A Northern California man has come forward as the owner of one of two winning tickets of last month’s $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said today.
Steve Tran bought the ticket at Jenny's Gift Shop in San Jose, California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said, reports The Los Angeles Times. The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20, 37 and Mega Millions ball 7.
Tran is a frequent lottery player and apparently had no idea that he had one of the winning tickets until Monday, notes USA Today. In a release from lottery officials, Tran was quoted as saying, “I woke up in the middle of the night...I remembered, I think I went to San Jose.” After buying the tickets, he and his family took a vacation and didn’t check the tickets until he returned.
When he found that he had the winning numbers, he hugged his wife, then called his boss. He left a message, “I'm really sorry boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow, or ever.”
The second winning ticket was purchased by a Georgia woman who bought a ticket in Atlanta. She decided to take the lump sum of $123 million after taxes. The winning tickets were each worth $324 million.
image: MegaMillions.com