Georgia man claims half of record lottery jackpot
![Mega Millions lottery co-winner Ed Nabors, seen Wednesday in Atlanta, claimed half of the record $390 million jackpot.
(Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/_v9YsOg631KrL0QZNao7gn73HPU=/400x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2007/03/08/Mega_Millions08_03-08-2007_KBA0E01.jpg)
ATLANTA – When Ed Nabors discovered that he had won half of the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, he sat stunned in his rig until a dispatcher radioed wondering what was going on.
Wednesday turned out to be a short workday for the 52-year-old truck driver.
“He was shaking so hard they sent him home from work,” said his mother, Doris Nabors, who shares a home with her son in Rocky Face, Ga., about 90 miles north of Atlanta.
Ed Nabors was the first person to claim part of the $390 million jackpot from Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. The only other winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in New Jersey, and the holder did not immediately come forward Wednesday.
Nabors did not check his $10 worth of lottery tickets before going to bed Tuesday, and it wasn’t until a co-worker told him that a winning ticket was bought at his regular convenience store that he decided to take a look.
“I’m still numb,” Nabors said.
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.
He bought his ticket Tuesday morning at a convenience store in Dalton close to a carpet mill run by his employer, Mohawk Industries. Nabors said he usually gets a cup of coffee at the store at least once a week. “That’s what I was doing that day,” Nabors said.
When asked whether he would keep working, Nabors said: “At least two more days.”
“I’m going to do a lot of fishing,” he said. He also said he plans to buy a house for his daughter, who has wanted to move out of her mobile home for a long time.