$543 million lottery jackpot isn’t enough to get 11 office pool colleagues to quit
And they all plan to keep their jobs in spite of their newfound millions.
Talk about a team building exercise.
A group of 11 colleagues hit the jackpot when their office lottery pool had the winning numbers for the $543 million prize in a recent Mega Millions drawing.
Ir looks like they're not letting their winnings go straight to their heads, either, as they all plan to keep working at their current jobs.
They all chipped in $2 for their respective shares, and they certainly got their money's worth.
The winners have the option of either taking the full $543 million jackpot over 30 years or taking the final lump sum of $320.5 million, both before taxes. If they went with the lump sum payment and split the winnings evenly, each person would end up with just over $29 million before taxes. The group's decision was not publicly shared.
We love that company. We love what we’ve built there. We have a good time and want to stay together.
The winners of the jackpot, which is the largest in the state's history, claimed their prize together the day after the July 24 drawing but the name of only one of the team members was released by the California Lottery.
The players range in age between 21 years old and 60 years old, and reportedly chose to buy a ticket on a whim given the size of the jackpot.
The one identified member of the group, Ronald Reyes, said that the lucky 11 work in the financial industry, but declined to release the name of the company.
All 11 members of the group plan to continue working at their company, according to a news release from California Lottery.
"We love that company," Reyes said, referring to the release. "We love what we’ve built there. We have a good time and want to stay together."
One member of the group said that she planned on investing her earnings wisely so that she doesn't become a "one-time millionaire," according to the release.
In addition to the 11 colleagues, the other winner in the deal was Kewal Sachdev, the co-owner of the store that sold the winning ticket, Ernie's Liquor in San Jose. He gets a prize of $1 million for selling the winning ticket.
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