2002 2nd Quarter Press Releases: Article

SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "The Big Spin®" show airs Saturday, June 8, 2002, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show win a total of $320,000.

Jesus Michel

Jesus Michel, a supervisor from Pico Rivera, is the contestant this week on Camelot's Riches and he wins $117,500! Michel purchased his winning ticket at Oak Tree Liquor in Temple City. Michel plans to spend his prize on buying a home and helping his family. 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.

The only Fantasy 5 Dream Machine contestant appearing on this week's show is Revena Murphy, a teacher from Gardena. Murphy wins $90,000 and she explained her plans for this money, "I'll use it for my education towards my doctorate's degree." Murphy bought her lucky ticket at Pam's Shell in Gardena. 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,

Sangeeta Tilak

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 lone Spin-Spin-Spin contestant on this week's show is Sangeeta Tilak, a department store manager from Sacramento who wins $50,000. Tilak explained, "I plan to use the money to take a vacation to my homeland, the Fiji Islands." Tilak purchased her ticket at Ultramar in Sand City near Monterey.

Sandra Meyers

The contestant that wins a chance to spin the prize wheel from the California Gold elimination round is Sandra Meyers, a claims adjuster from Bloomington, who wins $40,000. "I would like to use this money to go on a cruise to the Virgin Islands," said Meyers who purchased her ticket at Cherry Liquor in Fontana. The second runner-up from this California Gold round is Michele Cummings, a product planner from Lakewood, 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 percent of its revenues to players as prizes, 34.7 percent to public schools and 13.3 percent for administrative expenses, which includes 6.8 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 Spinâ" is the longest running Lottery game show in the country, airing continuously since 1985.