A 15-year tradition for a St. Louis area U.S. Postal Service office has paid off with a $1 million Missouri Lottery prize. A group of eight Postal Service employees have come forward to claim the $1 million Powerball Match 5 prize for the Dec. 19 drawing. The winning numbers from that drawing were: 28, 30, 41, 59 and 68.

That group of eight co-workers consists of: Sammie Conners, Vail Pickens and Steven West, all of Florissant; Ramon Gill, Kenneth Givens and Jake Thompson, all of St. Louis; Kevin Barr of Cedar Hill; and Arthur Engelman of Belleville, Ill.

While claiming their seven-figure prize on Dec. 22, Steven West said that he was the member of the group who purchased the winning Quick Pick ticket and the first to discover the group’s good fortune.

“I got home that night after work. I go online, and I’m looking at the numbers, checking all of our tickets,” began West.

As he was checking the group’s collection of Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto tickets, West realized that one of their Powerball tickets matched five of the six numbers drawn.

“I call up one of the guys and said that I need verification. I need you to go online, look at these numbers and call them out to me,” recalled West. “He started reading the numbers, and I said, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes! Lord, we won $1 million!’”

West continued, saying that he purchased the winning ticket from QuikTrip, 904 S. Vandeventer Ave. in St. Louis, while on his way to work.

“I actually was not going to go to that QuikTrip. I got up that morning, and I was going to go and play right near my home. I passed right by it,” said West, who added that he had second thoughts and decided to turn around to purchase tickets there.

The group will split the jackpot evenly, each receiving around $125,000 before taxes. At the time of claiming, West wasn’t sure how each individual would spend their portion of the $1 million prize, but he said ideas ranged from paying off bills to purchasing property.

For selling the winning ticket, QuikTrip received a $1,000 bonus check.