McDonald’s workers in Baltimore are serving Unhappy Meals today after a co-worker, who claims to have won a third of the world record $656 Mega Millions lottery jackpot, says she won’t be sharing.

Stephen Martino, director of the Maryland Lottery, speaks to reporters outside a Baltimore 7-11 store where Wilson purchased tickets. (AP Photo)
The New York Post reports that Mirlande Wilson, 37, says she has a winning ticket, but that she bought it with her own money, not that of her co-workers, who had pooled their resources in an attempt to win the big Friday prize.
“We had a group plan, but I went and played by myself. [The ‘winning’ ticket] wasn’t on the group plan,” Wilson told the Post.
Winning tickets were sold in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas.
According to the article, Wilson ran the McDonald’s office pool that fateful day, getting $5 from 15 co-workers. She purchased the pool tickets and left them at the restaurant in a safe place, according to the article.
Just before closing shop Friday evening, however, the owner of the fast food restaurant says he gave Wilson another $5. Wilson bought more tickets after leaving work and took them home, but she claims the winning ticket was not purchased with the final $5 contribution.
After Wilson called in to work Saturday to say she’d no longer be peddling fried taters, a couple of co-workers went to her home and beat on the door until she answered.
“These people are going to kill you. It’s not worth your life!” said one after she opened the door.
As of Monday afternoon, no one had claimed the prize, worth an estimated $105 million after taxes.
Wilson may be fibbing. When pressed to produce the winning ticket she told the newspaper “I don’t know if I won. Some of the numbers were familiar. I recognized some of [them].”
The McDonald’s owner declined to comment except to say, “It’s all [BS], if you ask me. It’s speculation.”
113 comments Add your comment
Ron
April 2nd, 2012
4:27 pm
She shouldn’t have taken the last five dollars. This will have to be settled in court.
Linda Southern
April 2nd, 2012
4:29 pm
Hey, it’s her money. She can use anyway she can spend it anyway she wants. She may have plans she hasn’t revealed.
Valerie
April 2nd, 2012
4:35 pm
If they won, she should share the proceeds.
sugarbear
April 2nd, 2012
4:45 pm
~This is why I ALWAYS insist when group tickets are bought “TWO PEOPLE” go to the purchase so there can’t be any of this,Man,how would you like to have her nerve in a tooth!!
Lucifer
April 2nd, 2012
5:00 pm
Yet another anecdote as to how I am winning, or should I say corrupting this nation’s souls. The lady has no moral compass. She could have split $200+ million with 15 others, a cool $12 million + each and lived a far better life than she had ever expected with a wealth of friends. Instead, she has allowed her greed to turn her into a pariah to all. My bet is that, like about 60% of the winners, she ends up losing most if not all of her fortune to the many hucksters who make a living preying on such greed. And she will find herself not only fiscally poor, but also, more importantly, devoid of any friends. She clearly has no moral compass, no real sense of values and is already personally bankrupt.
kim
April 2nd, 2012
5:09 pm
Enter your comments here
shes black
April 2nd, 2012
5:13 pm
with her job she shouldnt have a penny seems like she wouldn’t be financially responsible anyways…
smh b folks
EMS
April 2nd, 2012
5:25 pm
When you pool tickets, you go to a copier and give each person a copy of the pooled tickets. End of story.
CoCoLatte
April 2nd, 2012
5:37 pm
If she did win with her own ticket, she could give her 15 coworkers $1.5 million a piece – enough that after taxes they would have $1 million dollars. That’s, what, $22.5 million? And she’d still have, what, $78 mil to herself? I mean, seriously.
Wileena
April 2nd, 2012
5:47 pm
I did a office pool on the mega million. It was a total of 24 people. I made copies of all the tickets and had everyone to sign a contract. Each coworker received a copy of the lottery tickets and the contract. The deadline for the money top be in was by 13:00pm on friday. The tickets was bought close to our job. After work hours later I purchase more tickets for myself. See how the confusion can be avoided. The courts will see in their favor. She will have to pay.