By Kate Northrop
FLORENCE, Ky. — A group of 30 middle school employees carpooled to the Kentucky Lottery after the final school bell rang on Tuesday to collect their $1 million Powerball prize.
30 educators from a Boone County middle school regrouped after work to collect the $1 million Powerball prize they won in the Jan. 27 drawing and showed up at Lottery headquarters in high spirits.
The group calls themselves the "Jones 30," named after the Rector A. Jones Middle School in Florence that brought them together.
Lottery staff witnessed the group entering the lobby with cheers and the winning ticket safely tucked away in a math textbook.
The organizer of the group, a retired math teacher, was the one to see that their ticket had matched all five white balls in the Jan. 27 drawing the day after it took place. The first five numbers were 7, 38, 65, 66, and 68, but they missed the Powerball 21 to win the $163.8 million jackpot.
She stuck the winning ticket in a math textbook to keep it safe.
"No one looks in a math book," she joked with the Lottery. "I knew it would be safe there... page 200. I have checked this a thousand times."
The group has been playing the lottery together for over eight years. Even those who have moved on or retired have continued to participate.
"We all taught at the same school at one point or another," one winner told the Lottery. "We've got counselors, admins, special ed teachers, the school nurse... Some have moved on or retired but we still continue to do it. We've remained buddies for all of these years."
In the first several years of playing together, they didn't think much of the numbers they played. However, that changed in 2019 when the group had chosen a unique set of Powerball numbers, and from then on, they stuck with those numbers each week.
"Our math teacher and assistant principal pulled them out of a hat," one winner explained. "At first, we didn't have the right amount of numbers to choose from, so we drew again. Thank goodness we did."
Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Mary Harville welcomed the group with ceremonial checks and participated in a photo op with the winners. She handed each winner their individual prize, which came out to $24,000 after taxes.
"Kentucky Lottery games create fun for our players," Harville said in a press release. "These winning educators were having the time of their lives. It was wonderful to watch another chapter in their friendship unfold, thanks to the Kentucky Lottery."
30 group members mean 30 different ways for how each winner is envisioning putting their portion of the prize to use. Some winners are thinking of investing the money, while others are looking to use it for travel or home repairs.
No matter what each of them decide to do with their prize, what stands out is the camaraderie they share through years of playing together.
"A lot of us have gone on trips together, we've had babies and grandbabies over the years," another winner related. "We always have so much fun. It's just cool to win as a group and share this experience."
The group said they plan on continuing to play the lottery together as a fun way of keeping in touch with one another.
The winning ticket was bought at the Kroger in Hebron on North Bend Road. The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling it.
The Powerball jackpot currently stands at $206 million for the next drawing on Sat., Feb. 3 at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
Powerball is played in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
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Congratulations to the winners!
Somehow missed this story on GMA yesterday even though it was on.
I like the fact it was won in N KY not too far from Cincinnati, happy for all the teachers.
Reason I'm glad it was N KY again is that the haters on KLC FB page seem to say with frequency 'it is always Louisville with the winning ticket (s)!
surprised they didn't add Power Play option.. considering there are 30 people playing.
You know was thinking the same thing.
My lottery pools always choose the megaplier and powerplay!!! Congrats otherwise to them 🤭
About $24K each after taxes. Nice!
Congrats!
* That's why l avoid lottery pools- to many mouths to feed with so little to share.
I totally agree with you.
But on the math side, if they contribute $2 each per drawing. That's 30 tickets a drawing and 90 tickets a week.
If you played $180 every week as an individual, that's $9360 every year on PB.
Not sure if they also play MM.
So that's where the pool comes handy.
I know it's not a life changing win for them, but it's definitely something.
One can clear off their car loan, or some other bills with 24K.
Having said that, I don't think I would want to be in a pool 🤣
* Sure it's something, but when was the last time a pool won the PB or MM? Not taking anything away from these folks, but sharing with 30 players? I will pass, as is my right!
well you didn't win, so now you're sharing with zero.
* Oh wow that's deep, real deep.
Yes, these lottery pools at work should be banned by employers. First off if they win the big one that is the end of your work force. Even if they stay on they will be good for nothing there. Of course the chances of them winning because they pooled tickets is not really improved. Then all the work hours that are wasted by the organizer of the pool collecting the money each week and all the discussion that takes place about it when it gets large although bloom is off the rose on that it seems with these billion dollar ones the only ones that garner any interest.
A math textbook. The last place anybody would want to look.