Two winning tickets were sold in Tuesday's massive $636 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot, officials said.
One of the two winning tickets matching all six numbers was sold at Jennifer's Gift Shop on Tully Road in San Jose, Calif., the California Lottery said. The other was sold at a Gateway Newstand on Lenox Road in Atlanta.
In addition to the two jackpot winners, 20 others across the U.S. won at least $1 million for matching five numbers without the Mega Ball.
Tuesday's drawing was just $20 million shy of the largest jackpot in American lottery history. The cash option prize was an estimated $341.2 million, before taxes.
The winning numbers were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7.
"At one point, we were selling about 25,000 tickets per minute," California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso told the Associated Press on Tuesday night.
The owner of the San Jose gift shop who sold one of the winning tickets told the Mercury News Tuesday night he will receive a $1 million prize for selling the ticket.
"The lottery called me and let me know [that the winning ticket was sold here], so then when I came and take a look, everybody [was] here, and whoa!" Thuy Nguyen said with a laugh. "I am so happy, I feel good."
The massive jackpot had been growing since it was last won on Oct. 1 in Maryland for $190 million.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about 1 in 259 million. The game is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
CALIFORNIA AND GEORGIA HAVE #MEGAMILLIONS JACKPOT WINNERS
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CALIFORNIA AND GEORGIA HAVE #MEGAMILLIONS JACKPOT WINNERS
Someone picked the winning numbers in the $636M Mega Millions jackpot at Jenny’s Gift Shop on Tully Rd in San Jose.
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Someone picked the winning numbers in the $636M Mega Millions jackpot at Jenny’s Gift Shop on Tully Rd in San Jose.
Tuesday's winning Mega Millions jackpot numbers.
