Maryland winner claims share of $656 million Mega Millions jackpot

BALTIMORE - The holder of a winning Mega Millions ticket sold in Maryland claimed a share of the record-breaking $656 million prize on Monday, but will remain anonymous, state lottery officials announced.

The winner claimed the prize at lottery headquarters with a ticket matching all six numbers: 2-4-23-38-46 and the Mega Ball, 23, said Maryland Lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett. The winner will remain anonymous, but officials will share some details at a news conference Tuesday morning, she said. Maryland does not require lottery winners to be identified.

The jackpot was the biggest in Mega Millions history, and the three winners -- one each in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas -- will each receive more than $218 million before taxes. Kansas' winner claimed a share of the jackpot Friday, but also decided to remain anonymous.

Lottery players waited in long lines to buy tickets as the jackpot gradually climbed, leaving millions of losers to grumble about their misfortune and dream of what they would have done with all that money.

Maryland's winner bought the ticket at a 7-Eleven store in Milford Mill outside Baltimore. An attorney for a Baltimore woman who initially claimed she had the winning ticket, then said she had misplaced it, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday evening.

Maryland has been the home of Mega Millions winners in the past. In 2007, Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett won roughly $27 million after taxes.