CRESCENT CITY MAN WINS CAMELOT'S RICHES OF $250,000

08.11.2001
CRESCENT CITY MAN WINS CAMELOT'S RICHES OF $250,000
Third Finalist Wins Place for Next's Week's $2 Million Prize on Twice As Grand

SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "The Big Spin®" show airs Saturday, August 11, 2001, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show won a total of $330,000.

Chris Jensen, a letter carrier from Crescent City was this week's Camelot's Riches contestant. Jensen won the top prize of $250,000! He planned to use his prize to buy a fishing boat. A quarter of a million dollars will buy quite a boat! "That's fantastic," exclaimed Jensen after his win! Camelot's Riches is one of the California Lottery's newest ways to get to the Big Spin®. The game is played by pulling on King Arthur's sword, "Excalibur," which starts a set of two different colored balls racing down the ramps to the finish line. The contestant's prize is decided by which color ball crosses the finish line first. Three rounds are played and the final prize is totaled after the three rounds have ended.

Baljinder Singh, a cashier from Sacramento, was the finalist from California Gold and went on the spin the wheel. Once at the wheel, Singh won $40,000 and plans on spending his prize to buy his own business, a conbination gas station and grocery store. California Gold is another way to get to the wheel on "The Big Spin®". 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®" prize wheel, while the other contestant wins $5,000.

"Twice As Grand" contestant, Patricia Dodge, an in-home caregiver from Sacramento, will progress to the final round of play for a chance to win $2,000 a week for 20 years; winning a total grand prize of over $2 million. If he wins the $2 million top prize, Dodge said, "I would buy a yellow car in honor of the car I played this game with today." On this week's show, six contestants competed in the second preliminary round of the game moving simulated racecars along a racetrack. Of the six, one contestant, Causevic, moved on to the final round of play. Other "Twice As Grand" contestants won a combined total of $17,500 with prizes ranging from $2,500 to $25,000. 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. "The Big Spin®" is the longest running Lottery game show in the country, airing continuously since 1985.

NAME	CITY	AMOUNT
Chris Jensen	Crescent City	$250,000
Baljinder Singh	Sacramento	$40,000
Other Twice as Grand Contestants		$17,500
Other California Gold Contestants		$22,500

	TOTAL	$330,000

- # # # -

2001 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article