VAN NUYS : 19 Will Share Lottery Prize of $20.3 Million

For six years, Dann F. Petel went around bugging his co-workers at the Downtown office of the state Department of Insurance to join him in a pool to play the state Lottery’s twice-a-week Super Lotto.

“Where’s your $5?” Petel said he would ask people. He said some balked, insisting they would never win.

Those naysayers are probably kicking themselves now that Petel and 18 of his co-workers won Saturday’s jackpot of $20.3 million.

“I got a lot of long faces this morning at the office,” said Petel, who spoke for the group Monday at a news conference at the Lottery’s district office in Van Nuys. “Several people came up to me and said ‘Why didn’t you ask me to play?’ ”

Matthew Andreeff of Sun Valley has been part of the pool for nearly three years. Andreeff said that at times he had thought of dropping out of the group because it had failed to win any big jackpots.

“But I always played,” said Andreeff, who will use part of his winnings to pay off debt. “Some people quit at the wrong time. Luckily, I didn’t.”

Among the 19 winners--six of whom live in the San Fernando Valley--15 will receive full shares of $1.07 million, or about $53,000 annually for the next 20 years before federal taxes. Four people will split two full shares. The first checks will arrive in four to six weeks.

So far, Petel said, none of the winners is expected to quit his or her job.

Petel said he has been trying to get his co-workers to pool their money to buy lottery tickets since 1988. He said the pool has been as small as two people for some games, and as large as 25 people for others.

The minimum entry is $5, although entries were allowed to be split by two people.

Petel, 67, of Pasadena, said the group had never matched more than four numbers, and never won more than $112. Those winnings were always replayed at the next game.

While some specific numbers were played, there were always Quick Picks among the group’s numbers. Saturday’s winning numbers of 2, 4, 8, 14, 24 and 41, were picked by the computer.

Over the past six years, Petel has bought his tickets at Gus’s Chevron Station in Pasadena.

Gus Khazaal, the owner of the gas station, said that Petel called him Saturday to find out the winning numbers because a Dodgers baseball game preempted the Lottery’s Big Spin television show.

“He called me back 10 minutes later and said he had the six winning numbers,” said Khazaal, who will receive about $100,000 for selling the winning ticket. “I thought he was joking. But he wasn’t. I feel great.”