Printing firm workers share $214.7 million jackpot

DOVER, Del. – A group of employees at a Delaware printing firm is stepping forward to claim a $214.7 million Powerball jackpot, a lawyer for the group said Tuesday.

The lawyer, George B. Smith, said the winners – 33 employees at Sussex Printing Corp. who took part in an office pool – chose the cash option of almost $117 million, rather than annuity payments stretching over 29 years.

“We had a group meeting last night,” Smith said. “I think they’re still stunned.”

He said after taxes, each of the workers will receive about $2.2 million.

Smith said the winners made up roughly three-fourths of the work force at Sussex Printing, which publishes a local advertising shopper called the Guide. He declined to identify the winners, and no one answered the telephone at the company Tuesday evening.

Delaware Lottery officials confirmed that they validated the sole winning ticket Tuesday afternoon, the (Wilmington) News Journal reported.

Michelle Lewis, the manager of the convenience store that sold the winning ticket, told the News Journal that one of her clerks sold $165 in computer-picked tickets to a man who was buying them for an office pool.

The $214.7 million jackpot is the sixth-largest Powerball jackpot and the 10th-largest lottery jackpot ever, officials said. More than 68 million tickets were purchased.