Latest U.S. lottery multimillionaire skips work

Friday, March 09, 2007 posted 11:45 AM EST

Georgia's newest millionaire skipped work yesterday after claiming half the $390 million US Mega Millions jackpot, while lottery officials in New Jersey waited for the second winning ticket in the richest lottery in U.S. history to surface.

"I just hope it's a person that really deserves the money, someone that really needs it," said Jim Schroder, the owner of Campark Liquors in Woodbine, where that second ticket was sold.

In Georgia, winner Ed Nabors wasn't answering his phone. He skipped work yesterday, said Sal Perillo, general counsel for his employer, Mohawk Industries.

"He's probably sitting down trying to figure out what's going to happen," Perillo said. "We are all very excited for him and very happy for him, and that comes from the heart."

"I'm still numb," Nabors, 52, had said Wednesday as he held his oversized lottery cheque reading: $116.5 million.

He said he wanted to buy a home for his daughter, who has long wanted to move out of her mobile home, and he added, "I'm going to do a lot of fishing."

Nabors bought the ticket with his weekly cup of coffee at a convenience store in Dalton, Ga. - the self-proclaimed "Carpet Capital of the World" - near a carpet mill run by his employer, Mohawk Industries.

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