10 Members of Factory Lottery Pool Arrive in Style to Claim $30 Million

A catering truck operator, three Caltrans workers and six employees of a San Fernando steel plant stepped out of two limousines at the California Lottery office in Van Nuys on Monday to claim a $30.4-million jackpot.

The 10 pooled their funds to buy 200 “Quick Pick” tickets in Saturday’s drawing, which was sweetened by lottery officials to boost interest in the Lotto 6-49 contest. The Van Nuys office verified that one of the group’s tickets included all six winning numbers: 5, 36, 31, 3, 25 and 33.

Lottery officials said the $30.4-million prize is the largest awarded in the state for a single ticket, but it will be split among the 10 pool members.

Chester R. Schuler, 60, of Tujunga, a foreman at Sierra Nevada Steel Corp. in San Fernando, bought the tickets at a Tujunga market Saturday for the friends. “I’ll probably buy a Cadillac,” Schuler said Monday, when asked how he’ll spend his share.

“I want to pay off my car,” said Yvonne M. Corrigan, 34, of Castaic, another Sierra Nevada employee who took part in the pool.

Charles A. Lester, 58, of Van Nuys, who serves the steel plant twice daily with his catering truck and was a member of the lottery pool, said he heard the numbers announced on television Saturday night and realized the group had won the jackpot. “I fell off the couch,” he said. “I thought the TV announcer had made a mistake.”

On Monday, Lester was pondering how to spend his share. “I’m thinking of buying a new set of golf clubs and maybe taking a girlfriend out to dinner,” he said. “I might move from an upstairs apartment to a downstairs apartment. It’s more comfortable, and I won’t have to walk so far.”

The $30.4 million will be paid out over 20 years, in annual allotments of $1.2 million after taxes. Each of the 10 players is expected to received $121,760 annually.

Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Walker said the jackpot legally can be paid only to the person who purchased the winning ticket. It will be up to Schuler to distribute equal shares to the pool members, she said. After verifying Schuler’s ticket Monday morning, Paul Nochenson, the lottery’s Van Nuys district manager, urged the pool members to hire a lawyer or accountant to help divide the jackpot.

“We have a group of 10 of us that do this a couple times a week,” explained Ralph McRoy of Sepulveda, co-owner of Sierra Nevada. “Normally it’s just a couple of bucks apiece, but when it goes over $20 million, we put in 20 bucks apiece.”

Regarding his share, McRoy said, “I have a son who’s in graduate school, and I’m going to be able to help him. I just turned 60 and I plan on retiring soon, so some of the winnings will go toward that.”

He said the group rented limousines for the trip to the California Lottery office because “we figured we might as well come over in style.”

Sierra Nevada Steel makes structures that hold freeway signs. Three California Department of Transportation employees who inspect the plant’s work joined in the lottery pool. One of them, Tony Wikar, 54, of Whittier, was watching television Saturday when the Lotto numbers were announced.

“I quickly ran for my wife to tell her, ‘We did it!’ ” he said. Asked how he’ll spend his share, Wikar said, “I’ve got to get my wife a Peruvian horse and an Afghan hound.”

Other members of the pool included Gwen G. Allen, 57, of Sylmar; Kenneth Hamblin, 55, of Whittier; Bob Fieland, 54, of Sepulveda; Harold L. Ellison, 46, of Littlerock, and Bob Vaiana, 57, of Reseda.

The Shop Easy Market at 6247 Foothill Blvd., which issued the winning ticket, will receive one-half of 1% of the jackpot, or $152,000. “This is the third time we’ve had a big winner, but this is the largest one,” said market manager Rudy Patel, who sold Schuler the ticket.

Patel posted a photocopy of Saturday’s winning ticket on the market’s door and said he hopes superstitious gamblers will come in for future lottery drawings. “When you’ve got a big winner,” he said, “people think you’ve got a lucky place.”

BACKGROUND Saturday’s jackpot was the seventh-largest since California Lotto sales began Oct. 14, 1986. The top six state lottery jackpots have been: $61.98 million on Oct. 29, 1988, split among three winning tickets; $56.34 million on Sept. 13, 1989, nine tickets; $51.4 million on June 4, 1988, two tickets; $44.88 million on March 4, 1989, four tickets; $41.58 million on Jan. 21, 1989, seven tickets; $39.2 million on Aug. 24, 1988, two tickets. The top five individual Lotto winner are: Shelby Carroll, Vacaville, $25.7 million; Randy Pennington, Carmichael, $25.7 million; Carlos Olvera, Compton, $25.1 million; Randy Bouvia, San Jose, $23.8 million, and Layne Landry, Riverside, $21.8 million.