Trucker Claims Half Of $390M Jackpot

A Georgia truck driver stepped forward Wednesday to claim half of a $390 million jackpot, the richest lottery prize in U.S. history.

"I'm going to do a lot of fishing," Ed Nabors, 52, of Rocky Face, Ga., about 90 miles north of Atlanta, said in a deep Southern drawl.

The other winning ticket in Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing was sold at a liquor store in New Jersey, and the holder did not immediately come forward.

Nabors bought his ticket at a convenience store in Dalton — the self-proclaimed "Carpet Capital of the World" — near a carpet mill run by his employer, Mohawk Industries. Asking if he will keep working, he said: "Well, at least for a couple more days."

He elected to take his winnings in a lump sum instead of annual installments, and will get $116.5 million before taxes, or more than $80 million after.

Nabors' mother, Doris, said the whole family was in shock.

"We just can't believe it. He was shaking so hard they sent him home from work," she said from the door of the rural home she shares with her son. An American flag waved over a patch of daffodils, and a small camper and fishing boat were parked outside.

"I'm still numb," Nabors said.

The winning numbers were: 16-22-29-39-42, with the Mega Ball 20. The odds of hitting the winning combination: 1 in 176 million.

New Jersey's winning ticket was sold at Campark Liquors in Woodbine.

Janice, at a 7-11 in Wildwood, N.J., said the news that someone in the area won is causing a lot of excitement at her store.

"I'm hoping (it's) someone that we know," she said. "Every customer who has come to the front door has wanted a printout of the numbers."

California's results were delayed until midday, but the Lottery finally announced that the count was complete and that the state had no tickets matching all winning numbers. The other nine states also struck out, said Mardele Cohen of the Ohio Lottery, which compiles all the states' information.

Tuesday night's drawing was held in New York's Times Square in ABC's television studio rather than Atlanta after brisk sales pushed what had been an estimated $355 million jackpot estimate to a record $370 million.

Even though the temperature was just 16 degrees, a handful of hopefuls showed up in Times Square to watch the drawing.

Millions of others had lined up at lottery agents in the 12 states to buy tickets Tuesday. New Yorkers bought more than 1 million tickets an hour, said Robert McLaughlin, the state's lottery director. Virginia retailers sold about 8,550 tickets per minute.

New York construction worker Andelko Kalinic had an idea of what he would do if his Mega Millions ticket paid off.

"Go to the moon," he said. "Why not?"

Vendors in Chicago reported long lines at lottery-ticket machines Tuesday, especially around lunchtime and during rush hour.

The Tower News and Video normally sells about 500 Mega Millions tickets a day but has recently been selling around 1,500 daily, said Arin Patel, an attendant at the Chicago convenience store.

"It's crazy," Patel said Tuesday. "We sold 500 within the three hours that we opened today."

There were three second-prize winners in Illinois from Tuesday night's drawing, matching five numbers to win $250,000 apiece. Those tickets were purchased at stores in Mt. Carmel, Plainfield and Greenville. Another 20 players from Illinois matched four of the five numbers, plus the Mega Ball number. Those tickets are each worth $10,000.

Some lottery hopefuls in Ohio never had a chance. Ohio's lottery ticket system went down statewide at about 10:20 p.m., 25 minutes before the deadline, Cohen said. The cause hadn't yet been determined.

"For those people who wanted to make a wager and didn't get a chance, we're very, very sorry," she said.

The largest previous multistate lottery jackpot was $365 million in 2006, when eight workers at a Nebraska meat processing plant hit the Powerball lotto. The Big Game lotto, the forerunner of Mega Millions, paid out a $363 million jackpot in 2000.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington state.