The first time that they won the lottery, every single person of the group got a fresh start.

One of the winners, Becky Castro, paid off her credit card and a couple of loans. Others used their money to pay their mortgages, medical bills, and some, even put the money on their children’s college tuition. Powerball lottery

“If you spoke to each person, you’d get a different story,” said Castro, one of the Bandini Elementary school employees who won the $12 million SuperLotto Plus last February. Lotteries

On Friday, most of those same employees, Castro included, claimed another win of a MEGA Millions prize worth $262,743.

The winning group, now sixteen, that won this time includes nine of the people from the previous win. Most of them have been playing the lottery together for the past three years. This group consists of both full-time and part-time clerical workers and school administrators.

“All of us in the group have a very positive outlook. Our saying is, ‘We’re in it to win it.’ After we won the first time, we just believed it, we felt it was going to happen again,” said Castro.

Their winning ticket was sold at Arrow Liquor, located at 2177 South Atlantic Blvd. in Commerce. The ticket matched the numbers 48, 24, 51, 56 and 30, missing only the Mega.

One of the first time winners was School Principal, Deanna Plascencia, who said that the reason why this group, of two-time winners, continues to be lucky at the lottery is because they have been all very generous with the school.

She said that after their first lottery win, these school employees decided to use part of the winnings to purchase a new sound system to replace the old, failing one that the school had and could only be used to amplify only half of what was being said.

Now, thanks to them and their generosity, the new sound system is now being used to hold assemblies for students who meet monthly challenge goals, host special events and speakers, and spirit assemblies.

“The lottery winners are very generous people. When they win they give back. They believe if you give, you get,” she said. As of right now, this group of employees is deciding what they will buy next for the school.

Plascenci, who was very skeptic before joining the lottery pool, is now putting all her faith in another lottery win for the school employees.

“The third time’s the charm and we’re hoping that we can do it again and engage in doing something even more special for the school,” she said.

Remember that the California Lottery is the state’s fundraiser for California schools, with more than 94 cents of every dollar spent by our players going toward public schools and colleges, prizes and retail compensation. This is not only a chance to win but also, to help others who need it too.

So, as they say, if you’re in it to win, keep playing!