Johnston siblings share $1 million lottery prize
Three lucky siblings from Johnston who pooled their money to buy lottery tickets claimed a $1 million prize Monday.
The winners were Stephen Bevis, 61, the self-described "ringleader" of the group, along with his brother, Craig, 59, and sister, Marsha, 55. The three, who have bought lotto tickets together for a couple of years, grinned as they posed for a photo with their $1 million check at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines.
However, some of the credit should go to their father, 91-year-old Gerald Bevis. He's the one who finally checked the lottery numbers in the newspaper after the multistate Mega Millions' ticket had sat untouched inside the family's home for a few days.
The winning ticket was from the Aug. 1 Mega Millions drawing. But Stephen Bevis told Iowa Lottery officials that the siblings had delayed claiming their money so he could attend the Iowa State Fair, which concluded its annual run Sunday.
"I had bought fair tickets ahead of time, and I didn't want them to go to waste," he said.
He bought the winning ticket at the Dahl's grocery store at 4343 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, while out running errands. The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball.
The three siblings netted $700,000 in cash after lottery officials deducted $250,000 for federal taxes and $50,000 in state taxes.
"That breaks down to about $233,333.33 per sibling," said Iowa Lottery Vice President Mary Neubauer.
Stephen Bevis said he had set the winning ticket aside at their Johnston home after buying it, and no one checked it for a couple of days. Then their father came to the rescue.
"I was sitting on the couch and he said, 'You might want to look at this,'" Stephen Bevis said. "It just really didn't sink in. I said, 'Oh, come on. We're not that lucky.'"
The winning numbers for the Mega Millions game were 13-29-34-37-72 and the Mega Ball was 6. The Megaplier number, which costs an extra dollar per play, was 5. Had the siblings bought the Megaplier, their prize would have been $5 million.
No one won the game's jackpot that night, and the big prize has continued to climb since then, reaching an estimated $160 million ($95.4 million cash option) for Tuesday's drawing, Iowa Lottery officials said.
All three siblings said they plan to use their winnings to help finance their retirements. Marsha and Craig are already semi-retired, while Stephen works in receiving at Deere & Co. in Ankeny.
Players in Mega Millions, which has drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays, choose their first five numbers from a pool of 75 and the Mega Ball from a separate pool of 15.
Iowa Lottery programs are used to fund the general operations of state government and programs for tourism, community attractions, and Iowa military veterans and their families.