8 Workers share biggest US lottery prize - 365 million dollars
Published: February 23, 2006
Eight Nebraska meat-plant workers Wednesday claimed the biggest lottery prize in US history, each netting 15.5 million dollars as their share of a 365 million-dollar jackpot.
The seven men and one woman who pooled their bets included Congolese refugee Alain Maboussou and two Vietnamese immigrants - including the man who bought the ticket with the lucky six numbers.
‘I feel only lucky,’ Dung Tran, who emigrated from Vietnam 16 years ago, told a televised ceremony in the state capital Lincoln where the winners received symbolic checks.
He said he was scared after finding out that the group won and has been unable to sleep.
Peppered with reporters’ questions, the giddy winners joked about the money, how they found out they had won and in response to repeated queries whether they were single.
While they did not reveal what they planned to do with the money, most said they had quit their job.
‘I have been retired for about four days now,’ quipped Eric Zornes, who said he was ‘a little excited’ when he won.
‘That’s about all I can say. What can you do with that kind of money?’ he said.
Winners found out about their luck several days ago, but the announcement was deferred in part to get them all together. Some of them came to the prize ceremony from an overnight shift at their ConAgra meat processing plant, which makes ham and corned beef.
Some winners said they have played the lottery for years, while others had joined only recently.
Quang Dao, a US immigrant and father of five, said he would use some of the money to help his family in Vietnam.
Maboussou, who fled the Republic of the Congo with his family in 1999, said he plans to finish his studies in business administration. He also said the money would make his 3-month-old child happy for the rest of its life.
Maboussou was cautious when he heard he was part of the winning group: A co-worker had played a prank on him a week ago and told him he had won the lottery. Maboussou said he told his wife that it probably was another joke - but this time, it was for real.
Powerball involves choosing five numbers from 55, plus an extra number from 42 numbers. The odds of hitting the jackpot are 146 million to 1, according to Powerball.
The winners chose to take a lump sum of 124.1 million dollars after taxes instead of annual payments that would have amounted to 365 million dollars before taxes.
‘We’ve all been working together for a long time so we all know each other,’ said Chasity Rutjens, the lone female winner. ‘I just want to make sure it lasts me the rest of my life so I don’t have to return to work.’
James Hoppe, the group’s lawyer, quipped that he wanted to be the ninth winner but all he got was an adoption offer from one of the winners.
Michael Terpstra said he never expected to win and played the lottery mostly for fun. It gave the co-workers something to talk about and a chance to fantasize about buying an island or a plane, he said.
The reality is, Terpstra said to great laughter, that he is ‘not a big fan of flying’ and does not ‘really like water.’
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