SACRAMENTO – This week on the California Lottery’s Big Spin show, three contestants won a total of $245,000. The show aired statewide Saturday, March 15, 2008. The grand total won this week was $287,500!
The Fantasy 5 Dream Machine was busy this weekend! The first contestant was Luz Estrada, a legibility technician from Tustin, who won $70,000 playing the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine. Aside from paying off some bills, she hopes to celebrate her wedding anniversary by taking a trip with her husband to Italy and Jerusalem. Before that 
journey, she will be making a trip to New York this summer for her daughter’s graduation from Cornell University. Next up on the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine was Thomas Loretan, a retiree from Fremont, who won $75,000. With his prize money he would like to travel to Venice, Italy and look up family history. The final Dream Machine contestant was Jeff Folks, an American Canyon, resident who walked away with $20,000.
The largest prize of the weekend went to Carlos Ayllon, a welder from Panorama City who outplayed nine other contestants in Aces High, taking home a whopping $100,000! Ayllon does not yet have plans for his prize money.
Winner’s Summary
| Carlos Ayllon |
Panorama City |
$100,000 |
| Thomas Loretan |
Fremont |
$75,000 |
| Luz Estrada |
Tustin |
$70,000 |
| Jeff Folks |
American Canyon |
$20,000 |
| Ed Cleofe |
Mather |
$5,000 |
| Ruben Lopez-Ramirez |
Freedom |
$4,000 |
| Lavell Thompson |
Pacoima |
$2,500 |
| Evelyn Vollhardt |
Clovis |
$2,000 |
| Remedios Pagatpatan |
San Francisco |
$2,000 |
| Mario Gopar |
San Bernardino |
$1,750 |
| Ruben Porras |
Redding |
$1,750 |
| Sal Hernandez |
Fontana |
$1,750 |
| Baltazar Zaragoza |
San Diego |
$1,750 |
| |
TOTAL |
$287,500 |
For high resolution copies of photos of Luz Estrada, Thomas Loretan, Jeff Folks or Carlos Ayllon, please contact (916) 324-9639 or e-mail newsroom@calottery.com.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $55 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.5 billion in compensation since 1985.