BREWER — Three employees of a local company purchased a winning ticket together and won the $3.1 million “Megabucks” jackpot drawn on July 19, and the store clerk who sold the ticket was the one who informed them of their good fortune.

Karen Patchell, who has worked at the store for four years and called the three winners “regulars,” said she arrived at work Sunday, July 20, to work the morning shift when she learned the store had sold a winning ticket the previous day.

“I asked everyone who came in, ‘Did you buy a Megabucks ticket,’” Patchell said Tuesday.

When Jeffrey Hoxie of Holden came into the store on South Main Street she said to him, “I know I sold you a Megabucks ticket yesterday. He had the ticket in his hand. I put the ticket into the machine, and it was a winner.

“I told him, ‘You won the [expletive] lottery.’ He said, ‘No way,’ and then said, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m going to have a heart attack.’ He was doing the happy dance.”

Hoxie, Michael Hudson of Eddington and Anthony Reese of Veazie opted for a cash payout split three ways, Michael Boardman, marketing manager for the Maine State Lottery, said early Monday evening. The three men work for Getchell Bros., which produces and distributes ice products.

“The cash option was $1,947,856,” Boardman said. “After the required 25 percent federal and 5 percent state withholding taxes, each winner receives $454,500.”

Hudson and Reese declined to comment on how they plan to spend the money, and a message left for Hoxie after the winners’ names were released Monday was not immediately returned.

Maine State Lottery announced the winning ticket had been sold at the Big Apple on South Main Street last Monday, July 21. The business received a $30,000 selling bonus. The manager said last week she could not talk about the winners and referred all calls to the corporate office.

Megabucks tickets are sold at more than 1,200 lottery retailers in Maine.

The winning numbers were: 4-7-10-11-27, Megaball: 5.

The trio of winners told lottery officials they work at Getchell Bros.

“We are very happy for them and thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all,” Boardman said. “It’s always exciting to see hard-working Mainers like this win. It never gets old.”

Patchell said Hoxie immediately went outside and told his son who was waiting in his vehicle, and then he called his wife. He also called Hudson and Reese.

“One didn’t believe him,” the store clerk said. “He [Hoxie] had to take the ticket out to him and show him.”

The news made Patchell’s day.

“I was so stoked all day I could barely work,” she said. “They’re really nice guys. They’re regulars.”