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N. Calif man is second winner of $636 million jackpot

Steve Tran of Northern California has come forward to claim half of the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot prize. The other winner, Ira Curry, is a Georgia resident.

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David Tulis/AP
Dusk falls on the home listed for Ira Curry, one of two Mega Millions lottery ticket winners that were identified by lottery officials in the $636 million drawing on Dec. 18, in Stone Mountain, Ga.
  • By Associated Press

| San Jose, Calif.

California Lottery officials say the second of two winners of the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot has come forward to claim the prize.

Steve Tran of Northern California came forward Thursday afternoon, 16 days after officials revealed there were two winning jackpot tickets.

The other winner, Ira Curry, is from Georgia and came forward to claim her prize Dec. 18. Lottery officials there say she opted to take the lump sum payment of about $120 million after taxes.

The winning ticket in California was purchased at a gift shop in San Jose. The gift shop owner will receive $1 million.

The jackpot is the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. It started its ascent Oct. 4. Lotto officials say 22 draws came and went without winners.

Some $336 million in tickets were sold for the Dec. 17 drawing.

Curry, of Stone Mountain, lives in a neighborhood of brick and stucco houses with manicured lawns about 10 miles east of Atlanta. She lives in a two-story home with a two-car garage and a basketball hoop in the driveway. She purchased the ticket at the Gateway Newsstand in the Alliance Center building in Buckhead, a financial center in Atlanta.

The California ticket was sold by store owner Thuy Nguyen of Jennifer's Gift Shop in San Jose. He will get $1 million, lottery officials in California said.

"When people hear jackpot winner was sold here, everybody want to come here," Nguyen said in December after the drawing.

Nguyen sells a variety of items, including Buddha statues, Vietnamese DVDs, clocks and flip flops. The former hairstylist, who emigrated from Vietnam in the early 1990s, took over the shop four months ago.

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