A few dozen middle school employees in Kentucky banded together to play the lottery, and they won a $1 million prize.
The group of current and former employees of Rector A. Jones Middle School in Florence calls itself the “Jones 30” and has played the lottery for over a decade.
“We all taught at the same school at one point or another,” one winner told the Kentucky Lottery, according to a press release.
“We’ve got counselors, admins, special ed teachers, the school nurses,” she added. “Some have moved on or retired, but we still continue to do it. We’ve remained buddies for all of these years.”
On January 30, the group carpooled to the lottery’s office after work to collect their winnings from the Powerball drawing on the 27th: $24,000 each, after taxes. After playing the same numbers weekly since 2019, they matched every one except for the Powerball number.
A retired math teacher kept the group organized, stashing the winning ticket in a math textbook, she told the Kentucky Lottery.
“No one looks in a math book,” she said. “I knew it would be safe thereā¦page 200. I have checked this a thousand times.”
They say they will continue playing the lottery together.
“A lot of us have gone on trips together. We’ve had babies and grandbabies over the years,” one winner said in the press release. “We always have so much fun. It’s just cool to win as a group and share this experience.”
