Middle school workers win $1 million Powerball prize after using same numbers for years

A group of 30 current and former employees of a Kentucky middle school won a $1 million Powerball jackpot, and for them, consistency was key.

The Kentucky Lottery announced that the group, who refer to themselves as the "Jones 30," carpooled to the lottery office after work on Tuesday, walking into the lobby with "cheers" and the winning ticket securely tucked away in the last place anyone would think to look for it − a math textbook.

“No one looks in a math book,” the group’s organizer, a retired math teacher joked. “I knew it would be safe there…page 200. I have checked this a thousand times.”

$188 million jackpot at stake:Powerball winning numbers for Wednesday night's drawing

Strategy relied on same numbers every week

The group of past and present school staffers, who all at one point or another worked at Rector A. Jones Middle School in Florence, had been pooling their money together to play the lottery for over eight years.

“We all taught at the same school at one point or another,” one winner said, per the lottery. “We’ve got counselors, admins, special ed teachers, the school nurse… Some have moved on or retired but we still continue to do it. We’ve remained buddies for all of these years.”

In 2019, they adopted a unique strategy of choosing a set of permanent Powerball numbers that they used every week.

“Our math teacher and assistant principal pulled them out of a hat,” one winner explained. “At first, we didn’t have the right amount of numbers to choose from, so we drew again. Thank goodness we did.”

Each winner was awarded $24,000 after taxes. While some group members plan to use their winnings to invest, others said they'd use it for travel or home repairs.

 “A lot of us have gone on trips together, we’ve had babies and grandbabies over the years,” one winner shared. “We always have so much fun. It’s just cool to win as a group and share this experience.”

 The group said they'd continue this tradition of playing the lottery since it's a fun way to keep in touch..