Some office workers say they'll keep working after winning Mega Millions jackpot sold in SJ

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Saturday, August 4, 2018
Some office workers say they'll keep working after winning Mega Millions jackpot sold in SJ
This is why you always chip in a dollar for your work's office lottery pool.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The big mystery is over. The winner of last week's $543 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot has stepped forward. Actually, it's 11 people sharing the bounty as part of an office pool. But who they are is still a mystery.

It was only nine days ago that Kewal Sachdev was celebrating his million dollar commission for selling the winning Mega Millions ticket.

We returned Friday to break the news to him that the winners -- all 11 of them -- showed up at the California lottery office in Hayward.

"That's so good because it's going to take care of 11 families plus their friends and everybody, so that is great news," he said. "I'm very happy for them."

Lottery officials released the name of only one of the 11 office pool winners -- a Roland Reyes in San Jose. That's a fairly common name in the South Bay. The closest person with that name lives just two miles from Ernie's Liquors. That dovetails with what lottery officials told us.

"He wanted to go with a small independent store, and he stopped by Ernie's Liquors I guess on his way home and that's the one he chose, and it turned out to be a great choice for him," said Russ Lopez, deputy director of communications at the California Lottery.

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Other Roland or Rolando Reyeses we tracked down live much farther away from Ernie's Liquors and denied being the winner.

The 11 office pool winners say they like each other so much, they'll keep working. That gets a thumbs up from Haley Lim.

"Smart choice, I'd say. I feel like you should keep contributing; otherwise, you're going to end up spending all the money, you know," said Haley.

Lottery officials say it's not unusual for some winners to shield their identities but few can hide for long as they seek legal and financial advice.

One neighbor is especially happy the ticket was bought from a local store.

"I think that's good to visit the local store, to give business to local stores, help the community... Helping himself obviously at the same time," said Paul Chang.

The jackpot winners range in age from 21 to 60 years old. Each put in two bucks toward their lucky ticket and will get just over $18 million each after taxes.

For more stories, photos, and video on the Mega Millions, visit this page.