Eighteen Coworkers at World Trade Center Site Claim $250,000 Mega Millions Prize

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WTC HUB WINNERS and Co. spokesperson John Kennedy

WTC HUB WINNERS and Co, a partnership of 18 coworkers from the World Trade Center memorial site, yesterday claimed a $250,000 second place Mega Millions prize at the Lottery's New York City Customer Service Center. Theirs was one of 11 second-place prize winning tickets sold in New York for the January 4th Mega Millions drawing.

John Kennedy, 47, a carpenter from Richmond Hills, Queens claimed the prize on behalf of the partnership. "We have all been playing together for the longest time," said Kennedy. "We love Mega Millions, especially when the jackpot is big." The jackpot for Tuesday night's drawing topped off at $380,000,000, the second-highest Mega Millions jackpot in history.

The group has been playing for seven years and, "Wishing, hoping, and praying to hit the big jackpot but $250,000 is more than enough," said Kennedy. "We feel very fortunate to have won. We all feel this sense of camaraderie." They purchased their lucky ticket at Hudson News at Vesey Street and West Broadway in Manhattan.

Other members of the WTC HUB WINNERS and Co. partnership include: Michael Perrone of Islip Terrace; Eric Bottali of New Paltz; Eric Deaton of Massapequa; John Divietri and Michael Pezzuto of Staten Island; Christopher Grogan of Warwick; Fazal Hafeez of Jamaica; Patrick Hickey of Westbury; Brian Lyons of Carmel; Michael Marzullo of New Rochelle; Jeffrey Meehan of Mastic; Philip Milano of Yonkers; John Duque of Hawthorne; John Gaffney of Hamilton, NJ; Pedro Pereira of Newark, NJ; Manuel Perez of Bloomfield, NJ; and Biagil Bascietto of Wayne, NJ.

Kennedy said the members plan to use their winnings to, "Pay bills, save, go on vacations and buy some more Mega Millions tickets hoping to win the jackpot!"

Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery game with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays. The odds of winning a second place prize are 1 in 3,904,701. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize on a $1 play are 1 in 39.89.

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $39.3 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago. The Lottery contributed nearly $2.67 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts.

Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school district's size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

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