SACRAMENTO – The California Lottery today celebrated the 15 teachers and administrators from Shasta Lake who came forward to collect the $76 million SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot they won nearly a week ago.
“At the California Lottery, we take our mission of supplementing school funding very seriously,” Lottery Director Joan Borucki said. “In each of the past eight years we’ve managed to give more than $1 billion to California schools. But today, I have the rare privilege of giving millions of dollars directly to these hard-working educators. It’s a great day for these folks and a great day for the Lottery.”
The winners, who all work for the Gateway Unified School District, purchased their ticket from a local Circle K in Shasta Lake – a town of 10,000 people located just north of Redding. The numbers on their winning ticket matched those the group has been playing consistently for the last seven years – 14, 23, 24, 25, 44, and a Mega number of 18. At the time of the drawing, the $76 million prize was the largest Lottery jackpot in the nation.
“The most fantastic thing about the win is that we have 15 really good people – all of them hard-working educators – and now they get to realize their dreams,” said Steve Gray, who is an assistant principal at the Shasta Lake School, but today took on the new title of Jackpot Captain. “This just couldn’t get any more perfect.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who attended today’s press conference, congratulated the teachers and administrators from Shasta County on their “terrific stroke of fortune” in last week's Lottery draw. “These educators, as well as their peers in our schools across the state are deserving of such a big break,” O’Connell said. “And while I'm sure some of them will move on, I sincerely hope they continue to remain involved in education in some capacity because they, the work they do and their passion for our students are truly irreplaceable."
The 15 winners weren’t the only lucky people in Shasta Lake last week. When a SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot is hit, the retailer that sells the winning ticket is also rewarded – in this case handsomely. Mervin and M. Lorraine Colvin, the owners of the Circle K, will receive a check for $380,000, which is one half of one percent of the jackpot.
To play SuperLOTTO Plus, simply pick five numbers from 1 to 47 and a Mega number from 1 to 27. Tickets are only $1 and can be purchased at one of the more than 20,000 Lottery retailers in California. The SuperLOTTO Plus draw takes place each Wednesday and Saturday night at 7:58 p.m. Tomorrow night’s jackpot is worth $8 million.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed nearly $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.
Please remember to use the California Lottery’s exciting new logo, which can be found at www.calottery.com/styleguide.