Mega Millions: Second jackpot winner likely getting ‘ducks in a row’

The owner of this week’s second winning Mega Millions jackpot ticket, purchased in San Jose, had yet to come forward Friday, and that’s understandable, a lottery spokesman said.

“Someone’s about to present you with a check for $173.8 million. How do you prepare for that? … What do you do with that?” said California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso. “You don’t just walk that [check] over to a bank and hand it to a teller.”

That huge check is the split share of the $648-million jackpot prize -- the second largest in the game’s history. A Georgia woman came forward as one of two winners on Wednesday. Ira Curry of Stone Mountain won using a combination of family birthdates and the number 7 for her last-minute ticket purchase.

She declined to appear before reporters at an ensuing news conference, saying she didn’t want the publicity.

Meanwhile, across the country, the owner of the ticket purchased in San Jose is probably doing a whole lot more preparation.

Traverso said he thinks most people would have a hard time trying to figure out what to do wotj or how exactly to claim such a large prize. He said that, oftentimes, the lottery will “hear from an attorney or the person will have hired some financial representation.”

He said if the ticketholder is a regular player, they likely saw the lottery’s handbook for winners, instructing them to seek out a financial advisor after they’ve won for guidance.

“I tend to think in this case that it’s somebody getting their ducks in a row,” Traverso said.

The winning ticket -- with the numbers 8, 14, 17, 20 and 39 and a Mega number of 7 -- was purchased at Jenny’s Gift Shop in San Jose. The owner of the store will collect a $1-million retailer bonus.

Of course, there’s always the far-out possibility that the ticketholder doesn’t know they’ve won. Under California rules, lottery winners have one year to claim their prize.

Traverso said the largest prize to have gone unclaimed was $25 million, although it was unclear whether that was for California or the entire nation.

“This person has a full year, and I would be surprised if it took them much longer than a week more to come in,” he said.

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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com