By Todd Northrop
The California Lottery says last month's $543 million Mega Millions jackpot was won by 11 members of an office pool that played on a whim.
A Lottery statement Friday says Roland Reyes and the others showed up at its Hayward office on the east side of San Francisco Bay the day after the July 24 draw.
The members declined to say where they work, other than that it is in the financial industry and they plan to keep their jobs — despite winning $47.5 million each.
"It was spur of the moment. 'Hey, did you hear about the jackpot? We should play,'" one of the winners, Roland Reyes, told the California Lottery.
Everyone pitched in $2 and got a huge return on their investment.
The group declined to speak to media or be photographed. The pool members' ages range from 21 to 60.
"We want to keep our jobs," one winner said. "We love that company. We love what we've built there. We have a good time and want to stay together."
The group's total payout is $543 million over 29 years or a lump-sum option of $320.5 million. Both options are before taxes.
The winning ticket was sold at Ernie's Liquors in San Jose. Reyes said the group figured they had a better chance at winning if they bought their tickets from a small shop.
The owner of Ernie's Liquors received a $1 million bonus for selling the jackpot ticket, lottery officials said.
It's the second major lottery jackpot won in San Jose over the past few years. In 2013, a California delivery driver won half of a $648 million Mega Millions jackpot in the city. (See California delivery driver claims half of $648 million jackpot, Lottery Post, Jan. 3, 2014.)
California's Lucky Eleven!
"The group declined to speak to media or be photographed." This is a very smart thing to do. They are protecting their private lives as well as where they work.
$47.5 million each!! Before taxes.
The owner of Ernie's Liquors was hoping for a 1% of the jackpot amount. He had to settle for only $1 million dollars USD.
I enjoy the song by the Carpenters, "Do you know the way to San Jose?"
Wow thats the best news I've read all day.
congrats and happy spending!!
music*; Dionne Warwick sang that a long time before the Carpenters ever did!
Another feel good story for the week!
With the cash option minus federal taxes divided by 11.... Take home of $18.3 Million each....
and still want to keep your jobs ? You lucky folks are much more dedicated than I am....
Enjoy your newly acquired riches
This is a feel good story on many levels.lnstead of a single winner, we have 11. By all accounts, their contribution to winning this sizable jackpot : $22.00- total.
More importantly: No photo shoot, no names being given except Roland who l take it, is carrying one for the team. Roland is probably single, no gf, ex wife who can come after him for who knows what.The others are divulging very little about themselves or their plans & private life-Nice! This is exactly the way l would do it. But first, l have to win...
Love this story. They may be keeping their jobs a bit so they can properly divest from clients and assign their work to others. They could have some sort of license so they want to remain in good standing. I keep telling myself I could wind down and transfer my work load in a month.
Good to hear that a group of people got to enjoy the prize instead of just one person. The State of California was the second big winner with the taxes they will collect on the winnings.
What taxes gator? The one Freebie CA gives lottery winners, is no taxes on their winnings.The Feds are a total different story though.
Good for the group.
Never assume a solo winner.
Remember in Bruce Almighty when he tried to answer everyone's prayers and the next scene was a guy in a car that yelled out "The lottery sucks, I won $17."?
I did not know that. Well then that is quite a tax savings. One of the few.
It's great that they could remain anonymous. It's also great that they didn't start scrabbling about the jackpot, as many syndicates do.
Good luck to them!
I agree. Second you. Awesome
You can not remain anonymous in California. The only way would be for only one person to claim and then pay additional gift taxes when he gave the other 10 their cut who would also have to pay taxes - both state & federal, on their cut. Insane.
I dont know why the paper didnt publish their names now but I am sure some one will. Regardless, you could probably send an email to the Calif lottery and request the names which must be public by law.
Anyway, if you want to feel like one of the lucky eleven, buy a MM ticket for tonight. The take home is $18,648,000 after federal taxes.
Yep! Another feel good Lottery story!
Redd55,
I guess you missed noise-gates' post;
What taxes gator? The one Freebie CA gives lottery winners, is no taxes on their winnings.The Feds are a total different story though.
