Four weeks later, mystery Mega Millions second-prize winner steps forward

SCHENECTADY -- Four weeks after the drawing of the near-record breaking Mega Millions jackpot drawing that revealed a locally purchased second-prize winning ticket, the winner has finally come forward to claim her prize.

"I had other things to do," Linda Gifford of Greenwich told the Lottery, explaining why she waited to step forward. "I just wasn't in a big hurry for the money."

Gifford paid $1 for one QuickPick ticket on August 28th at the Old Station Inn on Bleeker St. in Greenwich, but "didn't really pay attention" to the drawing the next day because the jackpot was so high, according to a press release sent by the Lottery. In fact, she only learned she had the second-prize ticket when her friends informed her.

Gifford, a mother of three and a full-time nursing student, was one of seven Mega Millions players statewide to match five of the six numbers needed to win the Mega Millions jackpot. The second prize in the Mega Millions game is $250,000.

Two players -- from Bronx, New York and California -- split the $360,000,000 jackpot drawn on August 28, 2009.