$55-Million Lotto Prize Split 9 Ways : San Diego Group of 20 to Share One of Winning Tickets

A group of friends who pooled their money came forward today with one of the nine winning tickets in the California lotto drawing for a jackpot of $55 million that sparked a midweek frenzy of ticket buying.

The winnings of the group of 20 people will come only to about $15,000 each a year for 20 years.

But somewhere out there may be individuals about to collect $6.1 million--the amount lottery spokesman John Schade said the winning tickets in Wednesday’s Lotto 6/49 drawing are worth. The nine winners were purchased in Milpitas, Pomona, Baker, Hesperia and Sherman Oaks, with two purchased in San Diego and two in Los Angeles, he said.

That won’t come as good news to two Northern California men who took an expensive shot at the $55-million pot by buying 20,000 tickets.

Jerry Therault and an unidentified neighbor put down $20,075 for quick-pick tickets at the Village Bottle Shop in Scotts Valley. There were no jackpot winners in Scotts Valley.

Couldn’t Believe Eyes

Therault and his wife, Mary-Ann, had neighbors over Wednesday night to help check numbers on the piles of lotto tickets. He did not immediately return a telephone call today.

Jackie Wagner of San Diego said she and a group of friends hold one of the winning jackpot tickets, in which the six numbers must match the six drawn by the lottery.

She said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she checked the winning numbers drawn Wednesday night against one of the group’s 225 selections.

The winning numbers picked in a televised drawing were 2, 32, 21, 11, 28, 19 and the bonus number, to determine a larger jackpot for five-of-six winners, was 27.

“I was hyperventilating,” Wagner told Los Angeles radio station KNX-AM. “I said, ‘Oh my God, I don’t believe this.’ ”

‘Just So Excited’

Not trusting her accuracy because of emotion, she says, she checked the numbers over and over to be sure.

She said 20 people chipped in about $10 each to buy a block of selections picked at random by a California Lottery computer.

Sleep did not come easy to Wagner and the other jubilant winners in Mira Mesa, a San Diego community about 10 miles north of downtown.

“We’re celebrating and having champagne and all kinds of good stuff,” she said. “We’re just so excited.”

The California jackpot record was $61.98 million Oct. 29, 1988. Holders of three winning tickets split the take.

The estimated jackpot for Saturday is $5 million.