Big Game mysteries resolved

? A couple married for nearly 20 years claimed a $58.9 million share of the Big Game lottery jackpot Tuesday, a day after lottery officials debunked a claim to the prize by nursing home employees in an office pool.

Jorge M. and Joanne S. Lopes, of Englishtown, held one of the three winning tickets from the $331 million prize drawn on April 16, the second-biggest lottery prize in U.S. history.

Joanne Lopes and her husband, Jorge, hold a ceremonial check for 8.9 million, their winning share of the Big Game lottery drawing of April 16. The New Jersey couple claimed their share of the lottery jackpot Tuesday.

“There’s not too many words to say but I’m still dumbfounded by it,” said Jorge Lopes, a native of Lisbon, Portugal. He said he waited to come forward because he was worried about the safety of his children.

He said he will use some of the money right away to pay bills and plans to continue working. Lopes, 46, manages two Portuguese restaurants and his wife had worked as a daycare teacher and made deliveries for a florist.

Joanne Lopes gave her notice last week at the Kindercare in Manalapan.

The couple bought $5 in tickets from a Hillside convenience store. They opted for a lump-sum payout, thereby reducing the prize. Taxes will cut it further to $43 million.

The other winning tickets were sold in Georgia, where 20-year-old Erika Greene claimed her share of the prize, and Illinois, where the winner hasn’t come forward.

On Monday, lottery officials dashed the hopes of a group of Newark nursing home workers who played the Big Game as a pool. The Newark Extended Care Facility workers claimed they pooled their money to buy the winning ticket but that co-worker Angelito Marquez wouldn’t give it to the group.

Despite Marquez’s insistence the group had lost, co-workers became suspicious of his absence from work in the days after the drawing and hired a lawyer.

The New Jersey Lottery, in a statement Monday, said two of the tickets Marquez bought for the office pool were worth a dollar each.