Business & Tech

UPDATE: Public School Employees to Share Lottery Winnings

According to lottery officials, the three friends went in on a pool, chose the cash payout option, and each will receive about $35 million after taxes.

UPDATE (9:03 a.m.)—Three Maryland public school employees who call themselves "The Three Amigos" will split their share of the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot, officials announced Tuesday.

"If it can't be you, these are precisely the people that you'd want to see win the lottery, and it happened," Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino said Tuesday during a press conference, as reported by CNN.

Each will get just shy of $35 million, because they are splitting the winnings three ways, and have chosen the cash option, according to lottery officials.

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The winners will remain anonymous, lottery officials said, but they gave permission to share some details of their story.

Two of the winners are teachers; one is an administrative employee, according to a news release from the Maryland Lottery.

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They are a woman in her 20s, a man in his 40s and another woman in her 50s.

Each has multiple jobs, and each plans to continue working for the school system. .

Martino declined to say which county the winners were from or in which county they work.

On March 30, at the 7-Eleven, 8014 Liberty Road in Milford Mill, officials have said.

The other two winning tickets were sold in Illinois and Kansas.

The retailer will receive a $100,000 agent bonus for selling the winning ticket, the release states.

The $656 million total payout is reportedly the largest in lottery history.

The Maryland residents get a $218.6 million portion of the jackpot. 

They came into lottery headquarters with a financial advisor and chose the cash option of $158 million, according to a news release from the Maryland Lottery.

After taxes, they will share $105 million, "taking home just under $35 million each," it states.

The announcement Tuesday of the Maryland winners debunks that she had the winning ticket.

Wilson, a mother of seven and resident of the Westport community in Baltimore, is an employee of a Milford Mill McDonald's.

Wilson said she bought Mega Millions tickets in a pool with coworkers, but that .

Later, she said she hid the ticket at the McDonald's and then said she had lost the ticket.

Read more about "The Three Amigos'" plans: .

Towson Patch Editor Tyler Waldman contributed to this report.


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