Two Winners Come Forward for Shares of Florida’s Lotto

One lucky player trembled so much when she heard she won a share of a $106.5-million Lotto jackpot that she dropped her ticket. Another ran outside in her bathrobe, screaming: “We’re rich! We’re rich!”

Two winning ticket holders in the nation’s second-richest lottery drawing came forward Monday. Both planned to share the wealth with family members--one group having gone so far as to create a legal partnership in case they won.

Six winning tickets were sold for $1 each. Each is worth $887,500 a year, before taxes, for 20 years.

Kathy Smith of Longwood, who dropped her ticket, picked the winning numbers--5-6-21-34-35-45--at random.

She will get one-fourth of the $17.75-million individual winner’s share, with her brother and mother receiving equal cuts and seven others splitting the final 25%. Together the group had bought 50 tickets. They entered into the formal agreement last week.

The other winner to come forward was Richard J. Piasecki, a retired auto worker originally from Kenosha, Wis.

He said he’s sharing his cut with his two children. His daughter, Mary Jo Bednarski, met her husband with the news by running into the driveway screaming.

Bednarski said she will quit her job at a Hardee’s restaurant. “This is my notice,” she said at a news conference.