HAMPTON — Thirty-four employees at the Old Salt Restaurant were ecstatic Wednesday morning after learning their weekly "office pool" won $40,000 in Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing.

Michael Higgins, one of the Old Salt's owners, was part of the winning group. He said their ticket was correct on four of the five numbers in the drawing, including the Mega Ball. Because they purchased a Megaplier ticket, a $10,000 prize was multiplied to $40,000. After taxes, Higgins said, each of the 34 staff members should receive about $1,100.

"We have a lot of happy employees running around," Higgins said.

The odds of hitting four numbers and the Mega Ball are one in 689,065.

Higgins said the group started playing the Mega Millions several months ago when the jackpot reached a half a billion dollars. While they didn't win, they kept playing. Server Liz Herdade, who organizes the weekly purchase of the Mega Millions tickets, keeping track of which employees are participating, broke the happy news to the restaurant's staff.

"She came in this morning and felt like the tooth fairy," Higgins said. "Everybody is so excited. It's funny to hear them all. It's been a big event of laughing and screaming."

Higgins said had the Old Salt staff won the big jackpot, he wouldn't have been too concerned about a mass exodus of workers from the restaurant.

"We always joke about that, but I bet 90 percent of the employees would stay on," Higgins said. "A lot of them have worked here a long time, and they are dedicated. But if they did win the (big jackpot), I think life would be a lot easier for them."