Anyone who's ever worked in a restaurant knows it can be a lot of things — demanding, difficult and filled with long hours for very little return.
But for 16 people who toil at a new Yorkville restaurant called "ONE", there was something special on the menu that turned out to be the special of the day — a $4.6 million dollar win in Lotto 6/49.
The workers were telephoned one-by-one with the good news on Thursday and at first many refused to believe it. But it almost didn't happen. The group, some of whom have worked together at other eateries, had never gone in before on a single ticket.
"On Wednesday, I said why are we not doing it here? And we decided to do it," remembers restaurant manager Tim Salmon. "Sixteen people put the money in and that was it. And the rest is history."
So how much does each winner get? It's not quite the fortune that $4 million would suggest. Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on.
Which may explain why the lunch bunch, all between the ages of 21 and 43, wound up coming back to work after being told of their good fortune. And all will continue to show up, secure in the knowledge there's a little nest egg waiting for them just in case.
Most have already made plans for the money. "Buy a house, keep it away from my girlfriend," jokes Eric McEwan, the son of the restaurant's owner and one of the lucky winners. He's serious about the house, but not the 'keeping it from the girlfriend' part. "No. I love her," he assures. "She's good. No, I'm going to buy a house with her."
Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over.
Another hopes to pay off some school loans.
Which means the next time someone stiffs them on a tip, it may not sting quite as much as it used to before Thursday, when they ordered the lottery special — and it put a lot of new hope on their plate.
Thats the trouble with pools...you have to share the jackpot.
"Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on."
I wouldn't complain. Doesn't sound as if these happy winners are too upset about sharing either.
Congratulations to them.
"Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over."
I bet he's singing God Bless America tonight. This brings tears to my eyes. What a nice story.
Here's one thing about playing in a pool and dividing the jackpot up that many ways; all family, friends, and neighbors are going to know is you won the lottery, not how many ways it was split.
(I didn't include co-workers because in this case all the winners were co-workers- but it's probsably a good bet that the ones who go through their winings first will be putting the bite on those who don't blow it all)
But all in all, good for them!
Guest
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Oct 13, 2007
"Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on."
I wouldn't complain. Doesn't sound as if these happy winners are too upset about sharing either.
Congratulations to them.
"Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over."
I bet he's singing God Bless America tonight. This brings tears to my eyes. What a nice story.
Its not that I'm not happy for the 16 winners,I am.But $287,000 is a long way from 4 1/2 million dollars,which is what one person would have received had he been the only winner.I know I would prefer winning 4 1/2 million dollars instead of $287,000.But thats just me...I'm greedy.
Its not that I'm not happy for the 16 winners,I am.But $287,000 is a long way from 4 1/2 million dollars,which is what one person would have received had he been the only winner.I know I would prefer winning 4 1/2 million dollars instead of $287,000.But thats just me...I'm greedy.
A person knows BEFOREHAND that they will end up splitting it with whoever is in the pool with them, so to them it doesn't matter. If they win, great, and if they don't, oh well. If someone asked me if I wanted to put in $1 towards a pool of tickets, I probably will. I'm not going to say, "Well if we have the winning ticket, that means I have to split it with you people, so I'm not going to". $287,000 is still better NOTHING. I'm sure you wouldn't complain if you won $287,000. I also bet you would feel sick to your stomach if someone asked you to join a pool and you didn't because you didn't want to split it with them, and then they won. That's enough to pay off a mortgage. Most people wish they could own their home outright.
Guest
Quote: Originally posted by Guru101 on Oct 13, 2007
A person knows BEFOREHAND that they will end up splitting it with whoever is in the pool with them, so to them it doesn't matter. If they win, great, and if they don't, oh well. If someone asked me if I wanted to put in $1 towards a pool of tickets, I probably will. I'm not going to say, "Well if we have the winning ticket, that means I have to split it with you people, so I'm not going to". $287,000 is still better NOTHING. I'm sure you wouldn't complain if you won $287,000. I also bet you would feel sick to your stomach if someone asked you to join a pool and you didn't because you didn't want to split it with them, and then they won. That's enough to pay off a mortgage. Most people wish they could own their home outright.
I've been asked to join a pool on several occasions and I passed.Its not that I'm against winning,its that I'm against sharing.Its bad enough enough that I'm required to share with the state and federal government.I'm greedy and not ashamed to admit it.It doesn't make sense to me to share a jackpot with several other people when I could possibly have the jackpot to myself.On the other hand,if people want to join a pool and take a portion of the jackpot instead of the whole jacpot,who am I to say they're wrong?What works for some people doesn't always work for others.
