Georgia woman has 1 of 2 winning lottery tickets

ATLANTA -- A Georgia woman who bought just one ticket and used family birthdays and lucky No. 7 to choose her numbers was one of two winners of the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest in U.S. history.

Lottery officials in Georgia identified the winner as Ira Curry of Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta. Curry will take a lump sum of $123 million after taxes, Georgia Lottery chief executive Debbie Alford said.

"She has not decided how she'll spend those winnings," Alford said at a news conference Curry did not attend.

The other winning ticket was sold at a gift shop in San Jose, Calif.

Curry was driving to work Wednesday when an announcer on the radio talked about the mega ball being No. 7. Curry knew that was her mega ball number, so she called her daughter to check the numbers.

"Between joyful tears and laughter on the daughter's part, she relayed to her mother that her mother had won the lottery," Alford said.

Alford wouldn't say where Curry worked or how old she was. A person who answered the phone at a phone listing for Curry said, "We are not interested in any publicity, thank you for calling," and then hung up.

The winning ticket in Georgia was sold at a newsstand in Buckhead, a financial center of Atlanta about 10 miles from Stone Mountain. The ticket was sold in the Alliance Center, home to a variety of offices, including lawyers, financial services professionals and the Brazilian Consulate General.

Young Soo Lee owns the store with her husband, Young Lee. She grinned as she arrived Wednesday morning at the shop just off the lobby. The newsstand is a small, narrow shop with one register, and it can hold perhaps 10 people at a time.

"I'm so excited and so happy now," Young Soo Lee said. "I love my store and the customer."

Earlier media reports indicated the couple would receive a bonus for selling a winning ticket, but Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick clarified that's not the case.

"They do have the distinction of being known as the lucky store now, and that's always great news for them," Reddick said.

The California store owner -- Thuy Nguyen of Jennifer's Gift Shop in San Jose -- will get $1 million, lottery officials there said.

Nguyen said he doesn't know who bought the winning ticket at his store, which sits along San Jose's tree-lined Tully Road, amid a cluster of Asian restaurants. But it's likely someone he knows because most of his customers are his friends.

"I feel good! I don't even know, I can't sleep," Nguyen said.

The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and Mega Ball 7.

The jackpot started its ascent Oct. 4. Twenty-two draws came and went without winners.

About $336 million in tickets were sold for Tuesday's drawing.

Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase the jackpots by lowering the odds of winning the top prize. That means the chances of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 259 million. It used to be about 1 in 176 million.

------

Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco contributed to this report.