A group of 30 current and former employees of a Boone County middle school carpooled to Louisville after work Tuesday – entering the Kentucky Lottery lobby with cheers and with the winning $1 million Powerball ticket they purchased at a Hebron Kroger securely tucked away in a math textbook.
The educators call themselves the “Jones 30” after R. A. Jones Middle School in Florence where they met.
The group’s organizer, a retired math teacher, realized the day after Saturday’s Powerball drawing that her group matched the five white balls but not the Powerball number to win the game’s second prize of $1 million, according to the Kentucky Lottery.
She said she kept the ticket safe by hiding it in a math textbook. She told Kentucky Lottery officials she knew it would be safe there because no one would look in a math book.
The group said they have been playing the lottery for years and includes current and former counselors, administrators, special education teachers, and the school nurse.
They have been pooling their money to play the Kentucky Lottery for over eight years but after choosing a set of permanent Powerball numbers in 2019, they stuck to those numbers each week.