I'd be willing to split. The excitement is what it all about to me.. Congrats to the 16 and their families.. What a huge amount of fun money that would be.
I've been asked to join a pool on several occasions and I passed.Its not that I'm against winning,its that I'm against sharing.Its bad enough enough that I'm required to share with the state and federal government.I'm greedy and not ashamed to admit it.It doesn't make sense to me to share a jackpot with several other people when I could possibly have the jackpot to myself.On the other hand,if people want to join a pool and take a portion of the jackpot instead of the whole jacpot,who am I to say they're wrong?What works for some people doesn't always work for others.
I understand what you are writing, but one reason we see so many pools win is that the odds increase quite a bit when 16 or 20 people are buying tickets. If you have enough of your own money (or don't mind blowing it) to buy that many tickets, then maybe a pool isn't for you. I think it's great that all those people won and I agre with tntea it would be very exciting.
However, I also agree that I wouldn't want to split a jackpot 16 ways if I used my own numbers. I've been playing my own numbers for several years and wouldn't want to share them in an office pool. After all, some of those people might be betting for the first time. I also like to play some random numbers or quick picks. However, I assume that people in a pool agree to only split the money from tickets played by the pool, not personal numbers a member bets on her own.
If there is someone here who is a member of a pool and also plays his own numbers or buys extra quick picks, let me know if he feels this would be a conflict.
Guest
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Oct 13, 2007
I understand what you are writing, but one reason we see so many pools win is that the odds increase quite a bit when 16 or 20 people are buying tickets. If you have enough of your own money (or don't mind blowing it) to buy that many tickets, then maybe a pool isn't for you. I think it's great that all those people won and I agre with tntea it would be very exciting.
However, I also agree that I wouldn't want to split a jackpot 16 ways if I used my own numbers. I've been playing my own numbers for several years and wouldn't want to share them in an office pool. After all, some of those people might be betting for the first time. I also like to play some random numbers or quick picks. However, I assume that people in a pool agree to only split the money from tickets played by the pool, not personal numbers a member bets on her own.
If there is someone here who is a member of a pool and also plays his own numbers or buys extra quick picks, let me know if he feels this would be a conflict.
We (my wife & I) buy one Megamillions in Illinois on Tuesday & one on Friday (quick picks).We also buy one Powerball ticket on Wednesday & one on Saturday (we've been playing the same numbers for years).My wife also buys one Hot Lotto for each drawing on Wednesday & Saturday (quick pick).It doesn't matter what size the jackpots are,we only buy one ticket per drawing.My wife sometimes kicks in to a pool at work when the jackpot reaches 100 million dollars,but there are only 5 people in the pool.They have an agreement that if someone hits with their own numbers,the others can't make a claim on it.(We'll see if they feel the same way if one of them hits.)We haven't hit anything big yet,but we keep hoping.My personal numbers have never come up together in the history of Powerball,all of the numbers have hit before,but never in this combination.My wife thinks we should change numbers but I'm sure if we do,these numbers will come up and then I would be pissed!
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Oct 13, 2007
"Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on."
I wouldn't complain. Doesn't sound as if these happy winners are too upset about sharing either.
Congratulations to them.
"Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over."
I bet he's singing God Bless America tonight. This brings tears to my eyes. What a nice story.
Quote: Originally posted by JimmySand9 on Oct 14, 2007
God Bless America? He's in Canada!
Duh!
Thanks for catching that! I read the story but the links to the Canadian Lotto didn't sink in. It's still a nice story. Okay, so maybe he's singing "O, Canada"
(isn't there a Yorkville, IL? Just googled it and there are a lot of Yorkvilles.)
justxploring, I read something a long while back on just that subject! From what I remember, it said, "as long as you bought the pool tickets at one store" and then made your personal purchase/numbers at another store, then there shouldn't be any conflict! But if you were to purchase all tickets at the same store and the others in the pool knew that, then you are bound to have a court battle on your hands if your numbers won! Best thing to do is to buy the pool tickets at one store and then a few hours later buy your personal tickets at the store you always buy your tickets from! Never buy pool tickets from the same store you buy your personal tickets from, "that's a no, no".
Thats the trouble with pools...you have to share the jackpot.
"Divided 16 ways, it comes to roughly $287,000 apiece. It's a nice chunk of change, but certainly not enough to retire on."
I wouldn't complain. Doesn't sound as if these happy winners are too upset about sharing either.
Congratulations to them.
"Santonur Rashed has something equally important in mind. The native of Bangladesh has been sending money home to his wife. Now he plans to bring her over."
