SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "The Big Spin®" show airs Saturday, March 16, 2002, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show win a total of $387,500.
Ken Saxton, a printer from Hawthorne, is the contestant this week on Camelot's Riches and wins the grand prize, $250,000! Saxton remains relatively calm as the three gold balls line up and roll across the finish line. Saxton plans to spend his prize on his grandchildren, the youngest of whom - his 1 month old grandson - accompanied him and his wife to the show. 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.
Fantasy 5 Dream Machine contestants win a total of $90,000 on this week's show. The first contestant appearing on this week's show is Roger Lundberg, a retail business owner from Grass Valley. Lundberg wins $30,000 and he explained his plans for this money, "The way I've been playing golf, lately, I think a new set off golf clubs." Next up at the Dream Machine is Pat Vanderburg, a homemaker & Grandma from Visalia who needed only two of the five balls to win $60,000. "We're retired so we will find good use for this money." 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.
The contestant that wins a chance to spin the prize wheel from the California Gold elimination round is Thelma Giron, a nanny from Los Angeles, who wins $25,000. "I would like to use this money to help my family and if I can, I may retire," said Giron. The second runner-up from this California Gold round is Ernest Deluca, a retiree San Clemente, who wins $5,000.
California Gold is another way to get to the wheel on "The Big Spin" show. 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 |
|
| Ken Saxton |
Hawthorne |
$250,000 |
| Pat Vanderburg |
Visalia |
$60,000 |
| Roger Lundberg |
Grass Valley |
$30,000 |
| Thelma Giron |
Los Angeles |
$25,000 |
| Other California Gold Contestants |
$22,500 |
| TOTAL |
$387,500 |
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