The Tennessee 20: How Coworkers Won $420.9 Million on Powerball
In November 2016, twenty coworkers at an auto-parts plant in Portland, Tennessee, held the winning ticket for a $420.9 million Powerball jackpot. Known as "The Tennessee 20," they showed how an ordinary workplace pool, run consistently, can turn into a life-changing win for a whole team.
The Story
The group worked at North American Stamping Group in Portland, Tennessee, mostly in sales and quality control, and came from around a dozen towns in Tennessee and Kentucky. Their pool played the Powerball drawings together, and on November 26, 2016 the ticket matched all six numbers. It had been sold at a smoke shop in Lafayette, Tennessee, a small town in Macon County about 60 miles northeast of Nashville.
The group came forward together and introduced themselves at a joint announcement, talking about helping their families, covering medical costs and supporting their communities.
It was a big year for Tennessee lottery news. The prize was the second-largest ever won in the state at the time, behind only the share of a record $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot claimed by a family in Munford, Tennessee, earlier that same year.
The Numbers
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Advertised jackpot (annuity) | $420.9 million |
| Cash value, before taxes | About $254 million |
| Members | 20 |
| Per person, cash, before taxes | Roughly $12.7 million |
Exact figures vary slightly between news reports. Each member's take-home depends on taxes and their own circumstances.
One Pool, Two States
Because the members lived in both Tennessee and Kentucky, the Tennessee 20 illustrate a detail many groups overlook: members can face different state taxes on the same win. Tennessee has no state income tax on lottery winnings, but a member who lives in a state that taxes income may owe their home state tax on their share, even though the ticket was bought elsewhere. Federal tax applies to everyone.
If your pool includes people from different states (common at workplaces near a state line), each member should check their own state's rules, and the group should file IRS Form 5754 so each person is taxed on their own share.
What Made This Pool Work
A dependable coordinator
Pools that last are almost always held together by one reliable person who collects contributions and buys the tickets on schedule. When the numbers came up, there was no scramble to work out who had paid in.
Playing consistently
The group kept playing as a group rather than drifting in and out. That consistency matters for fairness. Everyone who was in the pool on the night of the draw is clearly part of the win.
Deciding in public, together
Presenting themselves as one team at the announcement, instead of drifting into private deals, helped the group present a united, drama-free story. That kind of unity comes from agreeing the rules before the money arrives.
Running a 20-Person Pool
Twenty members is a lot of people to coordinate. Every extra person adds a payment to collect, a share to calculate, and a set of personal details to gather at claim time. Large pools that stay drama-free usually share these habits:
- One fixed contribution for everyone, so shares stay equal and easy to calculate.
- A firm payment deadline before each purchase. See what happens when a member misses a payment.
- A roster for every draw, shared before the numbers are drawn.
- Ticket photos posted for everyone to see.
- A record nobody can quietly edit, rather than one person's spreadsheet. See spreadsheets vs. apps for lottery pools.
Lessons for Your Own Group
- Name a coordinator and a backup, so the pool survives vacations and job changes.
- Settle who is in before the draw. A clear list, kept up to date, prevents "I was supposed to be in!" claims.
- Use a written agreement. Our group agreement guide covers the essentials.
- Plan the tax paperwork early. A group of 20 needs every member's details ready when the claim is filed.
- Don't forget state lines. Members in different states may owe different state taxes.
The bigger the pool, the more it needs one shared source of truth. FutureEdges tracks each member's contribution and shows every ticket to the whole group, so a large pool is as easy to manage as a small one.
"Consistency is the secret of most big group wins: the same people, the same routine, the same rules, draw after draw."
More Office Pool Stories
See how 11 Santa Clara coworkers won $543 million, how the SEPTA 48 shared a Powerball prize, and our roundup of how office pools won massive jackpots.
Of course, no pool is guaranteed to win, and you should only play with money you can afford to spend on entertainment. But if you do play, play the way the Tennessee 20 did: together, consistently and with a clear idea of who is in.
Sources: news coverage from CBS News and NBC Washington. Per-person figures are before taxes.