Sixteen co-workers at a Manhattan office have been pooling lottery money for years -- and it has finally paid off.
The group won $58 million in the Mega Millions jackpot drawn on March 24 and its members are now splitting the cash.
Each person will walk away with a 6.25 percent share of the net winnings ($25,369,729). That amounts to more than $1.65 million per winner.
The lucky colleagues, who work at Manhattan biopharmaceutical company Ophthotech, are now calling themselves the "Lucky 16 Trust."
The Lucky 16 have been playing together since 2010, with each member contributing $4 in multi-state game tickets every week.
Evelyn Harrison, the group's spokeswoman and company COO, said the Lucky 16 is a close group made up of senior executives, administrative staff and "everyone in between."
Each member is emailed copies of the purchased tickets so everyone's in the loop.
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When word got around that the jackpot winner was sold in the company's building, members were glued to their computer screens, checking their tickets.
And what they saw were numbers worth millions in cash: 02 – 23 – 32 – 45 – 55 – Mega Ball 12.
The group huddled in a conference room to take in the news and do some jumping around.
“There was a lot of energy in that room," Matthew Jung, one of the Lucky 16, said. "We told ourselves to focus on work like nothing had happened. But, something did happen, and, to be honest, we didn't accomplish a lot that day."
Some of the winners plan to pay off school loans and mortgages with the cash, while others will invest the money for retirement.
The jackpot-winning ticket was purchased at Carlton Cards at 1 Penn Plaza in Manhattan.
