Mega Millions Winner in Dispute; Office Lottery a Good Idea? [POLL]

Mega Millions mania has plunged a Maryland McDonald’s into a bubbling cauldron of controversy hotter than a deep-fried apple pie, reported the New York Post.

Workers at the fast-food joint who pooled their cash for tickets are furious at a colleague who claims she won with a ticket she bought for herself and has no intention of sharing.

“We had a group plan, but I went and played by myself. [The ‘winning’ ticket] wasn’t on the group plan,” McDonald’s “winner’’ Mirlande Wilson 37, told The Post yesterday, insisting she alone bought one of the three tickets nationwide that will split a record $656 million payout.

Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett said Monday, "... We really won't believe anybody till they walk in with a ticket and the ticket is valid — and they have identification."

Wilson bought tickets for the her and her McDonald's co-workers at the 7-Eleven in Milford Mill, MD, where one of the three winning tickets were sold.

Three tickets—one each in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland—will split the jackpot, which officials said Monday was higher than previously estimated. It is now at $656 million, after sales from the 44 state lotteries were totaled, up from the previously reported $640 million. That means each winner would receive roughly $218 million apiece before taxes, reported NPR.

In New Jersey in 2010, a group of asphalt workers who regularly played Mega Millions sued a co-worker who disappeared after a November 2009 drawing. The co-worker said he needed foot surgery, but crewmembers found his name on a list of Mega Millions winners: He had claimed $38.5 million. A jury last month ordered him to share the jackpot, reported USA TODAY.

In January 2010, an elementary school principal and her staff who had been playing the lottery as a group, decided to come up with a formal written agreement so there would be no hurt feelings; three weeks later the group hit the lottery for $12 million, reported USA TODAY.

Do you think it is a good idea to be part of a group buy for lottery tickets at work? Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us why in the comments.

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