the people who were asked if they wanted to get in the pool and declined because:

"The lottery is such a waste of money". 

"Do you know what the odds are on that?"

"No thanks, I work too hard for my money to throw it away on pipe dreams."

 

I can understand being sensible and realistic but sometimes cheapskates just use that as an excuse to be a tightwad.

I never could stand being around a cheapskate.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

With the economy being so down, I hope that some of them will leave their jobs so that unemployed people with similar skills can find work.

I'm happy for the winners and I hope the money brings them joy.

Jon D's avatarJon D

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Mar 27, 2011

In these winning pool situations I always wonder about the people who were asked if they wanted to get in the pool and declined because:

"The lottery is such a waste of money". 

"Do you know what the odds are on that?"

"No thanks, I work too hard for my money to throw it away on pipe dreams."

 

I can understand being sensible and realistic but sometimes cheapskates just use that as an excuse to be a tightwad.

I never could stand being around a cheapskate.

Yeah, exactly. This weekend, there is some poor IT guy doing server backups at DHCR instead of at home celebrating, who when asked by one of his lucky 7 co-workers if he wanted to join the lotto pool said, "Nah, I'm good dude, but you guys have at it." Man, that's gotta hurt!

If a co-worker or neighbor hits it big, is your lottery karma all used up for this life?

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

Congrats to the lucky 7!! This powerball jackpot belongs to me and me only!!!Red Devil

Boney526's avatarBoney526

I'm actually very glad it was hit by a group.

One person getting 100-200 million is just so much.  Splitting it up 7 in a group is just so awesome.

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

Quote: Originally posted by Boney526 on Mar 27, 2011

I'm actually very glad it was hit by a group.

One person getting 100-200 million is just so much.  Splitting it up 7 in a group is just so awesome.

100-200 million may seem like a lot of capital but it can be spent just as quick as it came!!Sad Cheers

freeobama's avatarfreeobama

Quote: Originally posted by on Apr 16, 2024

I highly doubt NY will win this powerball jackpot,NY won 2 of the last 3 powerball jackpots and they just won the Mega Millions!!Idea

rowlettewheel

wow thtas great that they won ...Party

mightwin's avatarmightwin

Quote: Originally posted by on Apr 16, 2024

Yep, too many cooks spoil the stew. I'd rather throw down some extra cash and take it all home.

Subscribe to this news story