Whitehouse Station, N.J. ? Robert Space got into work at the Chubb Insurance company at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, realized the lottery ticket he was holding matched the winning numbers, and fired off a one-line e-mail to his nine co-workers who had pitched in to buy it.

“We won the big one,” it read.

The replies came back instantly: “Hahahaha” wrote one. “GREAT. Where do I pick up the cash?” joked another. Then they saw the ticket for themselves.

Space and his colleagues hit the second-largest single-ticket jackpot in New Jersey history, winning $216 million in the Mega Millions jackpot.

“I feel incredibly blessed. I can’t even absorb it,” Space said, surrounded by stunned colleagues and clutching the winning ticket during a news conference at their office in the central New Jersey town of Whitehouse Station.

Space, with $5 from each colleague, said he bought 50 quick-pick tickets Monday afternoon at the Singin Oil gas station in the shore town of Toms River.

Space stopped by the gas station again Wednesday morning to get a printout of the winning numbers to check the tickets.

“I jokingly asked him (the attendant) if anyone had won and if it was sold here, but he didn’t know,” Space said. So he stuffed the list in his pocket.

It wasn’t until an hour or so later that Space had time to review the numbers, scanning each row and growing increasingly shocked as first one, then two, then three — then six numbers matched.

He called his wife to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, then sent out the e-mail.

“It takes a lot of stress out of life,” Space said of the winnings. The 10 will split a $216 million annuity or a one-time payout of about $140 million.

Lottery officials say no one has officially come forward to claim the prize yet. The 10 have not discussed when they will claim the prize but have a year to do so.