$319 M Mega millions winners ? IT Specialists

The lottery is checking the authenticity of the ticket .

Here is an excerpt from the news article. " The winners of the $319 million lottery are rumored to be seven IT specialists "
IT specialists . Scary . These Geeks know the ins and outs of computers like nobody else.

Here is the full story.

The single largest winning lottery ticket ever sold in New York's Mega Millions drawing has been claimed, a lottery spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The winners of the $319 million lottery are rumored to be seven IT specialists from New York state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal, said Emanuel Biondi, a public employees federation council leader for the agency.

However, a New York Lottery spokesman could not confirm that report.

The winner or winners -- who bought the ticket at an Albany, New York, convenience store -- are expected to be announced during a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, said New York Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman.
Lottery officials are currently working to authenticate the winning ticket, she added.

The drawing was held Friday night. Last-minute ticket sales increased the jackpot from $312 million to $319 million, the New York Lottery said.

If the winners chose the cash option when buying the ticket, they will receive a one-time, lump-sum payment of $202.9 million. That amount reflects all the cash in the Mega Millions pool and is the sixth-largest jackpot in its history, according to Hapeman.

It's also the single largest sole jackpot-winning ticket ever for Mega Millions sold in New York, she said.

Friday night's winning numbers were 22, 24, 31, 52 and 54. The Mega Ball number was 4.

Those holding the winning ticket will be able to collect the prize money Monday morning in the Schenectady, New York, office, Hapeman said.

Mega Millions is played in 42 states and is the biggest jackpot game in the country, according to the

" New York state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal, said Emanuel Biondi, a public employees federation council leader for the agency."

Sounds like they really don't have anything to do except play with the computers at work. Look ma, your tax dollars at work.

Where do you read that there is some question about the authenticity?

Huh? I work with plenty of IT specialists that know a lot less than I do.

I doubt the "IT Specialists" working for NY State government are the kind of hacker-geniuses you find at companies like Google. There are very few career-worthy IT jobs in the public sector. Almost any serious IT project done by a State or local government agency is contracted out to private firms .

The actual people who work in most states' IT departments are just PC techs and a few database managers. If you need someone to swap out your hard drive they can hook you up...if you are looking for someone to hack into Fort Knox(or the Megamillions lottery) you better look elsewhere.

Good for them, though.

It is protocol . There is a line in the article.

Lottery officials are currently working to authenticate the winning ticket, she added.

I am not doubting the legitimacy of their claim or winnings. It just cracks me up because there will be people crying foul.

Good Luck to them.

More than likely I'm going to agree with you there PJ, as one of those PC tech type of guys. Besides the pay on the public sector compared to a company is usually worse.

Maybe they should form a union?

NEEEEEEERRRRRRDDDDSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!