Perseverance pays off for lottery players

The workers will receive about 2 million each before taxes.
SACRAMENTO BEE
For all those who play the same lottery numbers year after year but never win, there is hope. Consider the Sacramento 20 -- a group of California state workers who never gave up.
Theirs is a tale of perseverance.
Twenty current or former state employees who have been playing the same numbers as a group for 10 years are the winners of Saturday's 72 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot.
"I knew 10 years ago we would win," said state Department of Transportation worker Gloria Madriz. "It was a matter of patience."
The state workers, most from the Department of Consumer Affairs, were at the Sacramento district lottery headquarters Tuesday to claim their prize.
They laughed and smiled and talked of never giving up.
Lump sum
The winners decided to take the lump sum cash payout option of approximately 40 million instead of taking payments over 26 years. Each winner gets about 2 million before taxes.
Retired Consumer Affairs worker Judy Taniguchi had plenty of perseverance but was never confident they would win.
After all, the odds of winning the SuperLotto Plus jackpot are one in 41 million.
"I never thought that we would win," said Taniguchi. "It can't happen. This is really a surprise. I have a little bit of mortgage I'd like to finish paying off. I have everything I need, but there are things that I want. I can get them now. They can be little things, but they will make me happy. And of course, I can travel, go on a cruise. It's going to be great fun."