* Voice of Reason *
What a wonderful story! Congrats to the winners!
Coin Toss Redd is talking about gifts taxes not state income tax. What he is saying is that per California's rules a person or persons can not stay hidden..there name must be made public even before someone makes a request. But what we see in this post is that 11 people won yet only one was names. This goes against California own rules. Redd then goes on to say the only way you can do this would be for one person to collect the whole thing and then give the money to the other people but that would be a huge gift which would be taxed at 40% per person. Which means if I gave you 10 million dollars as a gift I would owe the IRS 4million on top of that. This is why Redd is saying that this is expensive. I don't really know all the rules but just by reading the story either someone lying and said that they are in a group with 11 people or something else is going on. I could totally see a single person winning especially considering where it was won but then during the interview fabricating a whole story by saying there are 10 other people who won as well yada yada yada.
Either way Im happy that someone won rather it be 1 person or 100 so getting the truth of this story is not a big deal to me. Although Redd55 I do agree considering this which I copied (coming from the CA lottery webpage)
Can I be anonymous when I win?
"California state law requires that the California State Lottery release the winner’s name and the name and location of the retailer where the winning ticket was bought."
If you look at that it makes it sound like 1 person collected the winnings which means either it was a financial adviser or something similar or the 11 people is simply just 1.
HUGE EDIT ALERT: So right after I read this story i looked online and there were 10 other winners named as well(all working for Wells Fargo) which means my whole comment can be deleted. I would delete it but I spent a lot of thought into writing all that. LOL
Keep working not me I would quit for less like to see how long they keep working
Thanks. I would add that besides the gift tax, the people receiving the gift are stuck with both federal and state taxes on the gift, too.
Congrats to all the winners, nice to see so many get a nice check.
protecting their private lives and where they work?
--> Roland Reyes
it won't be hard to find where that person works or who the other members of the group is...
they need to let people stay anonymous because it's very dangerous to go public
I also don't agree with them keeping their jobs, that's a liability if and when people find out.. lol.. I would have to move with that much money.
By law every winner's name is public. As paymentplan-man posted above, he already found all 11 winners names and their place of employment online. Unfortunately, California refuses to allow people to remain anonymous.
yeah that sucks... it's good that 11 people won instead of just one person though!
In addition to Reyes, the winners were identified as Marigold Villaruz, Rita Sinha, Murad Kureshi, Nga Lam, My Nguyen, Solonachchige Dissanayake, Isabel Dominguez, Alejandra Villanueva, Alice Socorro and Joji Ziegele. They all work for a Wells Fargo branch in San Jose.
You sure I only remember reading that the giver is subject to paying gift tax on any money given that excludes the lifetime amount of 11.2 Million (until 2025). I mean I even went back and read a few pages just to make sure things have not changed. The way I see it it's called a "gift" because for the receiver its all free money.
That is why people who work for lotteries (like Chip Polsten in Kentucky) say it is better to do a short press conference, stand up there and answer a few questions, and then go on your way. Because if you try to keep your identity a secret, the press (or just everyday citizens) will dig and dig until they find out what they want to know -- and that digging often reveals stuff that people would rather not talk about.
By doing the press conference the press is satisfied that they have a story to tell, and often the digging does not take place.
I know there's nothing fail-safe about that approach, but it does make sense with the realities of human nature.
I wonder if it'll be ok to lie and say you are going to donate it all to an unnamed charity so people will think you have no money left...
Just put it in a trust and say an attorney controls it with preset written guidelines that cannot be changed.
You wondering if it is ok to lie 4me? The " problem with lying" is that you could become real comfortable with it, that you end up believing your own lies.Which is not a good thing. Just learn to say NO! Now you can get comfortable with those words, up to a point.
* Lesson #1- is complete.
I would rather prefer the lottery * IF they must know your identify, just use your first & middle initials. Period!
