SHASTA LAKE, Calif. — A group of 15 teachers and administrators at Shasta Lake School, who've been playing the state lottery together for seven years, picked the winning numbers for a $76 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot that was drawn on Saturday.
"I'm happy to say every person who won is at work today," said Helen Herd, principal of Shasta Lake School and one of the region's newest millionaires.
The jackpot was drawn on Saturday and the winning ticket was purchased at a Circle K in town, but the group of school administrators and teachers who bought it didn't know they won until Monday.
Steve Gray, the elementary school's assistant principal, administers the lottery pool that included a school nurse and psychiatrist and teacher's aid and a retiree. The winners range in age from 42 to 63.
Gray collects $104 annually from each participant, banks it, then goes to the Circle K and buys 10 weeks of tickets in advance, playing the same numbers. He only checks for winners when he returns in 10 weeks for a new batch.
On Monday, he unfolded the newspaper and was astonished to see that a gargantuan winning ticket had been issued at the Circle K — his Circle K — and that the winner had not yet claimed the prize.
The winners are not sure how much money each person will get, but Gray figures about $2.5 million after taxes.
Herd said Tuesday that the win is a nice salve on news of pending layoffs in the district, which has forced some to consider early retirements or other options, she said.
"I'm only 46. I'm investing mine. I don't think I can retire," she said.
Shasta Lake School Assistant Principal Steve Gray is tired and all smiles, and back to work Tuesday, after hosting a party Monday night at his home in south Redding for his fellow millionaires. Gray and 14 teachers and workers at school say they have the winning $76 million lottery ticket and plan to go to Sacramento Friday to claim their millions. Gray has been in charge of the lottery pool at the school and his been buying weekly lottery tickets playing 14-23-24-25-44, Mega number 18, since 2002.
way to go!
Gray collects $104 annually from each participant, banks it, then goes to the Circle K and buys 10 weeks of tickets in advance, playing the same numbers.
Now that the way to run a lottery pool. At least nobody will be able to claim they weren't in the day the money was collected to buy tickets.
Congrats to all of them! I like reading stories where multiple people get to share in a jackpot.
congrats to the lucky winners. Its nice to see a lottery group win. I facilitate the lottery pool at my place of employment and all the members were extremely shocked at how professional I handle everything....thanks to all the news stories that I have read on Lotterypost I can honestly say that i will not have the same issues that other pools have had in the past .
and its even better that they are teachers. They are already so extremely underpaid.
That's a nice story, we all know that school teachers are not paid enough. I rather see a group of people win a large jackpot than one individual. We all know what can happen when one person wins too much money.
YOU MAKE A LIVING BY WHAT YOU GET, YOU MAKE A LIFE BY WHAT YOU GIVE
Sir Winston Churchill
Each group member will get their part of the split without having everyone else's money tied up because of any one member's sleazy family or friends.
Which doesn't mean there will be no lawsuits - as long as lawyers exist I won't participate in any pools.
Just what does happen when "one person wins too much money"?And exactly what is "too much money"?
Congratulatons to the winners. I am now next in line.
Years ago, Ohio thought $20M was the right maximum amount for one ticket to win. At the time its Super Lotto jackpots went as high as $70M some times and the adjacent states didn't have their own lottery so many of its winners were from out of state. Ohio came up with the rule that regardless of the advertised jackpot amount, one ticket could only win a $20M jackpot. That rule lasted for about a year after people stopped playing but by that time all the surrounding states had their own lotteries and Ohio state lottery was never as popular again. Fact is the other states not only got their own lotteries but they also joined PowerBall and BigGame and Ohioan were going out of state to play until Ohio joined MegaMillions.
Great story, turn out good...Is good to hear a teacher winning millions....What i don't like is to hear that young guys that appear couple of weeks ago age 24 i think that won....That's why the lottery should specifically choose the winner even if is cheating, i'll also hate to see an ingeeneer or architect or people that make 75K win the jackpot, because is not fair....The lottery is too random...
What does that tell you when teachers have to play the lotto in hopes of a windfall, doesn't it tell you that you need to do something with teachers...
I thought the highest California SuperLotto Plus got was 38 million....
People are Damn greedy...Didn't play the game because the only amount a person could win was 20 million like it wasn't enough...That's why sometimes i don't like Americans....
I think a lot of people feel that they are next.
Madd Mike all I was trying to say is that I am glad it was a group and not just one person. The majority of people who win the lottery are responsible with their windfalls. There are also people who win outrageous jackpots like David Lee Edwards who ended up blowing the money within 5 years of winning the jackpot. There are numerous others who have also blown through their windfalls. I was just stating what COULD happen when one indivdual wins a large jackpot.
" WE MAKE A LIVING BY WHAT WE GET, WE MAKE A LIFE BY WHAT WE GIVE!"
Sir Winston Churchill