By Kathianne Boniello and Dustin Brown
It did not take much to wake Maspeth’s Walter Bihun up from a dead sleep last week — all he needed was a call from the state lottery telling him that he and his nine city Transit Authority co-workers had finally hit the jackpot.
“I was floored when she told me we hit the amount of money,” he said in an interview Monday night. “I thought it was a joke at first. I said, ‘I really don’t need this right now.’ The woman was very pleasant and said, ‘I don’t think you’re going to mind me waking you for this call.’”
Bihun was one of three Queens men in the group, who have been playing the lottery twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, by subscription since 1996. The other Queens winners were Andrew McDonald, of Little Neck, and Kevin King, of Long Island City.
The 10 men will split the $70,606 second place prize evenly, said McDonald, who has worked at the Transit Authority since September 1977.
“We almost had a lot of retirees at once,” McDonald joked this week. “We’re all getting an equal share with separate checks.”
McDonald, a 17-year resident of Little Neck, said most of the 10 men work as bus service dispatchers, and two from the group are city bus drivers. McDonald said he has been a part of the lottery subscription group for about 1 1/2 years.
When asked what his plans for the money were, McDonald laughed.
“My son’s going to college in September,” he said. “It’s already spoken for.”
Bihun, who has lived in Maspeth for three decades, was less practical with his cash infusion, although he admitted some of his windfall would go to “household stuff” like work on his roof.
“A little vacation sounds nice,” he said.
This was not their first taste of lottery magic, although it was certainly the most rewarding.
The group of 10 had won $1,800 once before in addition to a series of smaller wins that amounted to pocket change for each of them.
Bihun hopes the most recent jackpot is not their last.
“I’m glad that we hit and I hope we hit it again,” he said. “Let’s do it again.”
The men won their second-place prize for matching five of six Lotto numbers plus a bonus number. If they had matched all six, they would have been privy to a jackpot of $12 million.
Pretty good rate of return for a Lotto subscription that cost each of them only $30 a year.
Reach reporters Kathianne Boniello and Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
