LOS ANGELES | The big news for KNBC worker Jacki Wells Cisneros broke right inside her own newsroom - she and her husband won the $266 million Mega Millions jackpot.
She told the Los Angeles TV station in an interview Wednesday night that she discovered during her usual overnight stint on the assignment desk that the winning ticket had been purchased at the Pico Rivera Hawaiian restaurant.
Mrs. Cisneros quickly realized that she and her newly unemployed husband, Gilbert, had bought a lottery ticket there.
A quick wake-up call to her husband, then a check of numbers was all it took to determine they held the winning ticket.
“My hand was shaking the phone, I went to hang up the phone and I was shaking, and my legs felt like they were going to buckle,” said Mrs. Cisneros, who had remained anonymous for much of the day but led her station’s 11 p.m. newscast with an interview. “I just cried, and laughed.”
Mr. Cisneros added: “Right now we’re probably too tired for our feet to leave the ground.”
Mrs. Cisneros has worked as a freelancer for KNBC for about four years, and her husband was laid off two weeks ago, the newsroom’s assignment manager, David Reese, said.
Mr. Reese said the newly minted millionaire called him Wednesday to share her good news and tell him she planned to come to work Thursday.
“She’s usually the most pleasant and nice person to work with even when all hell is breaking loose,” Mr. Reese said. “It renews your faith in the universe that something like this can happen to someone who really deserves it.”
Colleague Nicole Stevenson said Mrs. Cisneros kept asking her husband to repeat the numbers.
“She thought he was kidding, thought he was messing with her,” Miss Stevenson said.
Mr. Reese said he saw a photocopy of the ticket showing all six numbers drawn in Tuesday’s multistate game - 9, 21, 31, 36 and 43 with 8 as the Mega number.
The winner has 60 days to tell lottery officials how he or she wants the money. It can be paid in 26 equal payments of $10.2 million or in a lump sum of about $165 million, minus federal taxes, said lottery spokeswoman Cathy Doyle Johnston.
On Tuesday night, Mrs. Cisneros had wanted to order dinner from Kentucky Fried Chicken, but her husband insisted on going to the barbecue joint, where he bought the tickets.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.