I bet he's singing God Bless America tonight. This brings tears to my eyes. What a nice story.
Here's one thing about playing in a pool and dividing the jackpot up that many ways; all family, friends, and neighbors are going to know is you won the lottery, not how many ways it was split.
(I didn't include co-workers because in this case all the winners were co-workers- but it's probsably a good bet that the ones who go through their winings first will be putting the bite on those who don't blow it all)
But all in all, good for them!
Its not that I'm not happy for the 16 winners,I am.But $287,000 is a long way from 4 1/2 million dollars,which is what one person would have received had he been the only winner.I know I would prefer winning 4 1/2 million dollars instead of $287,000.But thats just me...I'm greedy.
A person knows BEFOREHAND that they will end up splitting it with whoever is in the pool with them, so to them it doesn't matter. If they win, great, and if they don't, oh well. If someone asked me if I wanted to put in $1 towards a pool of tickets, I probably will. I'm not going to say, "Well if we have the winning ticket, that means I have to split it with you people, so I'm not going to". $287,000 is still better NOTHING. I'm sure you wouldn't complain if you won $287,000. I also bet you would feel sick to your stomach if someone asked you to join a pool and you didn't because you didn't want to split it with them, and then they won. That's enough to pay off a mortgage. Most people wish they could own their home outright.
I've been asked to join a pool on several occasions and I passed.Its not that I'm against winning,its that I'm against sharing.Its bad enough enough that I'm required to share with the state and federal government.I'm greedy and not ashamed to admit it.It doesn't make sense to me to share a jackpot with several other people when I could possibly have the jackpot to myself.On the other hand,if people want to join a pool and take a portion of the jackpot instead of the whole jacpot,who am I to say they're wrong?What works for some people doesn't always work for others.
I'd be willing to split. The excitement is what it all about to me.. Congrats to the 16 and their families.. What a huge amount of fun money that would be.
I understand what you are writing, but one reason we see so many pools win is that the odds increase quite a bit when 16 or 20 people are buying tickets. If you have enough of your own money (or don't mind blowing it) to buy that many tickets, then maybe a pool isn't for you. I think it's great that all those people won and I agre with tntea it would be very exciting.
However, I also agree that I wouldn't want to split a jackpot 16 ways if I used my own numbers. I've been playing my own numbers for several years and wouldn't want to share them in an office pool. After all, some of those people might be betting for the first time. I also like to play some random numbers or quick picks. However, I assume that people in a pool agree to only split the money from tickets played by the pool, not personal numbers a member bets on her own.
If there is someone here who is a member of a pool and also plays his own numbers or buys extra quick picks, let me know if he feels this would be a conflict.
We (my wife & I) buy one Megamillions in Illinois on Tuesday & one on Friday (quick picks).We also buy one Powerball ticket on Wednesday & one on Saturday (we've been playing the same numbers for years).My wife also buys one Hot Lotto for each drawing on Wednesday & Saturday (quick pick).It doesn't matter what size the jackpots are,we only buy one ticket per drawing.My wife sometimes kicks in to a pool at work when the jackpot reaches 100 million dollars,but there are only 5 people in the pool.They have an agreement that if someone hits with their own numbers,the others can't make a claim on it.(We'll see if they feel the same way if one of them hits.)We haven't hit anything big yet,but we keep hoping.My personal numbers have never come up together in the history of Powerball,all of the numbers have hit before,but never in this combination.My wife thinks we should change numbers but I'm sure if we do,these numbers will come up and then I would be pissed!
God Bless America? He's in Canada!
Duh!
Thanks for catching that! I read the story but the links to the Canadian Lotto didn't sink in. It's still a nice story. Okay, so maybe he's singing "O, Canada"
(isn't there a Yorkville, IL? Just googled it and there are a lot of Yorkvilles.)
Part of something is better than all of nothing ..... any day!
Congrats to every one of them! Hope they do it again!
.......and at minimum wage, I'm sure even that small amount is well appreciated.
I'm going to share this story with some resturant workers that I know.
litebets.
justxploring, I read something a long while back on just that subject! From what I remember, it said, "as long as you bought the pool tickets at one store" and then made your personal purchase/numbers at another store, then there shouldn't be any conflict! But if you were to purchase all tickets at the same store and the others in the pool knew that, then you are bound to have a court battle on your hands if your numbers won! Best thing to do is to buy the pool tickets at one store and then a few hours later buy your personal tickets at the store you always buy your tickets from! Never buy pool tickets from the same store you buy your personal tickets from, "that's a no, no".