Winning Tickets in $636M Mega Millions Jackpot Sold in California, Georgia

Dec. 18, 2013— -- Two tickets -- one in San Jose, Calif., and another in Atlanta, Ga. -- have matched the winning numbers in the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, state lottery officials said.

The winning ticket in Tuesday's night's drawing in Atlanta was sold at Gateway Newsstand on Lenox Road, state lottery officials confirmed to ABC News. The luck winner in San Jose purchased their ticket from Jenny's Gift Shop on Tully Road, California lottery officials said.

The winning numbers were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7. The cash option is estimated at $341 million, before taxes.

The two grand prize winners will share the jackpot, which could grow closer to $645 million, Virginia lottery director Paula Otto told ABC News. The exact size of the jackpot will be available later today once sales figures are compiled.

The $636 million jackpot grew from a modest $12 million prize in October. Twenty-one winless drawings later, it became the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, according to lottery officials. The record jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions prize in March 2012.

If winning numbers were not selected in Tuesday night's drawing, lottery officials estimated that the jackpot could have hit $1 billion next week.

Illinois is the luckiest state, with 31 mega millions jackpots won, followed by New York and Georgia.

Last October, Mega Millions changed its rules to increase the jackpot by lowering the odds of winning. The chance of winning the jackpot is now about 1 in 259 million. Before the rules changed the odds were 1 in 176 million.

Mega Millions revamped its game after Powerball ticket prices doubled from $1 to $2 in January 2012, accounting for the swelling jackpots and tons of media attention.

Mega Millions is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.