A group of local 16 New Jersey service maintenance workers will be splitting the prize amount given as part of the New Jersey Powerball lottery ticket valued at $86,054,355. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this group is that majority of the members belonging to this group had lost their homes during the onset of Hurricane Sandy in October last year. The group has begun to call themselves the Ocean’s 16.

$3.87 Million per Winner!

The prize money works out to be $3.87 million per person in the 16 person group. A winner belonging to that group, Darlene Riccio, said that she would now be able to buy an apartment or two as she had lost her home during Hurricane Sandy. She couldn’t hold back her tears as she and her 15 colleagues took to the stage facing an avalanche of TV cameras at the Ocean County Public Library. Riccio said to the gathered media that her first task would be to buy an apartment for herself and her daughter and try to find their dog and bring it home. The group was formally introduced by the New Jersey State Lottery Executive director.

”Too Hard to Believe”

Darlene Riccio told the media that she is still not able to believe this lottery prize money. She says that she is in shock. Another winner, Barbara, happens to the daughter of a person who had made buying lottery tickets possible in the state of New Jersey. Barbara is the daughter of Senator John. F. Brown, who signed the legislation and paved the way for the lottery to enter New Jersey. Barbara today the gathering that she immediately informed her sister on hearing the news. Her only regret is the absence of her father and mother to share the exciting news with them. Barbara added that her father would be smiling from the sky.

Another person belonging to the lucky group, Lisa, said that all the members belonged to the Ocean County department of vehicle services in Tom’s River. Lisa added that each member in the group bought 3 tickets at $3 each for a total of 48 tickets. Lisa said that she went to Acme to buy the Powerball ticket as part of the group and the very next day, she found her number matching one of the winning numbers.

A New Jersey State Record

The state’s lottery director, Hedinger, informed the media that it was the first time that New Jersey sold two lottery winning tickets. Last Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot was $448 million, out of which $258 million was reserved as cash prize money. This $258 million would be split evenly between the three winning tickets, two in New Jersey and one in Minnesota. Apart from one ticket bought at the Acme Center by Lisa, another winning ticket was bought at Super Stop and Shop at South Brunswick, and that prize is still to be claimed. Acme, which sold the winning ticket to Lisa, will get a commission of $30,000 for selling the winning Powerball ticket. On Monday all the 16 members rode in a chartered bus to the lottery office in Trenton to get the confirmation.