Lets say you won, let's say your name is Jason Patrick Clarke. I would grand full consent to them posting JP Clarke. If asked by nefarious characters " Hey man, was that you who won that huge jackpot?" You can always say," l doubt l am the only one with those initials!" It's a clean response, and it could *work.
paymentplanman,
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/estates/the-gift-tax-made-simple/L5tGWVC8N
The gift tax only kicks in after lifetime gifts exceed $5.49 million in 2017
The first thing to know about the federal gift tax is that gift givers—not gift recipients—have to pay it. Thankfully, you won’t owe the tax until you’ve given away more than $5 million in cash or other assets during your lifetime.
The lifetime exclusion will be raised to $5.49 million in 2017. If you’re married, your spouse is entitled to a separate $5.49 million in 2017. So actually owing the gift tax is not a concern for most folks. But you may still have to file gift tax returns even though you don’t owe any tax. So please keep reading.
The annual gift tax exclusion provides additional shelter
The annual federal gift tax exclusion allows you to give away up to $14,000 in 2017 to as many people as you wish without those gifts counting against your $5 million lifetime exemption. (After 2017, the $14,000 exclusion may be increased for inflation.)
Say you give two favored relatives $20,000 each in 2017 and give another relative $10,000. The $20,000 gifts are called taxable gifts because they exceed the $14,000 annual exclusion. But you won’t actually owe any gift tax unless you’ve exhausted your lifetime exemption amount.
Assuming you haven’t, the two taxable gifts simply reduce your lifetime exemption by $12,000 [($20,000 - $14,000) x 2 = $12,000]. The $10,000 gift is ignored, because it’s below the $14,000 annual exclusion.
If you give three individuals $14,000 each in 2017, these gifts are ignored because they don’t exceed the annual exclusion.
Some gifts are tax-exempt
Among others, the following types of gifts are exempt from the federal gift tax so you can make unlimited gifts in these categories without any gift tax or estate tax consequences and without having to file gift tax returns:
So CT- if l cut a Check for a million to an individual or charity, am l off the hook in paying taxes on that? I just got up a little while ago. l am not firing on *all cylinders at present.. enlighten me.
Congratulations to all jackpot winners. WTG!
I'm happy they're keeping their jobs until they retire at age 65 each!
Thank You, Todd, For the common sense approach toward short press conferences.
I will give a rosy view of the World. Short and sweet.
I will give the press a comment of where I live and then answer the following questions.
I could do an imitation of Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" How she loves the limelight!
I will also mention Lottery Post, USAMega, and Todd and Staff. I might contact Todd before I claim my prize.
Why you link that to me? Im already aware of those numbers although they are incorrect currently. It's not 5.49Million its 11.2 million until like 2024 (trump signed this into law) I think after that it will go back to 5.49 or whatever the correct inflation amount is.
Yes that's correct no taxes will be owed. However you will have to file something with the IRS since the gift is greater than 15k. Then what will happen is that your 11.2 lifetime exception for giving gifts(until 2024) shrinks down to 10.2 million (minus the 15k which is free yearly per person)
Sounds like good advice.
Was just thinking of all the huge lottery winners that did some sort of press conference over the past many years. The only two I can recollect are Jack Whitaker & David Edwards. For the others including the largest Powerball winner in Massachusetts I have to look her name up.
Sad about Jack Whitaker and especially the late David Edwards. He promised God on the podium @ the news conference that he was changing his ways. Obviously he didn't and got worse. The 'How the lottery changed my Life' show should have updates since the outcomes have changed for a few of them.
Somewhere I read that the winners worked in a stock broker office and that was why they didnt want their names disclosed. Of course I cant find where I read it (but hey it was on the internet so it must be true! ). Then it was a financial institution and now on LP someone mentioned Wells Fargo? Anyone else read anything like this?
Edit: Reyes didn’t disclose where the new multimillionaires work, except to say it is in the financial industry. Group members range in age from 21 to 60, and include a supervisor.
Bleudog101, The largest Powerball winner in Massachusetts is Mavis Wancysk, I believe.
Jack and David Edwards are like the lights that warn us of rocks ahead on the Oceans. What we should not do with the prize money or end up washed ashore all broken.
