Kansan claims $218.6 million share of Mega Millions jackpot The Kansas winner is the first to officially come forward, a week after the winning numbers were picked. Three winning tickets were purchased, in Kansas, Maryland and Illinois A Maryland woman claims to be a winner, but can't produce a ticket (CNN) -- The holder of one of three winning tickets in last week's record $656 million Mega Millions drawing has come forward to claim a share, a Kansas Lottery official said Friday. The identity of the winner was not immediately revealed. Lottery officials in Kansas will hold a news conference at 4:30 p.m. ET, said Cara Sloan-Ramos, the director of communications for the Kansas Lottery. Winners can choose to remain anonymous in Kansas, according to the state's lottery director. Kansas was one of three states where three tickets matched the winning numbers -- 2, 4, 23, 38 and 46, with a Mega Ball of 23 -- amounting to an equal share of roughly $218.6 million, before taxes, under the annuity option. The other winning tickets were purchased in Maryland and Illinois. The Kansas winner is the first to officially come forward, just a week after the winning numbers were picked. Lottery officials have said only that the winning ticket came from somewhere in northeastern Kansas. Meanwhile, Maryland lottery officials have been responding to a flurry of questions from the media this week after a Baltimore-area woman told The New York Post that she had one of the winning tickets. However, in a bizarre twist of the story, Mirlande Wilson, a 37-year-old single mother of seven who works at McDonald's, told the Post on Friday that she isn't sure where she last had the ticket. I'm still looking for it. I haven't even looked in my uniform pants yet," the Post quoted Wilson as saying. I'm still looking everywhere to find it, in my purse, everywhere. The state's lottery director said Thursday he hasn't seen the ticket, but he also says no one else has come forward saying he has it. Carole Everett, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Lottery, said Tuesday she doesn't "put much stock in that story." "She claims she won," Everett said. She can't produce a ticket. ... In our opinion, until they walk in that door, hold that ticket, produce valid identification and our security people can process and validate it, doesn't matter. If Wilson is determined to be a winner, a showdown could be brewing with her McDonald's co-workers. They are demanding a share because they say they pooled their money to buy several tickets. Wilson has said the ticket she bought was separate from that. CNN's Tom Laabs and Brian Todd contributed to this report.