Hey now! It looks like it really pays to join those dang office lottery pools.
Friday morning, the California Lottery announced via Twitter that a group of 11 Santa Clara co-workers won last week's $543 Million Mega Millions jackpot.
The announcement came after more than a week of silence concerning the winners' IDs, and following what would become the largest lottery jackpot prize in California history.
The Northern California team didn't usually form an office pool when similar large prizes came around, but decided to buy a ticket for the July 24 drawing on a whim, according to a statement from the California Lottery.
Everyone, including the group's supervisor, pitched in $2 each, according to lotto officials.
The employees didn't say where they worked, other than that it's "in the financial industry." The winners ranged in age from 21 to 60 and said they planned to keep working.
But let's be fair. It's only been a bit more than a week for these new millionaires. Check back in a year and we'll see if they're still itching to work full time 9-5 jobs!
There's one more million that's being doled out - that one's going to Kewal Sachdev, owner of Ernie's Liquors in San Jose.
This is the store that sold the office pool their lotto ticket, and per official Lottery policy, the owner(s) of the store(s) which sell the winning Mega Millions ticket are to be award $1 million for the sale.
Read more about last month's historic Mega Millions jackpot at the Daily Mail.