It was an office pool, a whim purchase of lottery ticket’s which lead to 11 co-workers winning the grand $543,000,000 prize with the Mega Millions Lottery! The group, are from Santa Clara County and work in the financial industry, they have chosen to keep their identities anonymous apart from Roland Reyes, who stepped forward on behalf of the group to claim the money. The group of people in the pool, range from 21 to 60 in age, and say they do not regularly play in a pool; however, this occasion was different as the jackpot rolled so high, they all decided to pitch in $2 a piece and purchase tickets from a small business owner. This was because Reyes believed they would have the best chances from a local ownership store, over a chain brand so he chose Ernie’s Liquors in the end which is located at 2808 South White Road which is in San Jose, Santa Clara County. The winning ticket, happened to be a Quick Pick which matched up all the numbers which were: 19, 2, 4, 1, 29 and Mega Number 20, and on this occasion the workers didn’t have to fret over telling their supervisor as he was involved in the pool – yet they claim they will be keeping their jobs as they all love the company they are working for. They will now have the opportunity to choose between a lump sum of $320.5 million or gradual instalments over a number of years for the full prize amount. Lots of talking, and conversation has been going on, ranging from paying for children’s tuition, mortgage pay-offs, helping family and travelling. They said they all feel very lucky, and the lottery is something which helps real people – one winner said she will for sure invest her portion to avoid becoming a one-off millionaire. The retailer will also receive a $1 million bonus for selling the winning ticket.