Nukote Employees Win $61.5M Jackpot
October 2, 2007
A group of current and former employees of Nukote International, a
business in Bardstown, Kentucky, have stepped forward to claim a $61.5
million Powerball jackpot prize. The cash option for the jackpot is
$28.5 million.
A group of Nukote employees pitched in $1 a week for an
office pool for the past nine years. The person in charge of the pool
who buys the tickets usually makes photocopies of them for the
employees at the office. However, some members of the pool have
recently left Nukote. Several of them paid in advance to stay in the
pool, and the pool’s numbers were e-mailed to them prior to each
drawing.
That’s where the excitement began this morning for former
Nukote employee Connie Mattingly. “ When I got up this morning, I heard
the news on TV that the winning Powerball ticket had been sold in
Bardstown,” Mattingly said. “I logged on to my computer, saw the e-mail
with our numbers, and the very first line matched the winners!”
Mattingly then called the person who bought the tickets,
Bardstown resident Jane Shelver. “ Jane answered the phone, and I asked
her if she was awake yet. Then I told her we won the lottery, and she
got so excited she hung up on me!”
Bardstown resident Mike Willett, also one of the winning
pool members, said the win couldn’t have come at a better time for
several members of the group. “There are a couple of folks who were
laid off from their jobs this summer after working for the company 30
years,” said Willet. “ However, they paid into the Powerball pool in
order to stay in through the end of the year. It looks like things just
got a lot easier for them.”
According to their website, Nukote is a company that
produces imaging supplies such as paper, ink jet cartridges and laser
toner.
The winning ticket was sold on Monday in Bardstown at the
5 Star Food Mart at 120 E. Stephen Foster Avenue. The ticket was a
quick-pick, which meant the numbers were generated by computer and not
selected by the player.
