2001 2nd Quarter Press Releases: Article

SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "Big Spin® 2000" show airs Saturday, April 28, 2001, in twelve television markets statewide where contestants won a total of $417,500.

Two winners of Harley-Davidson motorcycles will be announced on this week's show as well. The winners purchased the new Harley-Davidson Scratchers® ticket and uncovered an "ENTRY" under the 'Prize Won.' They sent their tickets in to a second-chance drawing and their names were drawn and will be announced on this week's Big Spin 2000 show.

"What a great Christmas present," said Jesus Tafolla. A resident of Pacoima, Tafolla bought a winning "Big Spin" Scratchers® ticket on Christmas Eve. That ticket entitled Tafolla to spin the largest prize wheel in the world. Tafolla's first spin of the wheel landed on the "Triple" spoke and his second spin on $75,000; giving Tafolla a grand prize total of $225,000. "Maybe I'll buy a house and a new car," he said. Tafolla bought a "Big Spin 2000" Scratchers® ticket which revealed three "SPIN" symbols on one ticket, that ticket entitled him to a direct trip to the prize wheel.

Fantasy 5^TM contestant Jerry Liu is a real estate Agent from San Gabriel. Liu won $75,000 and said, "I'm going to invest my prize money and make more money." 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.

High Roller contestants won a combined total of $55,000. Frank Romero, an auto mechanic from El Centro said, "I want to put a down payment on a house," after winning $50,000. High Roller contestant Betina Leon of Santa Ana plans to pay off bills with the $5,000 she won. The High Roller Scratchers is one way to get to the Big Spin 2000 TV show. Players who appeared on this week's High Roller segment bought a High Roller Scratchers ticket and found three stacks of bills on their $1 ticket. That entitled them to come on the show and try this segment! Here's how the High Roller Coaster segment is played: The High Roller Coaster game has six valleys, and the value of those valleys changes with each of three rounds. Depending on how the contestants decide to play, they can walk away with up to $150,000.

Allan Thorne III of Citrus Heights won $40,000 as this week's top California Gold contestant. Thorne, who works for the Department of Fish and Wild Life, plans to help his family with the $40,000 he won. "I'd like to take a vacation, pay off some bills and help my family members out," he said. Other California Gold contestants won a combined total of $22,500. California Gold is another 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.

The California Lottery sells its products through a network of more than 18,000 outlets statewide. The Lottery provides 52.7 percent of its revenues to players as prizes, 34.1 percent to public schools and 13.2 percent for administrative expenses, which includes 6.9 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.