Late last Saturday night, CNN producer Jennifer Hauser and her husband, on a whim, bought a $10 lottery ticket to mark their seventh wedding anniversary.
They scratched off the blue “50X The Money” ticket and couldn’t believe their eyes. They’d won $1 million. Only three months before, the lucky couple won $100,000.
“It was late at night and I was pretty tired and had to be up at 6 a.m. to work the next day,” said Hauser, 29. “I didn’t really believe it was real.”
On Monday, she took the ticket to the Georgia Lottery and they confirmed that she was indeed a two-time lottery winner.
Did she want to hold a press conference?, they asked.
No way, she wanted to keep this quiet, like she had with the previous win. She actually went to work and didn’t tell anyone for two days.
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- During her CNN appearance Hauser said she wasn’t sure how to tell her parents about the lottery win.
What was she thinking? The lottery put something on its website, and soon everyone in her CNN newsroom knew. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” said Hauser. “I figured they’d put a blurb on their website and no one would notice it. I was kind of stupid to think that.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution picked up the news and CNN put her on the air Thursday. Hauser, who has worked as a CNN producer for almost eight years, answered the obvious question: Is she going to tell her bosses to take this job and shove it?
“No, I’m not quitting my job,” said Hauser, who has a six-year-old daughter. “They take over half of it in taxes. I really want to help my family and invest it. Nothing too wild.”
Not quite half, said Tandi Reddick, media relations manager for the Georgia Lottery. “Thirty-one percent is withheld from all prizes over $5,000. 25 percent is withheld for federal taxes and 6 percent for state,” she said.
Hauser is the fourth $1 million winner since the “50X The Money” instant game began in late December.
With the previous win, the couple paid bills and bought a new Maxima. She and her husband are still absorbing the news, and may take her parents on a trip.
“I did start a frenzy at work with a couple of producers running out to buy lottery tickets,” said Hauser. “They were disappointed they didn’t win anything. I don’t encourage people to do this.”
Maybe she should get a side job picking lottery tickets.
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