Mega Suspense: $266M Jackpot Winner Works at NBC LA
NBC LA site says owner wants to stay anonymous for now.
May 5, 2010 — -- The mystery winner of a $266 million Mega Million lottery jackpot is an employee of NBCLA, an NBC affiliate in Los Angeles and does not want to be identified, according to the television network's local website.
"One of the owners of the winning ticket works at NBCLA," says an article on NBC Los Angeles.com "The owners of the winning ticket said they're not ready to come forward, yet, and asked not to be identified."
The ticket, drawn by Mega Millions on Tuesday and sold by a Hawaiian Barbeque chain restaurant in Pico Rivera, California, is Mega Millions' eighth-largest jackpot since the game was launched in 2002.
"This is huge," Alex Traverso, a Mega Millions spokesman, tells ABCNews.com. This would be California's largest individual winner if the ticket is owned by a single person, says Traverso.
The winning numbers were were 9, 21, 31, 36, 43, and the Mega number was 8. This was the only ticket that matched all six numbers. Twenty-eight other tickets had five out of six numbers and will be sharing a $1.2 million prize. Seven were sold in California; three each in New Jersey and Virgina; two each in Michigan, Missouri, New York and Ohio; and one each in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Traverso says it is not unusual for lottery winners to be squeamish about going public when they learn they've won. Some want to get their affairs in order before they claim their prize. Some are worried about long-lost relatives who may mysteriously reappear, hoping for a handout. Some need time for it to sink in that they've won.
The jackpot winner joins a long list of winners who have hit the big time.
Mary Morrison, a massage therapist who won a $165 million Mega Millions jackpot with her husband Richard, a psychotherapist, in January, advises the new winner to take good care of the winnings.
"The person needs to figure out who is going to watch their money, because it's a lot to handle if you don't have the right team," she tells ABCNews.com. The Morrisons, high school sweethearts from Long Island who have been married for forty years and have six children, have hired an accountant and a lawyer to help them manage their new wealth, and have set up a charitable foundation. But they have also indulged in some luxuries: a new dream house and new cars -- Audi and Lexus -- for themselves and their children.
"It's a gift from heaven and you have to pass it on," says Mary Morrison.The couple decided to splurge on Mega Millions tickets when they were buying Christmas angels and noticed the lottery sign by the cash register.
"We didn't come from money. For us it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press.
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