By Todd Northrop
The California Lottery says last month's $543 million Mega Millions jackpot was won by 11 members of an office pool that played on a whim.
A Lottery statement Friday says Roland Reyes and the others showed up at its Hayward office on the east side of San Francisco Bay the day after the July 24 draw.
The members declined to say where they work, other than that it is in the financial industry and they plan to keep their jobs — despite winning $47.5 million each.
"It was spur of the moment. 'Hey, did you hear about the jackpot? We should play,'" one of the winners, Roland Reyes, told the California Lottery.
Everyone pitched in $2 and got a huge return on their investment.
The group declined to speak to media or be photographed. The pool members' ages range from 21 to 60.
"We want to keep our jobs," one winner said. "We love that company. We love what we've built there. We have a good time and want to stay together."
The group's total payout is $543 million over 29 years or a lump-sum option of $320.5 million. Both options are before taxes.
The winning ticket was sold at Ernie's Liquors in San Jose. Reyes said the group figured they had a better chance at winning if they bought their tickets from a small shop.
The owner of Ernie's Liquors received a $1 million bonus for selling the jackpot ticket, lottery officials said.
It's the second major lottery jackpot won in San Jose over the past few years. In 2013, a California delivery driver won half of a $648 million Mega Millions jackpot in the city. (See California delivery driver claims half of $648 million jackpot, Lottery Post, Jan. 3, 2014.)
California's Lucky Eleven!
"The group declined to speak to media or be photographed." This is a very smart thing to do. They are protecting their private lives as well as where they work.
$47.5 million each!! Before taxes.
The owner of Ernie's Liquors was hoping for a 1% of the jackpot amount. He had to settle for only $1 million dollars USD.
I enjoy the song by the Carpenters, "Do you know the way to San Jose?"
Wow thats the best news I've read all day.
congrats and happy spending!!
music*; Dionne Warwick sang that a long time before the Carpenters ever did!
Another feel good story for the week!
With the cash option minus federal taxes divided by 11.... Take home of $18.3 Million each....
and still want to keep your jobs ? You lucky folks are much more dedicated than I am....
Enjoy your newly acquired riches
This is a feel good story on many levels.lnstead of a single winner, we have 11. By all accounts, their contribution to winning this sizable jackpot : $22.00- total.
More importantly: No photo shoot, no names being given except Roland who l take it, is carrying one for the team. Roland is probably single, no gf, ex wife who can come after him for who knows what.The others are divulging very little about themselves or their plans & private life-Nice! This is exactly the way l would do it. But first, l have to win...
Love this story. They may be keeping their jobs a bit so they can properly divest from clients and assign their work to others. They could have some sort of license so they want to remain in good standing. I keep telling myself I could wind down and transfer my work load in a month.
Good to hear that a group of people got to enjoy the prize instead of just one person. The State of California was the second big winner with the taxes they will collect on the winnings.
What taxes gator? The one Freebie CA gives lottery winners, is no taxes on their winnings.The Feds are a total different story though.
Good for the group.
Never assume a solo winner.
Remember in Bruce Almighty when he tried to answer everyone's prayers and the next scene was a guy in a car that yelled out "The lottery sucks, I won $17."?
I did not know that. Well then that is quite a tax savings. One of the few.
It's great that they could remain anonymous. It's also great that they didn't start scrabbling about the jackpot, as many syndicates do.
Good luck to them!
I agree. Second you. Awesome
You can not remain anonymous in California. The only way would be for only one person to claim and then pay additional gift taxes when he gave the other 10 their cut who would also have to pay taxes - both state & federal, on their cut. Insane.
I dont know why the paper didnt publish their names now but I am sure some one will. Regardless, you could probably send an email to the Calif lottery and request the names which must be public by law.
Anyway, if you want to feel like one of the lucky eleven, buy a MM ticket for tonight. The take home is $18,648,000 after federal taxes.
Yep! Another feel good Lottery story!
Redd55,
I guess you missed noise-gates' post;
What taxes gator? The one Freebie CA gives lottery winners, is no taxes on their winnings.The Feds are a total different story though.
* Voice of Reason *
What a wonderful story! Congrats to the winners!
Coin Toss Redd is talking about gifts taxes not state income tax. What he is saying is that per California's rules a person or persons can not stay hidden..there name must be made public even before someone makes a request. But what we see in this post is that 11 people won yet only one was names. This goes against California own rules. Redd then goes on to say the only way you can do this would be for one person to collect the whole thing and then give the money to the other people but that would be a huge gift which would be taxed at 40% per person. Which means if I gave you 10 million dollars as a gift I would owe the IRS 4million on top of that. This is why Redd is saying that this is expensive. I don't really know all the rules but just by reading the story either someone lying and said that they are in a group with 11 people or something else is going on. I could totally see a single person winning especially considering where it was won but then during the interview fabricating a whole story by saying there are 10 other people who won as well yada yada yada.
Either way Im happy that someone won rather it be 1 person or 100 so getting the truth of this story is not a big deal to me. Although Redd55 I do agree considering this which I copied (coming from the CA lottery webpage)
Can I be anonymous when I win?
"California state law requires that the California State Lottery release the winner’s name and the name and location of the retailer where the winning ticket was bought."
If you look at that it makes it sound like 1 person collected the winnings which means either it was a financial adviser or something similar or the 11 people is simply just 1.
HUGE EDIT ALERT: So right after I read this story i looked online and there were 10 other winners named as well(all working for Wells Fargo) which means my whole comment can be deleted. I would delete it but I spent a lot of thought into writing all that. LOL
Keep working not me I would quit for less like to see how long they keep working
Thanks. I would add that besides the gift tax, the people receiving the gift are stuck with both federal and state taxes on the gift, too.
Congrats to all the winners, nice to see so many get a nice check.
protecting their private lives and where they work?
--> Roland Reyes
it won't be hard to find where that person works or who the other members of the group is...
they need to let people stay anonymous because it's very dangerous to go public
I also don't agree with them keeping their jobs, that's a liability if and when people find out.. lol.. I would have to move with that much money.
By law every winner's name is public. As paymentplan-man posted above, he already found all 11 winners names and their place of employment online. Unfortunately, California refuses to allow people to remain anonymous.
yeah that sucks... it's good that 11 people won instead of just one person though!
In addition to Reyes, the winners were identified as Marigold Villaruz, Rita Sinha, Murad Kureshi, Nga Lam, My Nguyen, Solonachchige Dissanayake, Isabel Dominguez, Alejandra Villanueva, Alice Socorro and Joji Ziegele. They all work for a Wells Fargo branch in San Jose.
You sure I only remember reading that the giver is subject to paying gift tax on any money given that excludes the lifetime amount of 11.2 Million (until 2025). I mean I even went back and read a few pages just to make sure things have not changed. The way I see it it's called a "gift" because for the receiver its all free money.
That is why people who work for lotteries (like Chip Polsten in Kentucky) say it is better to do a short press conference, stand up there and answer a few questions, and then go on your way. Because if you try to keep your identity a secret, the press (or just everyday citizens) will dig and dig until they find out what they want to know -- and that digging often reveals stuff that people would rather not talk about.
By doing the press conference the press is satisfied that they have a story to tell, and often the digging does not take place.
I know there's nothing fail-safe about that approach, but it does make sense with the realities of human nature.
I wonder if it'll be ok to lie and say you are going to donate it all to an unnamed charity so people will think you have no money left...
Just put it in a trust and say an attorney controls it with preset written guidelines that cannot be changed.