FANTASY 5 DREAM MACHINE CONTESTANTS WIN $135,000

09.01.2001
FANTASY 5 DREAM MACHINE CONTESTANTS WIN $135,000

SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "The Big Spin®" show airs Saturday, September 1, 2001, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show won a total of $227,500.

Elfego Aguilar, a business owner from Santa Maria, was this week's contestant at the Camelot's Riches game. Aguilar won $10,000 and plans to buy a house with his prize. Camelot's Riches is one of the California Lottery's newest ways to get to "The Big Spin" show. Contestants on the Camelot Riches game play by pulling on King Arthur's sword, "Excalibur". That starts a set of two different colored balls racing down 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.

Two contestants won a combined total of $135,000 on this week's show. Louis De Vincenzi, a retiree from San Jose was first up at the Dream Machine. De Vincenzi said, "I have a couple of grandchildren I want to help." De Vincenzi won $70,000. Next was Peter DiMauro, another retiree from Santa Clara. With his prize DiMauro said he wanted to, "Save a little, spend a little and have some left over to squander." That shouldn't be a problem since DiMauro won $65,000. 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.

Mark Renteria, a maintenance supervisor from Buena Park, was the finalist that went to the Big Spin prize wheel this week. Renteria won $60,000 and plans to buy a new car with this money. 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.

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 $13 billion for public schools. The 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
Louis DeVincenzi	San Jose	$70,000
Peter DiMauro	Santa Clara	$65,000
Mark Renteria	Buena Park	$60,000
Elfego Aguilar	Santa Maria	$10,000
Other California Gold Contestants		$22,500

	TOTAL	$227,500

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2001 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article