When Jackson Memorial Hospital doctor Shirley Press heard the buzz nine years ago that someone at work had won the lottery, she told co-workers, "That person is going to be such an oddball — they aren't going to fit in anywhere."

She quickly learned that she was the "oddball." Over the following week, the 50-year-old mother of two teenagers and director of pediatric emergency care would try to keep a semblance of a normal life as word spread about her fortune — a lump sum that after taxes amounted to about $17 million.

Did it change her life? Sure, but not in the stereotypical fashion of spending sprees.

Morro Bay liquor store to get $665,000 commission

A $133 million lottery jackpot is more than the stuff of daydreams for one customer of a Morro Bay, California, liquor store.

Bottle Liquor and Deli at 999 Main St. in Morro Bay sold the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, the only jackpot winner in Friday's 41-state drawing, according to the California Lottery.

The winning numbers: 4-10-26-32-41 and Mega 31.

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot, according to the lottery: 1 in 176 million. It's the largest lottery win ever for San Luis Obispo County and one of the largest in California history, lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said.

Every year, $9 million in Washington Lottery winnings go unclaimed.

Case in point: Someone bought a Mega Millions ticket earlier this month at a 7-Eleven on North 36th Street in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood but has yet to collect the $250,000 in prize money that goes with it.

Right now there's about $400,000 in prize money that can still be claimed before the deadlines imposed by the state are reached. A winner has 180 days from the date of a drawing to collect winnings.

A prize of $100,000 remains unclaimed from a Hit 5 game drawing May 1. The ticket was purchased at an Albertson's in Marysville.

An Ottawa construction worker is $25 million richer after claiming his Lotto Max prize almost two weeks after the winning numbers were drawn.

Ten years after he and his wife won $64 million in the "Big Game" lottery, Alex Snelius wishes he'd won more money.

Due to a computer glitch, which has since been rectified, about 70 Vermont Lottery tickets were sold during a 30-minute span that were mistakes, but according to the rules were winners.

For about two hours, Berkeley County Magistrate W. Randy Smith believed he had come close, but that he didn't win Saturday's $79 million Powerball jackpot.

Imagine the surprise to open your mail and find a lottery ticket worth thousands of dollars.  It happened in one Kansas county this week and now the hospital in Beloit is all the richer for it.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission approved rules Thursday for use of 100 vending machines in retail outlets, though opponents vowed to continue to try to have the machines declared illegal.

The dollar shortfall between Tennessee lottery revenue and the scholarship programs it funds is much less than previously projected, a study shows, indicating that lottery scholarships won't have to be cut or made harder to get.