Mega Millions $656M jackpot winners still unknown

Illinois Moto Mart store manager Denise Metzger looks at an oversized check given to her by lottery officials Saturday morning March 31, 2012, in Red Bud, Ill. They visited the convenience store in this town of about 3,700 residents to verify that her store had indeed sold one of the three winning Mega Millions lottery tickets. The jackpot of $656 million established a new record, and may grow slightly larger as late ticket purchases are added in to the total. The oversize check Metzger holds shows the amount each of the winners could get after the three-way split from Friday night's Mega Millions drawing. The other winning tickets were sold in Maryland and Kansas. / AP Photo/Belleville News-Democrat, Tim Vizer

(CBS/AP) - After all the rush to buy tickets, none of the three ticket holders who matched all six numbers in the record-breaking Mega Millions $656 million jackpot have come forward.

The tickets were purchased in Red Bud, Ill., Milford Mill, Md. and an undisclosed town in the northeast of Kansas. The winning numbers were 2-4-23-38-46 and the Mega Ball was 23.

Mega Millions officials announced Monday that when all the sales from all 44 Mega Millions lotteries were calculated and totaled, the jackpot reached $656 million -- $16 million more than previously thought -- because of all the unprecedented sales.

"It's just unbelievable. Everyone is wanting to know who it is," Denise Metzger, manager of the MotoMart in Red Bud, said. Her store will receive $500,000 for selling the winning ticket. While chances are someone in the tiny farming community with a population of 3,700 bought the ticket, someone passing by the area including those en route to work or visiting an inmate at the maximum-security prison down Illinois Route 3 could may be the winner.

"All day yesterday, I was selling tickets and I was hoping someone from Red Bud would win," she said."I'm sure there's not one person in this town that couldn't use the money."

In Maryland, a McDonald's employee claims she has the winning ticket. Mirlande Wilson told the New York Post she bought the ticket independent of her work's group pool. Her co-workers are crying foul, claiming the ticket she bought was actually part of their group buy.

However, most are skeptical of her claims a clerk at the 7-Eleven that sold the winning ticket said that lottery officials reviewed the security video and had determined a man bought it. Stephen Martino, director of the Maryland Lottery, told CBS station WJZ in Baltimore, Maryland that the winning ticket was purchased at 7:15 p.m. at the 7-11 on Liberty Road. It was a quick pick and only one ticket was purchased.

Maryland lottery representative Carole Everett would not confirm the gender of the purchaser to the New York Post, and lottery officials said that no one from Maryland has come forward to take their prize.

In Kansas, lottery spokeswoman Cara Sloan-Ramos said Monday that no one has contacted the lottery about the prize from Friday's drawing. The winning ticket was purchased in northeast Kansas, though lottery officials don't plan to identify the store until the winner comes forward.

There is one winner that is already known: Illinois schools. CBS station WBBM in Chicago said that the lottery generated $31.5 million for the state's Common Schools Fund.

At least 11 others matched five numbers in the Mega Millions, and 10 of them will collect a less prize of $250,000 each, according to WBBM. One of them opted for the Megaplier feature of the game, meaning they will take home $1 million.

[Resin-Smoker]

The names should never be published as this marks the winners as targets for scammers and thugs.

[fitstshu]

Agree, and run, never to be seen again

[retm-w]

Takes time to get an honest lawyer and financial advisor. And I sure wouldn't want to be identified, with all those trying to steal from you.