$437 Million Mega Millions Jackpot Claimed By Long Island Co-Workers
Wednesday February 20th 2019The $437 million Mega Millions jackpot from January 1 has now been claimed seven weeks after the drawing took place. It was the largest lottery prize ever to be won in the state of New York, and it has now been revealed that the ticket belonged to a group of 23 co-workers from Long Island.
The lucky group claimed their prize as a limited liability company called New Life 2019, LLC, visiting New York Lottery headquarters on Tuesday. They had bought their winning ticket from Brookville Auto Service in Route 25A in Glen Head, matching the numbers 34, 44, 57, 62 and 70, plus the Mega Ball of 14.
Super Pack Ticket
Speaking to lottery officials, representatives of New Life 2019, LLC said that everyone in the group put in $1, and the jackpot-winning ticket was actually bought as part of a $5 Super Pack. The Super Pack includes one Quick Pick game for Powerball, Mega Millions and New York Lotto.
The jackpot was initially advertised as $425 million, but high demand for ticket sales bumped up the final value to $437 million, and the Long Island colleagues have decided to take the cash option of $262 million. With federal and state taxes withheld, the final figure stands at just over $176 million. Split 23 ways, each member of the group is set to take home more than $7.6 million.
Recalling the moment when they found out they had won, the group said it was an emotional time. Everyone returned to work two days after the drawing and there was a lot of hugging, crying and jumping, with some of the members eager to keep checking the ticket to make sure they had won.
Most of the employees plan to carry on working as they are such close friends that they see each other as family and not just co-workers. Some of them are looking forward to buying new houses, while other plans include traveling the world and providing college funds for their children.
Don’t Forget To Claim
While the New York winners have now come forward, the wait is still going on for the South Carolina player who won a record $1.5 billion last October. The South Carolina player is missing out on around $40,000 of interest every day by waiting to claim the prize, and will miss out on the prize entirely if they fail to come forward before April 21.
Each state has its own rules about how long winners have to claim prizes, but you can help yourself to make sure you don’t miss out on any awards by checking your tickets after each drawing.
The jackpot, meanwhile, has continued to grow since New Year’s Day and is already back up to $224 million following a 14th successive rollover on Tuesday night.
Latest News