SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "Big Spin® 2000" show airs Saturday, February 10, 2001, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show won a combined total of $392,500.
Camelot's Riches celebrated its first $250,000 winner on this week's show. Before starting the game, Humphrey said, "I'm going to buy a new mobile home with the money I win." And with that, host Pat Finn wished her good luck by telling her, "May the luck of Merlin be with you!" Apparently the luck was with her when Vera Humphrey, a homemaker from San Leandro, won the grand prize of $250,000 after the three rounds had been played. Humphrey also plans to take a vacation with her husband of 46 years. Humphrey's family joined her onstage to help celebrate her winning the "Riches of the Realm," according to show host, Pat Finn.
Fantasy 5TM Dream Machine contestant Jane Molloy of Petaluma was the sole contestant at the Dream Machine this week. Molloy said, "My husband and I will be off to Hungary and Ireland for vacation with this prize." Molloy won $60,000. At the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine, players have up to five chances to launch one ball at a time into one of the five bins in the pinball-type game, each bin representing a cash amount. Prizes are cumulative, but only one ball may land in each bin to claim the prize amount. Players appearing on this segment qualify by mailing an entry form to the Lottery when $5 of Fantasy 5 games are purchased on one playslip.
Ojai resident Tobias Sanchez was this week's top California Gold contestant. Sanchez won $40,000 and said, "I plan to donate the prize money to the children in Ojai for scholarships." Other California Gold contestants won a combined total of $22,500. California Gold is one way to get to the wheel on "Big Spin 2000". The game starts with 10 contestants whose Big Spin Scratchers® tickets each 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 those 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 nuggets" 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.
Spin-Spin-Spin contestant Honorio Linares of Escondido said, "I'm going to buy a house. I have nine children, so it has to be a big house!" Linares gave the wheel quite a spin and when it stopped, he had won $20,000. Linares bought a "Big Spin 2000" Scratchers ticket and it revealed three "SPIN" symbols on one ticket and this entitled him to a direct trip to the prize wheel.
The California Lottery sells its products through a network of more than 18,000 outlets statewide. The Lottery provides 52.5 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 $12 billion for public 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.
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