One million dollars can sure buy a lot of furniture.
Thirty workers from Jordan’s Furniture in Nashua, N.H., hit it big over the weekend, winning a $1 million prize on a Powerball ticket in Saturday’s drawing. Each person will walk away with about $33,000, according to the New Hampshire State Lottery.
“We each have our individual story of why it’s important to us, but there’s a couple in our group that — I’m not gonna discuss the personal issues, but it’s really a meaningful impact for them. So it’s made it even happier all around,” Sandrea Lutkevich of Dunstable, one of the winners, said at a press conference Wednesday morning. “It’s a big impact on us all.”
According to the state lottery, winners receive $1 million if they get the five white-ball numbers but not the final Powerball number. The odds of getting the five numbers is 1 in 11,688,054. The winning numbers Saturday night were 24-25-52-60-66, with a Powerball of 5 and a Power Play of 3.
“We are all really excited to win this $1 million Powerball prize together,” Litchfield resident Julia Crema, one of the members of the winning pool, said in a statement. “We have been playing Powerball together off and on for years and we always dreamed we’d land a big winner. Today is our lucky day!”
The winning group, dubbed “The Lucky 30,” joined in a pool and “at $2 each, they happened to hit for a million dollars,” N.H. Lottery Executive Director Charlie McIntyre said at the press conference Wednesday morning, when the winning group was presented with their giant $1 million check.
The “J-Team,” as they referred to themselves, had bought the ticket from the Cumberland Farms just across the street from their store. However, they didn’t see that they had the winning ticket until the next day.
As for who can join their lottery pool, the group said it’s open to anyone at their store. When asked about the feelings of those who were asked but didn’t join, the winners immediately talked about how supportive they are.
“They’re very gracious,” one said. Another person added, “They’re happy for us.”
The jackpot for Wednesday night’s drawing is set at $750 million, the fourth highest it has ever been, according to the state lottery.
And as the group smiled with the giant check, surrounded by others saying “million-dollar smile,” Carrie Perry of Lowell, one of the winners, was sure to correct them, saying instead, “$750 million smile.”
Breanne Kovatch can be reached at breanne.kovatch@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @breannekovatch.
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