A Maryland woman who works at a Baltimore-area McDonald’s claims to have one of three winning Mega Millions lottery tickets after Friday’s drawing.
According to the New York Post, Mirlande Wilson, 37, bought the winning ticket in Baltimore County. Wilson had gone in on a pool of lottery tickets with her fast-food co-workers but claims she bought some tickets separately, and one of these separate tickets has the winning numbers, according to the Post.
Fifteen McDonald's employees chipped in $5 each for the Mega Millions pool, and Wilson bought the tickets and put them in the safe at the restaurant, News4's Pat Collins reported. Friday, the owner gave Wilson another $5 for more tickets for the employee pool. That time, she also bought a couple of tickets for herself, including the "winner."
Wilson refused to show her “winning ticket” but said she would visit the Maryland lottery office Monday to cash in.
The owner of the McDonald's franchise, Birul Desai, said in a statement that the report was purely speculation and cautioned against jumping to conclusions before the winning ticket is presented and verified, the Associated Press reported.
"We've heard it's somebody's cousin, we've heard it's somebody who works up the street , the guy who mows the lawn, the lady at the McDonald's -- it doesn't matter," until somebody comes in with the winning ticket, said Carole Everett, of Maryland Lottery.
Winning tickets were also sold in Illinois and Kansas, though neither of these winners had claimed their winnings as of Monday morning.
Each Mega Millions winner is expected to get an after-tax lump sum of $105 million, or $5.59 million a year for 26 years.
