Jackpot!
NEW YORK & INDIANA
Winning the lottery in a group might be less money, but it’s definitely more fun.
So says Clayton LaRose of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/ AFSCME Local 1000 — and he should know: LaRose and his co-workers in the Norwood-Norfolk School District in upstate New York split half of a $10 million lottery ticket this winter.
"We had nine people benefit, rather than a single person," says LaRose, who was the first to realize their pool had won. LaRose kept the tickets locked in his office desk over the weekend and told his co-workers they had won the Saturday night lottery as they arrived at work Monday morning.
"I don’t usually win anything," says Geneth Tarallo, a bus driver and president of CSEA’s Unit 8409. "I didn’t believe Clayton until I saw how he was shaking."
Bus driver Eddie Bishop wanted to share the good news, but he couldn’t remember his own phone number. "I went to call my wife and tried to dial the number and forgot what it was," reports Bishop, also a member of CSEA/AFSCME.
After taxes, each share in the pool was worth $130,000. The winners received their checks in January.
All of them are keeping their jobs, says Tarallo. Some have used the money to pay bills, make repairs on their homes, pay off college loans for their children; most have saved some or all of it for retirement. Bus driver and CSEA/AFSCME member Maggie Adams went to town with her winnings.
"Maggie’s had the most fun with the money," says Tarallo. "She bought herself a home, a car, furniture, everything. She was just ecstatic."
INSTALLMENT PLAN. AFSCME Local 3736 (Council 62) member Deb Lindner’s advice on playing the numbers: "Choose the cash option." She and her co-workers at the Allen County Department of Family and Children in Fort Wayne, Ind., won a million dollars this winter — but will receive the money in 25 installments over 25 years. After taxes, each share in the pool is worth $87,000 — or about $3,500 a year.
Lindner and fellow AFSCME member Margaret Klinger split a share in the pool, so each will receive $1,700 a year.
Joyce Jordan, also an AFSCME member, says she likes the annual installments too. "It’s not so exciting, but it’s a sum I can manage. I know what $3,000 is. I don’t know what $80,000 is. If I had $87,000, I think I’d be giving it away. I know too many people who need things. I’d probably spend that just as quick as I’d spend the $3,000."
The eight members of the pool received their first checks this January and have used them to pay bills, buy major appliances, make extra mortgage payments, travel and invest.
AFSCME member Fe Shaw says she doesn’t plan to quit the lottery now that she’s won. "On a small scale, yes, I’ll keep playing," she says. "On a large scale, no. The odds are against you."
Of course, she now has a history of beating the odds.
