$196 Million Mega Millions winnings still unclaimed

Saturday, May 31, 2008 posted 02:58 PM EDT

CINCINNATI --The lucky owner of the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket sold in Ohio two weeks ago still hasn't come forward to claim the $196 million prize.

Mike Goldstein owns Main Street Wine & Spirits, a boutique wine and craft beer emporium in the village of Amelia, east of Cincinnati, where the ticket was sold. He said the town is abuzz with talk, but so far nobody is fessing up.

"There's so many rumors," Goldstein said. "It could be anyone. People love to talk."

Mega Millions tickets are sold in 12 states - Ohio, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

"At this point, they either know or they don't," Goldstein said. "If they know and wanted people to know, they would say so. It's time to let them alone."

It's not the first time an Ohio lottery winner has preferred to remain anonymous.

A little over two years ago, in March 2006, Toledo lawyer Mark Mockensturm claimed a $270 million Mega Millions jackpot as trustee for the M&H Blind Trust. The winning ticket was sold in Lyons, a farming village of about 600 people 30 miles west of Toledo.

That winner took an after-tax, lump sum payment of $113.5 million about two weeks after the drawing.

"They were my neighbors," Mockensturm said. "I had lunch with her the day before. She was goofing around, she said her husband bought a lottery ticket, and she told him, "Why do you keep wasting your money?' The next day, she called me and was so excited she could barely talk."

In May 2006, a ticket worth $265 million was presented to lottery officials by a trust officer at a Cincinnati bank. The winner was identified only as the WFJ Trust, which took the cash option, netting $102.2 million after taxes, lottery officials said.

Goldstein said he understands why the winner would be keep quiet.

"That's what I would do, wouldn't you?" he said. "You wouldn't want people knowing, especially in a small town.

"Folks around here just hope it's a local person, to keep it in the community."

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