Jackpot! Bay Area Office Pool Wins Hefty $543M Lottery Prize

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – A last-minute decision by 11 employees of a financial firm in Santa Clara County to pool together their money and try their hand at a $543 million Mega Millions California Lottery jackpot prize was apparently the right one.

"It was spur of the moment," said Roland Reyes, one of 11 oh-so-lucky office pool members. "'Hey, did you hear about the jackpot? We should play.'"

Just like that, those words set into motion a move that would result in the largest prize ever won on a single California Lottery ticket, lottery officials said Friday in a news release.

Reyes claimed the incredible $543-million prize on behalf of his group, but he didn’t show up alone, lottery officials said. The day after the July 24 draw, each of the 11 office pool members were on hand at the California Lottery’s East Bay District Office in Hayward.

According to lottery officials, the sheer randomness of their win left them dumbfounded.

"If I could win, anybody could win," Reyes said. "We’re just normal people!"

The players, who range in age from 21 to 60, declined to say where exactly it is they work other than it is in the financial industry.

What they did say was they definitely did not have a habit of regular office lottery pools — they simply took a chance on the game by pitching in $2 apiece.

News of their win spread quickly the night of the draw as members called each other for a quick meeting. It was one instance where the winners did not have to worry about telling their supervisor because he was involved in the lottery pool, too.

California’s newest multi-millionaires still plan on working.

"We want to keep our jobs," Reyes said. "We love that company. We love what we’ve built there. We have a good time and want to stay together."

According to lottery officials, the winners have the option of taking the entire annuitized amount of $543 million spread out over 30 years, or taking the final lump-sum cash option of $320.5 million. Both options are before federal taxes. They have mentioned paying off mortgages, kids’ college tuition, helping family members, going back to school and, of course, travel.

"It helps real people and families," Reyes said, realizing how lucky he and his co-workers are. The group nodded in agreement, with one co-worker stressing that she’d invest wisely to avoid becoming a "one-time millionaire."

The group declined to speak with the media or to have their photo released.

What they did divulge was why they bought their tickets where they did. Reyes told lottery officials he knew they wanted to buy from a small business owner.

"We’ll probably have a better chance with a mom & pop shop," Reyes said of his thought process before pulling up to Ernie’s Liquors, 2808 South White Road in San Jose.

The winning ticket, a Quick Pick®, successfully matched the numbers 19-2-4-1-29 and the Mega number 20.

Kewal Sachdev, co-owner of Ernie’s Liquor, will receive the maximum retailer bonus from the Lottery of $1 million just for selling the lucky jackpot ticket.

Lottery officials reiterated that the final revised jackpot amount of $543 million was the largest prize won in California Lottery history. California sold $123.8 million worth of Mega Millions tickets during this jackpot run which began on May 8 and took 23 draws (22 rolls) for someone to finally hit the huge $543-million jackpot.

Schools win, too. The estimated contribution to California public education from this Mega Millions run is nearly $50 million, lottery officials said. Based on preliminary figures for Fiscal Year 2017-2018, per-pupil lottery funding — assuming lottery monies are distributed evenly to each student — comes out to an estimated $204 per student.

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images