'Lucky 13' in Westerville [Ohio] are Powerball winners
By Doug Alden
Associated Press
July 30, 1998
A group of 13 machine shop workers calling
themselves "The Lucky 13" hold the single winning
Powerball lottery ticket worth a record $295.7
million, their lawyer said today.
"They're in a state of shock," attorney Larry Sturtz of
Columbus said.
He said the workers each kicked in $10 to buy 130 tickets for Wednesday's drawing.
One worker made the 100-mile trip to Richmond, Ind., the nearest location where they
are sold.
Hoosier Lottery officials could not confirm who won, but spokeswoman Diane Balk said
the winning ticket was sold at the Richmond Speedway gas station, just over the state line
from Ohio. The buyer chose the $161.5 million lump-sum payment rather than the larger
jackpot spread over 25 years, she said.
Sturtz said the 13 workers met with him today at their plant, Automation Tooling Systems,
which makes industrial parts in an office park in the Polaris area. The company, which has
about 170 employees, let them go to lunch early so the 13 could blend into the departing
crowd and get past a throng of reporters and photographers.
The Lucky 13, who dubbed themselves that
when they began playing lotteries years ago,
decided as a group to remain anonymous
for as long as they can and not say anything
publicly, Sturtz said. He advised them to
meet with lawyers and financial advisers
and to "learn how to say no." He said the
ticket was in a safe-deposit box and would
be taken to Indiana by armored vehicle.
By midmorning, workers outside the plant
were joking around, giving each other
high-fives and receiving a cake. Sean Allen, general manager of nearby Allen Computer
Supplies, said he delivered the cake to congratulate the lucky employees at ATS.
Jenny Bixler told WCMH-TV that her brother, who has three children, was among the
winners. She spoke to reporters near her brother's modest home.
"They're moving, I'm sure," she said. Sturtz said the winners were factory workers.
Hoosier Lottery Director James Maguire said nobody had officially claimed the prize. He
said they would have 180 days to do so.
Debbie Person, manager of the convenience store that sold the ticket, said she didn't
believe a customer who gave her the news this morning.
"I didn't know about it at 5 a.m. when I came in. At seven, the police came by and asked
if we needed help," said Person.
The previous record jackpot for a single winner was $195 million, also in the Powerball
game, won by an Illinois couple in May.
The huge jackpot in Wednesday's drawing, swelled by repeated drawings in which no
one won the top prize, created a sensation in the 20 states where Powerball is sold -- and
in neighboring states where hopefuls sometimes drove for hours for a chance at the big
one.
So many tickets were sold, lottery officials had said there was a 90 percent chance there
would be more than one winner.
"We certainly expected two or three (tickets). But this stuff happens," said Chuck Strutt,
executive director of the Des Moines, Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which
oversees the game.
Strutt said the winning numbers drawn Wednesday night -- 8, 39, 43, 45, 49, and
Powerball 13 -- were less likely to be chosen.
"Human beings tend to pick numbers that mean something to them -- birthdays, which
would of course be 31 or less -- and things like that," he said today.
In all, customers in the 20 states and Washington, D.C., which also takes part in
Powerball, snapped up $210.8 million worth of tickets for the drawing. That had
Powerball's inventor questioning whether it had gotten too big.
"It's not appropriate that we allow people to spend six hours or 10 hours in line to buy a
ticket," said Ed Stanek, executive director of the Iowa Lottery. "It's not appropriate that
we have traffic jams in any city in the country waiting to buy tickets."
With 80.1 million possible combinations, a player's chance of winning was remote. The
odds only fanned the frenzy of would-be multimillionaires who wagered $1 per ticket.
Hours-long lines snaked outside many of the 45,000 retailers selling Powerball tickets,
particularly in towns near state lines bombarded by players from non-Powerball states.
By the time the winning numbers were drawn, the jackpot that earlier had been estimated
at $250 million rose to $292 million. After Missouri updated its sales total, the jackpot
grew to $295.7 million, if the player opted to take the money over 20 years.
"We knew that we met our $250 million mark toward the end of business on Tuesday and
we were actually thinking it might break $300 million, but it looks like it didn't quite do it,"
Strutt said.
Only one other lottery game has come close to the Powerball record. Last year's
Christmas lottery drawing in Spain -- named "El Gordo," or "the Fat One" -- had a $270
million purse, but the grand prize was only $2 million.
cd.columbus.oh.us |
