Tax-Office Workers Win $276M in Lottery

The women showed up at West Virginia Lottery headquarters in Charleston to accept a check for $1 million. The rest of the prize money will be paid in two weeks.

Even so, they'll keep working.

"At this point, everybody is," said Linda Fominko, one of the employees at the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office and the buyer of the winning ticket at a video poker bar in Westover. "But who knows down the line in a few months or a year?"

The women opted to take the $139 million cash payout option and individually will receive $11.9 million after taxes.

"Their friendship and camaraderie paid off big time," Musgrave said. "I call them the Lucky Eight."

The women, who say they play Powerball occasionally, range in service at the tax office from a year to Fominko's 35 years.

The office has 11 employees, but only eight contributed money for tickets in Saturday's drawing. Each contributed $5, and it was the first time the group bought tickets at the bar.

Fominko, the sheriff's department's chief tax deputy, let a computer pick the winning numbers.

As she has done with previous lottery purchases, she locked the ticket in a safe at work and made copies to distribute to each group member.