After playing for nearly a decade, one group of Kentucky co-workers finally becomes Powerball winners in a big way.
Everyone loves a great victory dance, especially when it’s with a lively group of co-workers. And it’s even more thrilling when you and those fellow colleagues are doing a victory dance in celebration of a winning Powerball ticket. That’s just what happened to one Frankfort, KY group of employees. And the victory was indeed extra sweet, considering they’d been collectively playing in their workplace Powerball pool for ten years. Here’s their story. And it might just inspire you to put together a workplace pool of pals to play Powerball with yourself.
A group of 17 fellow co-workers routinely gathered together and pooled their resources in the hopes of one day striking it rich with a little Powerball. Collectively, they decided they would send one person to purchase a multi-draw Powerball ticket for five weeks in a row. With each new approaching week, the co-workers would check the numbers of the past week before sending someone out to purchase again. And for ten years, this assembly of cohorts kept up with their efforts.
A news release shared the news in May. The co-workers had their dreams come true when one of their Powerball tickets proved to be lucky. It was worth $50,000, and the chosen employee to make the purchase that day called back to the workplace to let the group know they had won.
She told officials with the Kentucky Lottery that she didn’t “want to get anyone’s hopes up” without having a chance to check the tickets at the retailer and look into the claims process for such a win. The winning ticket managed to match four white balls and the red Powerball.
Reports of the win came without names. The group of 17 co-workers chose to remain anonymous. Additionally, they opted to keep their employer out of the headlines, too. It was shared, however, that the winning Powerball ticket had been purchased from a Speedway in Waddy, Kentucky. The retailer earned $500 for having sold a winning ticket.
Each of the 17 fellow co-workers is said to take home a little more than $2,000 each, after taxes. And collectively, they insist no one was quitting their job, and they’ll continue to play, just as they had before. One player shared he planned to surprise his wife with a big gift for their upcoming anniversary. Another is putting the cash towards a down payment on a new house. The others cited saving the cash and paying off bills.
This latest Powerball winning story is just a reminder that fun office pools can absolutely win. This group of 17 won. And many other headlines in recent years share similar tales of co-working pals matching Powerball numbers for big wins. So, have some fun with your office mates. Set some ground rules for how you’ll all play, who will make the purchases, and what you’ll each pitch in to buy. And more importantly, you'll want to make sure you have a clear and agreed-upon outline of how you’ll handle any size winning Powerball ticket. Smaller prizes might be worth reinvesting in the next week’s game. Larger amounts will require a plan that everyone can agree makes the most sense.
This Kentucky group of co-workers got lucky. And while it wasn’t a massive jackpot, it was enough to help them all out with some extra cash. Start a workplace pool with your co-workers and see how long it takes your group to make it in the news!