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CNN producer third person this year to win Georgia lottery for second time

By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow – Thu, Feb 16, 2012

In terms of jackpots, Las Vegas gets all the attention. But anyone looking to make GALottery.comtheir fortune on a gamble might be better off trying Georgia: Three people have won the lottery in Georgia multiple times in the past year alone.

"Georgia is a very lucky state," Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick tells Yahoo News. "There have been quite a few repeat Georgia Lottery winners who have Lady Luck on their side. It's fantastic for our players and very exciting for us."

Even more amazing, Reddick provided Yahoo News with no less than 15 examples of repeat Georgia lottery winners.

The most recent two-time winner is CNN producer Jennifer Hauser, 29, of Atlanta. Playing the instant scratch off game 50X The Money, Hauser took home a check for $1 million. Incredibly, Hauser's win came less than three months after she took home a $100,000 prize on another state lotto game, Georgia Lottery Black.

"I was a little numb," Hauser told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "I didn't know what to think."

Hauser says she used the first prize to buy a new car and pay off some bills and is thinking of buying her Mom a car with the second, larger payoff.

The odds of winning any lottery are already incredibly slim, but the odds of winning a second time are astronomical. So it's especially astonishing that Hauser is actually the third person in less than a year to win multiple lotteries in the state of Georgia.

Earlier this month, Erik Holmes, 44, won $500,000 in the scratch-off game $7 Million Jackpot less than a year after winning $104,000. And like Hauser, Holmes has been generous with his winnings, using his first jackpot to help out friends and family.

And last November, I wrote about Delma Kinney, 50, who also is now a two-time Georgia lottery winner. Kinney won $1 million playing the Super Millions game. But that was only after another $3 million instant lotto prize back in 2008. Kinney's story may be the most touching of all: He used his original lotto winnings to set up a college tuition fund for the children he is raising on his own. And now, Kinney plans to donate part of his second prize fund to charity.

Here are some other very, very lucky winners who have taken home a jackpot from the Georgia Lottery on more than one occasion:

Duluth grandmother turns fourth lottery win; $400K prize

Metter man wins lottery again; this time — $1 million

Lightning strikes twice: Atlanta man wins lottery again

Covington man wins Fantasy 5 again, snags $1.2M

Gainesville man comes back to win $750,000 prize

Marietta man wins Fantasy 5 jackpot twice within weeks

Lottery winner enthusiastic over $361K prize; second win

Former Albany broadcaster wins $10,000 … again

Gwinnett Co. publishing family records 2nd lottery win

Doraville man gets second wind with $10K, 2nd win

Savannah woman wins $10,000 … again

Loganville man claims victory with 2nd $10K win

Albany woman gets new Jeep; 2nd win within months

Needless to say, this shocking array of winning statistics is having an effect as the Georgia Lottery reports having its best week of sales on record, with more than $101.2 million in sales for the week of Feb. 11.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

• A Houdini escape: driver survives a 20-ton boulder dropping on car roof

• Black customer who received "N-Word" receipts settles with restaurant

• Man suffers heart attack while eating at Heart Attack Grill (Video)

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2,902 comments

John • 2 mths ago
I'd be happy just to get laid.
Jules Julio • 2 mths ago
i think the lottery is rigged to a point,they cant pick who wins...but they decide where the winner if any,will come from.thats why most winning tickets are from a poor area.when people in a poor area see someone win,they will spend all they have buying tickets in
hopes of being next.more money for the lottery system.winning tickets in a well to do area such as northern va don't have as much impact..show me one big winner ever bought at a liq.store...logic,if you can afford booze you dont need to win
- blah 2 mths ago
  I think they can pick who wins. First, its computerized so they can quickly find numbers that have not been already played. The Lotto ping pong balls method is like a carnival trick. MAYBE every so often they let a random person win, but I dont believe they would put that kind of money in just anyone's hands. Could be dangerous.
- Tina 2 mths ago
  I have to agree with you Jules, I just did a research paper on this same thing, big companies have "spies" that go into lower income areas to see what the lower income people will buy or act faster towards. So I have to agree with you about putting the winning tickets in lower income areas because once someone sees people winning one ticket they are going to want to try and then seeing someone win more than once it is going to make them buy even more, the more they sell with people trying to win once they are making double what they are giving the people who are winning.
Allen • Grand Rapids, Michigan • 2 mths ago
Sounds like the fix is in somewhere
AR • Tampa, Florida • 2 mths ago
i only ask for a miracle to have enough for a roof and food for the rest of the year not even millions and some are so lucky but it is what it is
- J G 2 mths ago
  Yes, life is unfair. I remember reading about a young 21 year old adult winning the lottery big time and then about a week later when visiting the cemetery to go to my grandmother's grave, I passed by a tombstone of another young adult reading "died at 21 years of age serving his country". It was really an eye opener about life. One person served their country by giving their most precious gift, their life. The other their country served them by giving them a big gift of a lifetime. Interesting.
firebaby • Toronto, Canada • 2 mths ago
i've won lotto max grand prize already.... i always say when i win it again i'll do the same thing again---keep half, give away half.... make everybody around you a lotto winner too! but next time instead of mainly family and friends and charities i'll give to strangers and charities....
- Babar 2 mths ago
  Can i get a $1,500 loan? I'm only 21 and the Collection Agency is after me for a course i never took at university! Still doing school and it's impossible to make enough money to pay my bills working at a golf course during winter season. I can pay it back in 3 years, just don't want to ruin my credit score.
- J. 2 mths ago
  yeah can i get about 5 grand too please? i want to open a rastafarian-theme peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich restaurant called "MP-B&J-LA" and no banks will help me with a loan because i am a bad risk. thank you natty! praise Jah
Willie • St Louis, Missouri • 2 mths ago
My comment is about the person who won the jackpot and was still collecting food stamps, i am not trying to make excuses, but i had a conversation with my mother who won a lawsuite and was on foodstams and ssi at the time.

