Lottery officials settle dispute
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (AP) – The big hassle over the Big Game jackpot is over. New Jersey lottery officials said Monday that the person due one-third of the $331 million prize will be revealed Tuesday – and it won’t be anyone from an office pool that claimed to have the winning ticket. They ended up with $2 after a dispute that involved two lawyers and a lottery review.
The winning ticket was one of three from the April 16 drawing for the second-biggest lottery prize in U.S. history. The other tickets were sold in Georgia, where 20-year-old Erika Greene claimed her share of the prize, and Illinois, where the winner hasn’t come forward.
Last week, a lawyer for workers at the Newark Extended Care Facility said they had pooled their money to buy the winning ticket.
The workers also claimed co-worker Angelito Marquez had the ticket but wouldn’t give it to the group. Marquez said all the tickets he purchased were losers.
The New Jersey Lottery, in a statement Monday, said it had found that “neither Angelito Marquez nor any employee at Newark Extended Care Facility Inc. possesses a valid ticket or claim” to the jackpot.
The lottery’s review found that Marquez bought tickets for the office pool on April 15; two of those tickets were worth a dollar each.
“It’s a bittersweet day, to say the least,” said Anthony H. Guerino, an attorney who represented 10 workers.
“They’ve always been a spiritual group. I could see them deflate.”
Several workers said they were disappointed, but wished the winner well and said they held no bad feelings for Marquez.
“We never really claimed the ticket. We just wanted to know,” said Ida Davis.
Marquez’s lawyer, Donald DiGioia, said the co-workers suspected Marquez had the winning ticket because he called in sick for three days with the flu after the April 16 drawing.
“They just put two and two together and got five,” the lawyer said.
The real winner of the New Jersey ticket has chosen to take the payout in a $58.9 million lump sum. After taxes, that leaves about $43 million.