Lottery's advice to winners: Enjoy fame, then lifetime security

UPDATE: The take-away message from the saga of “The Shipping 20” Powerball winners who didn't want their full names made public: “Take the 15 minutes of fame up front and enjoy a lifetime of financial security.”

That according to Iowa Lottery chief Terry Rich who closed the book on the 18 men and two women Quaker Oats co-workers who claimed an after-taxes, $5.6 million share of the biggest Powerball jackpot won in Iowa by making identities public on Friday. The winners ranged in age from 35 to 64.

Lottery officials released the names of the 20 Cedar Rapids area unionized shipping workers who won last month's $241 million Powerball jackpot on Friday after lawyers for “The Shipping 20” trust did not seek a court injunction to keep the state-run gaming enterprise from implementing its policy of making all winners' names public based upon state law.

“It is our understanding that The Shipping 20 Trust has not filed a petition for an injunction,” Rich said in a lottery statement that listed the winners' full names and home towns. Historically, the lottery has treated the names of its prize winners as public information and we are doing so in this instance as well.”

Lawyers for the trust told Lottery officials June 19 that the members of The Shipping 20 wanted their names to remain confidential to protect their privacy and intended to request a court injunction to that effect. Lottery officials gave the trust 10 business days to seek an injunction to block release of the winners' full names, and Rich said the deadline lapsed Thursday without any legal action being brought, so the identities automatically became public.

“It kind of helps us as a state to clear up any doubt that Iowa players now know that names will continue to be released when the money is claimed. What played out seemed to generate more publicity than if the names would have been initially released,” Rich said in an interview. “By next week the press and all the publicity will stop.”

According to the lottery statement, members of The Shipping 20 who shared in the jackpot winnings were identified as Tommy Campbell Sr., William Carnahan, Mike Hughes, Denise Hunt, Terry Koopman, David Morgan, Charles Shedek, Gregory Stearns and Rodney Tierney, all of Cedar Rapids; Timothy Himmelsbach and Kelly Mulford of Marion; Daniel Cantonwine of Vinton, Kenneth Cole of Fairfax, Robert Havlik of Toddville, Carol Kremer of Central City, Allen Miller of Shellsburg, Larry Nielsen of Walker, Brent Novak of Shellsburg, Jason Rauch of Ryan, and John Wharton of Keystone.

The Shipping 20 group chose to receive the jackpot as the lump-sum option of $160.3 million -- $112 million after federal and state taxes were deducted. At least 11 of the winners indicated they would retire from their jobs now that they have become instant multimillionaires.

“We think the discussion we had was good. The players were fantastic; the lawyers were very professional in all the dealings,” Rich said. “What's not to like about this group? They're 20 hard-working Iowa residents from the Cedar Rapids area.”

Requests for release of the names were made by at least two newspapers under the state's open records law.

The winning ticket was sold at a Hy-Vee grocery store at 5050 Edgewood Rd NE in Cedar Rapids.

Iowa Lottery players now have won seven Powerball jackpots overall, with the previous largest prize claimed by Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge, who won a $200.8 million jackpot in October 2006.

The Powerball game currently is played in 44 jurisdictions across the nation, with players buying more than $3 billion annually in tickets, Iowa lottery officials said. The biggest jackpot in the game so far was a $365 million prize split by eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant in February 2006.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.8 billion in prizes, while the lottery has raised more than $1.3 billion for state programs.