Ga. woman has 1 of 2 winning lottery tickets

ATLANTA - A Georgia woman who bought just one ticket and used family birthdays and a lucky 7 to pick 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 about $120 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 that Curry did not attend.

The other winning ticket was sold at a gift shop in San Jose, Calif. The winner there has one year to come forward.

Closer to home, two tickets worth $1 million each, with five of the six winning numbers, were sold in New Jersey.

Curry was driving to work Wednesday when a radio announcer talked about the Mega Ball being 7. Curry knew that was her number, so she called her daughter to check the ticket.

"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 listing for Curry said, "We are not interested in any publicity, thank you for calling" and then hung up.

A man who answered the door at the Curry home in a neighborhood of brick and stucco houses said the family did not want to speak.

Curry, her husband, and relatives went to lottery headquarters to claim the prize, surprising officials who thought the winner might take some time before coming forward.

She bought her ticket at a newsstand in Atlanta, 10 miles from Stone Mountain. Early reports indicated the newsstand's owners would receive a bonus, but Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick said 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.

New Jersey sold two second-prize tickets, worth $1 million each, the New Jersey Lottery said. One was sold at Kartik Food & News Store in Cranford, Union County, and the other at a 7 Eleven in Toms River, Ocean County.