Hitting the jackpot

• Lottery

Julie buntjer/Daily Globe Most of the 44 Bedford Industries employees who will share in a $250,000 Mega Millions lottery prize, posed for a photo after their shift ended Wednesday morning. Two employees drove to Roseville Wednesday to claim the prize.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — A group of 44 Bedford Industries employees will each be $3,800 richer by the end of this week after collecting a $250,000 prize through the Mega Millions lottery.

Wednesday morning, just minutes after their midnight to 8 a.m. shift ended, supervisor Warren Meinders and employee Al Thiner climbed into a truck and hit the highway for the Minnesota Lottery headquarters in Roseville. By then, they had completed all of the verification papers to prove one of their 44 tickets matched five of the six numbers in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing.

“Two, four, 23, 38 and 46,” rattled off Jacob Lubben Wednesday morning, after the group gathered for a photo. Those were the numbers he’d written on a T-shirt he wore to work late Sunday night, along with a “44” and a “$250,000.”

Even then, there were some disbelievers — it was still April Fool’s Day, after all.

By then, most of the members in the group had been told of the winning ticket.

Josh Feller anxiously awaited the 10 p.m. drawing Friday, and when the numbers were finally announced, he scanned through his photocopied papers to look for winners.

He had combed through more than half of the tickets when he reached ticket No. 33 — it was on the last page.

Reliving the moment, his eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open.

“I called Warren and told him,” Feller recalled. “He said, ‘You better not be messing with me!’”

“I argued with a couple of people,” he added. “Nobody believed me — I was texting and calling people.”

“It took us about 10 to 15 minutes, every one of them, to persuade them (we won),” Lubben said with a laugh. “You can ask anybody — nobody slept at all, if you were 50 or 60 or my age. Imagine if it was a big one! You could see on everyone’s face Sunday, too — everyone was wore out.”

Individuals in three different states matched all five numbers and the Mega Ball to split the $640 million jackpot in Friday night’s drawing, and the Bedford group came oh-so-close to joining them.

“We had 10 for the mega ball, and it was 23,” Lubben said.

Lubben collected the $44 for the tickets during their Friday morning shift and drove to Casey’s West, at the corner of Oxford Street and McMillan Avenue, during his 5 a.m. break to order 44 quick pick, or computer-generated, tickets. When he arrived back at work, photocopies were made of the tickets and distributed among the group, and the tickets were stored in a locked box over the weekend.

Among those who chipped into the pot were three employees who weren’t even working last Friday when the collection was taken. Thiner was among them.

His co-workers, however, knew that he always took part in the past and covered for him.

“We just want to say thank you that they bought tickets for us,” Thiner said Wednesday morning, boasting of the teamwork that has forged a great connection between employees on the shift.

Eric Milbrath was one of the employees who put in an extra dollar, covering for co-worker Kyle Kruger, who didn’t have any cash on him Friday morning.

“About 2 a.m. he woke up and got (Lubben’s) message and then texted me and asked if I was up,” Milbrath said. “He called me right after that and said, ‘I’m bringing my dollar in right away in the morning!’ He did, too.”

“(Kruger) was nervous,” added Lubben. “He said, ‘If I don’t give Eric my dollar, he probably won’t give me my share.’”

Milbrath, however, had no such thoughts. Kruger was deserving of his $3,800 share, fair and square.

“We don’t play a whole lot — only when it gets big,” explained Lubben.

In fact, this was the first time they’d ever purchased tickets for the Mega Millions Lotto. Most of the time, the group invests only when the Power Ball Lotto reaches a high amount.

Not everyone on the late night shift contributes to the lottery when they do buy tickets as a group, and this time was no different. Nearly half a dozen employees opted not to take part.

Whether that happens the next time the lottery stakes are high remains to be seen. One thing, however, seems to be apparent — Lubben will be the designated ticket buyer from now on.

In addition to the $250,000-winning ticket, one of the other 43 tickets was good for a $3 prize —it matched the Mega Ball but none of the five regular numbers.

Dividing $3 by 44 people wasn’t an option, so Lubben took the money and bought a Powerball ticket, with the multiplier, for Wednesday night’s drawing.

As for what the Bedford employees plan to do with their winnings, Feller, Milbrath and Lubben all said they’re going to pay off some bills.

“And (buy) some toys,” Lubben added with a grin.

The employees each chipped in a couple of dollars Wednesday morning to help cover the fuel costs for Thiner and Meinders to drive to Roseville.

Casey’s West will receive $1,000 for selling the winning ticket.

Tags: news, lottery, winners