A principal and a teaching assistant are the winners of $5.4 million in the Oregon Lottery

Tom Hewkin, a principal at Lorna Byrne Middle School in Cave Junction and Kathy Hewkin, a teaching assistant in the same school district are the latest winners of $5.4 million.

Tom and Kathy Hewkin of Grants Pass purchased a $1 Quick Pick ticket from the Circle K in Grants Pass and hit the jackpot in the Jan. 24 Megabucks drawing.

Tom Hewkin didn’t know he won until he checked the local newspaper on the Friday night following the Jan. 24 drawing.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Hewkin said in a prepared statement from the Oregon Lottery. “I was looking at the numbers, they were all there, but I just couldn’t believe it.”

The Hewkins became the 207th and 208th Megabucks millionaires, according to the Oregon Lottery. Tom and Kathy each received a $1.35 million prize before state and federal taxes were withheld. Their $5.4 million winnings fell short of the $30 million all-time high won by a Milwuakee resident in 2004, Oregon Lottery Spokesman Chuck Baumann said.

In 2006, the Oregon Lottery garnered a little more than $1 billion in sales, Baumann said. Seven winners hit the Megabucks jackpot in 2006. The jackpot starts at $1 million and continues to rise until someone wins.

Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned over $4.6 billion for economic development, public education, state parks and watershed enhancements. In that same period, it has paid its players more than $12 billion in prizes, according to the Oregon Lottery office.

In 2006, the Oregon-only game transferred $483 million to the state. More than half of that money goes to public education, with the remainder funding economic development, parks, watershed enhancement and problem gambling treatment, Baumann said.

For the Hewkins, their winnings will likely fund a trip to Disneyland and perhaps some early retirements, they said.