As one Californian to another music* Do l read you correctly when you say that when you win, you WILL mention LP etc etc, but you " might" contact Todd? What's up with that? Go to the source, bypass the little stuff if you have to. In other words,in your case, do or do not- There is no " might."
Very Poetic music*.." Rocks ahead on the Oceans." I knew there was a valid reason l liked you.
Lighthouse is the name I am remembering.
"might" can be changed to "will".
What is the name of the Star Wars character who is short in stature but full of wisdom? He says, It is not try but do. Something along those lines.
Someone on LP must win tonight's Power Ball. After taxes = $76,356,000.00 But the check the winner gets will be larger because of the tax still owed = $92,112,000.00 Who is ready?
music,
Gee I would think that the San Jose MM winners have taught you that you can never assume a solo winner.
The lucky winners are smart to keep their jobs. With their winnings, they can afford to buy a house in California (not a mansion, just an average house in a decent neighborhood) and pay the cost of keeping it for life, most of which is property taxes.
Thanks for clearing that up for me ppm- there will be no hesitation from me, writing that check after all.Aint life grand?
l am ready, not only for tonight music*, but every night in which a jackpot is drawn. I do confess that l am trying something different, a new playing technique so to speak. Call it a personal upgrade, if you will.It still requires buying a ticket, nonetheless.
It was way too easy for them to win. These players are waiting for Powerball to get big also because they can win that at will.
You got that right CT. It's as if the last time we had a pool win the lottery, Reagan was President.Well, not quite, but..
Coin Toss, I would think that most players assume they will be the sole winner and not sharing with any others.
I do guess that winners can be a pool.
The last one that comes to mind is a pool in Tennessee a few years ago.
Hey stop trying to win my lottery those monies are mine. Im jk good luck my friend I pray that it helps you!!
What is the point of playing jackpot games if your plan is to retire at 65?
Just an educated guess, but none of the 11 will be working after Christmas.
Which part of there was only ONE winning ticket is confusing you?
And how many other winners like Gloria Mackenzie sharing her ONE winning ticket with her son Scott said they planned on sharing their winnings?
Stack 47, We do not know how many other tickets have been purchased when there is only one winning ticket. We must always assume that a pool of players has won future MM & PB games. Until we are shown otherwise.
Gloria C. Mackenzie and her son might have walked into a tax problem. If she said he would get half after winning it herself.
By the way all LP Members I just checked the schedule for TLC's How the Lottery Changed My Life. There are no shows planned through August 18, 2018
The HGTV schedule for My Lottery Dream Home is already on the Discussion Forum.
Good Luck!!
Apparently you're missing my point about only ONE winning ticket.
And because total ticket sales are public record we do know exactly how many tickets are sold in each drawing. There were 77,367,250 tickets sold and another 69,813 "just the jackpot" tickets for the 7/24 drawing. When Gloria Mackenzie had the only winning ticket for the May 18, 2013 drawing, 232,268,274 tickets were sold.
How many people sharing ONE winning ticket is irrelevant as is how they spend their winnings. It appears you're trying to make a distinction because one member of the 11 announcing the ONE prize would be split 11 ways and how a single winner may split their jackpot. Don't you think each of the 11 pool members will share some of their winnings with family and friends?
Your speculation on whether or not Scott has a tax problem pretty much sums up why winners want to remain anonymous and why non-winners like to talk about the winners. Other than validating the ticket winning a $100 million plus after tax jackpot is not "one size fits all" and your state lottery might actually give a list of reparable tax attorneys they worked with in the past.
With around 300 million possible combinations, it's probably unlikely we'll see two QP jackpot winning tickets.
Oh and by the way, the Carpenters did a version of "Do you know the way to San Jose" but Dionne Warwick is better known for singing it.
Yes, but Dionne Warwick recorded that song when the Carpenter's were still in school in Connecticut. Whatever happened to the Brother who played the drums...wasn't it Richard Carpenter?
What's with Florida winning both 2nd prizes this past week for both MM & PB? An augury perhaps, that they are going to win either jackpot? I tend to think that it's probably a snowbird.
" but none of the 11 will be working after Christmas."