REAL-LY RICH!
Three teachers are legit Md. Mega winners of $218M
THREE TEACHERS from Maryland finally have come forward to claim their Mega Millions jackpot prize.
The trio stashed the winning ticket in a safe after the recordbreaking $656 million drawing last month — and sat back to watch as a kooky Baltimore woman claimed to be the winner.
The winners — who call themselves “the three amigos” but want to remain anonymous — were “privately laughing” about the hoopla surrounding Mirlande Wilson, a mother of sev- en and Mcdonald’s worker who said she won, said Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino.
“In fact they knew where the (winning) ticket was,” he said.
The teachers’ winning ticket was one of three sold nationally, and they took their prize in a lump sum of $34.99 million each after taxes, but say they have no plans to give up their day jobs.
Lottery officials said each winner kicked in $20 to buy 60 tickets, and one of those matched the winning numbers 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and Mega Ball 23.
One of the group bought all the tickets, dividing up the purchase at three locations.
She laid them all out on the floor on the night of the March 30 draw. When she realized one was a big winner, she immediately called her friends to tell them they were multimillionaires.
One is an elementary school teacher, one is a special education teacher and the third is a school administrative support staffer. They all had part-time jobs to supplement their incomes and have joked about getting matching tattoos of the winning numbers.
They also watched the frenzy around lottery faker Wilson, who held a news conference claiming she was the Maryland winner.
As the Haitian-born mom of seven’s lie was exposed, the three real winners hired attorneys and contacted financial advisers to ensure their money and privacy were protected.
The three real winners say they plan to finish out the school year at work. One wants to pay for his daughter’s college education and buy his sister a house. A second winner said she wants to backpack through Europe and the third hopes to visit the wine country in Italy.
A winning ticket was also sold in Kansas to an anonymous winner and a multimillionaire is still at large in Illinois.