She was affraid to give up those benefits, even though she had come into a large amount of cash, not becase of greed or trying to get over on the establishment, after discussing this for hours with her i can to the conclusion she addicted to the benefits, they were much less of what she had received the the suite, but she was affraid to give them up, my mother wirk all her life, so i could not beleive she wanted something for nothing.

For that reason in my life i have been elgible for assistance being a disable veteran but i refuse the assistance because of what i saw my mother go through, she did give them up and wonder the rest of her life if she had did the right thing.
SoBay pizza fan • 2 mths ago
After taxes, the $604K combined that Eric Holmes won isn't really life-changing money. Pay bills and pay off your house first, but since real estate is so low now put a large down payment on your first (or second!) one and keep working quietly and diligently...
- Allen 2 mths ago
  That is life changing money . Invested properly that is a lifetime of moderate living. What are you Mitt Romney?
- JosephS 1 mth 28 days ago
  Invested properly, you are looking at around $30K per year. I agree it isn't really life changing. It should help you retire a few years early, but most people couldn't quit work, which is what I would call life changing.
bluebaron • Hagerstown, Maryland • 3 mths ago
I have no luck at playing the lottery the only thing I'm lucky at is finding the bad wobbly wheeled shopping cart in a row of new ones that work just fine .
- david c 3 mths ago
  I heard that. Every damned time i go to the store!
- writer'sblock 3 mths ago
  The cart with the wheel locked down always calls to me..."sucker" !!!
- Randy R 3 mths ago
  Yea, but it improves your physical fittness because you have to exert more effort to keep it going down the lane in the right direction. Next time you see someone in one of those scooters with an oxygen tank.... Yea, that won't be you see your lucky after all.
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Frosty RSIFX • Lake Zurich, Illinois • 3 mths ago
One time, I bought a candy bar from a vending machine, but the little coil kept spinning and I ended up with TWO candy bars!

...My life has been all downhill ever since
Wick • Columbus, Ohio • 3 mths ago
Back in the 60's when I was in the military, I won a free trip to Vietnam!!
A-ha! • New York, New York • 3 mths ago
I won $5 once. I blew it all in one day!!!!
Robert Murphy • Reno, Nevada • 3 mths ago
Good for her,but if you want grab my attention,show me a real winner from publishers clearing house.Now that would blow my mind.
E • 3 mths ago
I'd feel lucky with a job at this point.
Bruce M • Pennsauken, New Jersey • 3 mths ago
This is nothing. I once won 2 $2 prizes in scratchoffs.....IN THE SAME DAY!!!
??/ • 3 mths ago
If i ever win a million dollars.. the last thing i would want is my name and picture plastered all over the internet.
Vanessa • Roanoke, Virginia • 3 mths ago
My ex USED to think he was a wonderful winner all the time - on pick 4's. He spent
$30 - $40. daily. He would win $2,500 about twice year and think it was fantastic. I
finally proved to him that he was paying around $15,000 per year - to win $2,500.
Bill • 3 mths ago
I would love to win the lottery, I never do though. I suppose I should go out and actually buy a ticket.
lee • 3 mths ago
Hey, I almost won the other night, I was only 6 numbers away
SlungeDaddySlim • Mansfield, Ohio • 3 mths ago
Some people have all the luck!
John • Carrollton, Missouri • 3 mths ago
I feel lucky if I win a free ticket.

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