The cheers could be heard all over the building Monday when a group of Bell employees in Scarborough found out they held a $50 million winning lotto ticket.

Seventeen workers and two managers arrived at the company’s Ontario West control centre, at Brimley and Ellesmere Rds., to discover they would split the proceeds from Friday’s Lotto Max draw, the first time the jackpot has been won by a single ticket.

“I was so excited,” one winner told Citytv when she was informed by her manager they held the winning ticket. “She said we won and I couldn’t believe it.”

One winner said she was at home in her pajamas when she got the news that morning and was “still in shock.” Others talked about paying off mortgages, retiring early and saving for their children’s education. The employees had been buying lotto tickets as a group for only four weeks.

Employees on the building’s other floors, which all open to a central atrium, could hear the screams and cheers of the winning ticket holders shortly after 9 a.m., said Theresa Laird, a marketing manager for organic food distributor Neal Brothers. Her mother, who works on the fourth floor, said the employees were celebrating a level above her.

By 11:30 a.m. the winners had all gone home, according to a security guard who staffs the front entrance.

The winning numbers were checked earlier in the day at an Esso station by attendant Kumar Arumugam, who says a shaking woman handed the ticket over and waited anxiously for the results sometime after 8 a.m.

“I checked the ticket in the machine and it said ‘big winner,’ ” said Arumugam, who works at the Victoria Park and McNicoll Aves. location.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. “then called and said to check the ticket again. Then it came up $50 million. I was shaking, too.”

Television and radio stations were lined up to interview him through the afternoon.

Arumugam told a Star photographer he also sold the woman the ticket.

An OLG spokesperson confirmed it was a group win, but wouldn’t say more about who held the ticket.

Although the prize office was closed Monday, the OLG knew the ticket had been validated because lottery terminals automatically freeze up when there’s a big win, said spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuk.

That alerts someone in OLG’s retailer support centre to call the business, which is what happened Monday, when a lottery employee spoke to the ticket holder.

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Kiriliuk said it will take at least a day to clear all the winners, which includes ensuring everyone is entitled to their share of the winnings. A news conference could be held as early as Wednesday.

With files from the Scarborough Mirror