Tech Ops 36 win a million dollars.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A pool of 36 co-workers at Manhattan’s Bloomberg LP are winners of the $1,000,000 second-place prize in the state’s Mega Millions lottery, and one of the lucky winners is Indian American Raj Naghee Reddy.
Reddy and his group-mates call themselves the Tech Ops 36, and have opted to take a one-time lump sum payment of $623,040 (after taxes). Divided evenly among the entire group, that amounts to $17,306.66 each, a nice little payout for the group that formed three years ago and has been buying lottery tickets consistently ever since.
“I was the one that checked our tickets the day after the drawing,” said group spokesperson Steven Fenster, in a statement. “The lady behind the counter told me I had a million dollar winner and I was in complete disbelief. None of the other members believed me until they saw the ticket for themselves the following Monday. We are all very happy for the win.”
They may be happy for the win, but whoever got the magic numbers for the Mega Millions Jackpot walked away with a cool $270 million prize.
Naghee, the sole desi in the lot, is an information security architect and Bloomberg LP, according to his LinkedIn page. He specializes in financial services, and is a graduate of the Stern School of Business at New York University, also in Manhattan.
Fenster also works in IT, as an infrastructure manager. Originally from Astoria, New York, Fenster holds a B.B.A. in Business, Management, Marketing from Adelphi University in Garden State, New York.
The New York Lottery is North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, according to a press release put out by the state’s government, contributing $3.04 billion in fiscal year 2012-2013 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery’s contribution represents 15 percent of total state education aid to local school districts.
During the 2012-2013 fiscal year, The New York Lottery contributed a whopping $1,200,599,252.62 in Lottery Aid To Education to school districts throughout New York County.