Lotto Really Is Super for Co-Workers

Every week for the last two years, 10 aerospace workers in Fullerton have contributed $2 apiece for a chance to win Super Lotto. This week their modest investment paid off big time: $21 million split 10 ways among the group, all employees of Fairchild Fasteners.

“I never thought it would happen,” said Sharon, who asked that her last name not be published. The 45-year-old machine operator said she has worked at the company for 14 years. “I just put my $2 down because I didn’t want to stay by myself over there” if her colleagues won, she said. “I never even checked my Lotto number.”

The numbers drawn Saturday night were 23, 30, 34, 43 and 46, with mega-number 13.

The group could have chosen the jackpot payout over 26 years, said Catherine Doyle Johnston, a lottery spokeswoman. Instead, they opted for cash now, which brought the prize to about $9.9 million before taxes.

On Tuesday, the ecstatic winners walked into the Lottery’s district office in Santa Ana with 20 friends and relatives. When they walked out, each was about $700,000 richer.

“They were very excited,” Johnston said. “Everybody was just jumping up and down.”

Sharon, who lives with her family in Orange, said a friend called her Sunday to tell her the good news. “I didn’t believe him,” she said. “I went and got my ticket and checked for myself.”

The winning ticket was purchased at the Water Shop in Costa Mesa. Its owners will collect about $110,000 from the state for the transaction.

Sharon, who emigrated from India 25 years ago with her husband, an in-flight systems inspector, said she intends to use the money conservatively. “I will just enjoy myself, take care of my family and pay off some bills,” she said.

Some of the money, she said, will go toward the college education of her 21-year-old son, a computer information systems major expected to graduate from Cal Poly Pomona next year. Another son, 23, graduated with a business degree in June.

The rest, Sharon said, will be invested. “I’m going to be very careful with the money,” she said. “I have a house already, so I’m not going to waste it on that. You never know what’s going to happen. I’m going to invest it so I can just stay home.”