California Gold Contestants win $195,000

08.14.1999
California Gold Contestants win $195,000

SACRAMENTO -- The California Lottery's "Big Spin® 2000" show airs Saturday August 14, 1999 in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show won a total of $225,000.

Fantasy 5^TM winner from Cotton, Louis Hernandez, plans to travel with the $30,000 he won on this week's show. Hernandez, a forklift driver, said that being on the Big Spin 2000 show was like a dream. As for his plans, he said "I've always wanted to go to Australia, next year is the summer Olympics so I figure it would be a good time to go."

California Gold is Big Spin 2000's newly restyled way to get to the wheel. It begins with 10 contestants whose Big Spin Scratchers® tickets revealed three "TV Show" symbols on one ticket. When instructed, each player pushes down a "detonator" to reveal a prize ranging from $1,750 to $4,000. Two of the ten contestants will reveal gold nuggets and advance to the second round of play. Once there, they compete to see who can get the closest to 10 units of gold in their mining car without going over. The winner of this round goes to the Big Spin 2000 prize wheel, while the other contestant wins $5,000. This week's show hosted two California Gold games with two big winners. Antonio Solis, a florist from Los Angeles hit the gold winning $100,000. Solis plans to use the $100,000 towards the education of his children. Marty Berlin, from Richmond also won big at his turn up at the largest prize wheel in the world. It was Berlin's first time purchasing a Big Spin Scratchers and he won $50,000. Berlin plans to use his prize to put a down payment on a house. Other California Gold winners took home a combined total of $45,000.

The California Lottery sells its products through a network of more than 18,000 outlets statewide. The Lottery provides 52 percent of its revenues to players as prizes, 34 percent to public schools, and 14 percent for administrative expenses, which includes 6.8 percent for retailer commissions. Since 1985, the Lottery has raised more than $10 billion for public schools and has provided an annual average of approximately 38 percent of the Lottery's total revenues to schools. The California Lottery's contribution equals approximately 2 percent of the state's total education budget. "Big Spin® 2000" is the longest running Lottery game show in the country, airing continuously since 1985.

NAME	CITY	AMOUNT
Antonio Solis	Los Angeles	$ 100,000
Marty Berlin	Richmond	$ 50,000
Louis Hernandez	Cotton	$ 30,000
Other California Gold Winners		$ 45,000
		TOTAL $225,500

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1999 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article