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Woman who won portion of $448 million Powerball comes forward

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By Elizabeth Landers

CNN

(CNN) — A woman in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, came forward as part of a group of 16 that won a piece of the $448 million jackpot from Wednesday’s Powerball lottery drawing.

Susan Nichel told CNN affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia on Friday that she was part of a group in the Ocean County vehicle maintenance facility in Toms River that pooled their money together to buy a ticket.

“I’m still up in the clouds. I can’t even tell you. I’m so excited. My coworker Elaine came out and shook me and said ‘We did win,'” Nichel said.

The group’s lottery ticket was worth $86 million, but between federal and state taxes and splitting the sum among the group, each contributor will received about $3.5 million, according to WPVI.

There were three winning tickets sold in this mega Powerball drawing. An electrical engineer in Minnesota came forward on Thursday to claim his one-third stake. The other two tickets were sold in New Jersey, one at a Super Stop n Shop in South Brunswick and the other at an Acme Market in Little Egg Harbor, according to Carole Hedinger, the executive director of the New Jersey Lottery.

The holder of the third lottery ticket has yet to come forward.

On Friday, CNN spoke with another member of the group of 16 maintenance workers. The man, 59, did not wish to be identified.

“We’re just trying to keep it normal, stay relatively calm. Keeping it real as they say,” he said.

Sixty people work at the Toms River facility, though only 16 decided to pool their money together.

The all-time largest U.S. jackpot was $656 million in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. That was split among three tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

Powerball is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A single ticket costs $2.

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