DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Workers at a Quaker Oats plant claimed their share of the largest lottery prize in Iowa history on Wednesday, sporting bright red T-shirts and traveling into town on a chartered bus before smiling for news cameras as confetti flew during a celebratory news conference.
Then, they demanded privacy.
After 18 of the 20 winners appeared at state lottery headquarters to claim the $241 million Powerball jackpot, they announced they would be going to court to seek an injunction to prohibit the release of their last names.
The Iowa Lottery on Wednesday verified the winning ticket, which was sold June 13. The group chose the lump-sum option worth $160.3 million, and each winner - 18 men and two women who all work in the shipping department of the plant - will receive roughly $5.6 million after taxes.
One of the workers bought the winning ticket for the group, and the winnings will be split 20 ways, said Dan Morris, a spokesman for the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union that all the winners belong to in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.