US jackpot winner used birthday
numbers
Jenny's Gift shop
owner Thuy Nguyen (on the right) receiving a US$1 million cheque
from California lottery sales representative Mona Sanders in San
Jose on Wednesday. He got the sum for selling one of the two
winning tickets in Tuesday's US$636 million Mega Millions draw. The
winner has yet to claim the prize and has a year to come
forward. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA - A 56-year-old woman in the US state of Georgia who
bought just one ticket and used family birthdays as well as her
"lucky" number 7 was one of two winners of the US$636 million
($800.6 million) Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest in US
history.
Lottery officials in Georgia identified the winner
as Mrs Ira Curry of Stone Mountain, which is east of Atlanta. She
will take a lump sum of US$123 million after taxes, Georgia Lottery
chief executive Debbie Alford said.
"She has not decided how she'll spend those
winnings," Ms Alford said on Wednesday.
"It's unreal. It's like I'm still dreaming," Mrs
Curry, who lives in a neighbourhood of brick and stucco houses with
manicured lawns, said in a statement issued by Georgia Lottery.
The other winning ticket was sold at a gift shop in
San Jose, California. The winner has yet to claim the prize and has
a year to come forward.
It was a bag of mixed fortunes for the retailers
who sold the winning tickets.
For selling the ticket in Tuesday's draw, owner
Thuy Nguyen of Jenny's Gift shop in San Jose, California, will get
US$1 million. "You can understand why that retailer was smiling
last night." state lottery spokesman Donna Cordova said on
Wednesday.
But his counterparts in Georgia - Young Soo Lee and
Young Lee, who own a Gateway News-stand at an office building in
upscale northern Atlanta - get no bonus beyond the usual 6 per cent
commission on lottery sales.
Nevertheless, the winning ticket is still likely to
give the store publicity, even without a bonus.
Policies on store bonuses - along with those on how
long a winner has to claim a prize and whether the name goes public
- vary by state, according to Mega Millions lead director Paula
Otto. In both Georgia and California, winners' names are
released.
Tuesday's jackpot was US$20 million shy of the
record US$656 million that was shared by three Mega Millions ticket
holders in March last year. New rules that went into effect in
October lowered the odds of winning to one in 259 million, but kept
the price of tickets at US$1 each.
Some US$336 million in tickets were sold for
Tuesday's draw.
REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS,
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Top of the news, The Straits Times, Friday, December 20, 2013,
Pg A6