NJ insurance workers' payout: $216M lottery win
By SAMANTHA HENRY – 3 days ago
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) — Robert Space got into work at the
Chubb Insurance company at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, realized the lottery
ticket he was holding matched the winning numbers, and fired off a
one-line e-mail to his nine co-workers who had pitched in to buy it.
"We won the big one," it read.
The
replies came back instantly: "Hahahaha" wrote one. "GREAT. Where do I
pick up the cash?" joked another. Then they saw the ticket for
themselves.
Space and his colleagues hit the second-largest
single-ticket jackpot in New Jersey history, winning $216 million in
the Mega Millions jackpot.
"I feel incredibly blessed. I can't
even absorb it," Space said, surrounded by stunned colleagues and
clutching the winning ticket during a news conference at their office
in the central New Jersey town of Whitehouse Station.
Space, with
$5 from each colleague, said he bought 50 quick-pick tickets Monday
afternoon at the Singin Oil gas station in the shore town of Toms River.
Space stopped by the gas station again Wednesday morning to get a printout of the winning numbers to check the tickets.
"I
jokingly asked him (the attendant) if anyone had won and if it was sold
here, but he didn't know," Space said. So he stuffed the list in his
pocket.
It wasn't until an hour or so later that Space had time
to review the numbers, scanning each row and growing increasingly
shocked as first one, then two, then three — then six numbers matched.
He called his wife to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, then sent out
the e-mail.
"It takes a lot of stress out of life," Space said of
the winnings. The 10 will split a $216 million annuity or a one-time
payout of about $140 million.
Lottery officials say no one has
officially come forward to claim the prize yet. The 10 have not
discussed when they will claim the prize but have a year to do so.
Taner
Cetintas of Jackson, the owner of Singin Oil, will collect $10,000 for
selling the ticket. Cetintas, a Turkish immigrant who worked for
decades as a gas station manager before saving up enough to buy Singin
Oil in January, said he was happy for his customer, and his own bonus
would help pay bills.
The six men and four women who won said
they've worked in Chubb's IT division from seven to 30 years and had
been buying tickets together for years.
Their usual ticket buyer,
Alan Mooney, always stops by colleagues' desks to collect ticket money,
asking "Are ya in?" Mooney, who was among the winners, was in Florida
on business. Space said Mooney was hurrying back to New Jersey,
"upgrading to first class," he joked.
Space said there were some colleagues who had opted out of this ticket buy.
One
regular buyer, Oscar Oviedo, had asked Space to count him in and
promised $5 for his share. Space rushed over to him early Wednesday
morning and demanded the money.
"I thought: 'How rude!'" Oviedo
said with a laugh, recalling how he handed over $5, unsure why Space
was being so insistent. "Then he said, 'OK, thanks — you're a
millionaire.'"
The winning numbers were: 26, 32, 35, 43, 52 and the Mega Ball was 10.
In
addition to Space, of Manchester Township; Mooney, of Budd Lake; and
Oviedo, of Stewartsville, the other winners are: Gerard Solas, of
Hillsborough; Anne LaFontaine, of Summit; Linda Harrington, of Bay
Head; Melanie Jacob, of Alexandria Township; Joanne Roth, of Basking
Ridge; Bill Bollwage, of Bridgewater; and Todd Ellis, of Maplewood.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
