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2007 2nd Quarter Press Releases: Article

05.26.2007
Chef Cooks Up $75,000 on this Week's 'The Big Spin®' Show

Luis Mendoza

SACRAMENTO - On The Big Spin show this week four lucky players walked away with a total of $230,000 after trying their luck at the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine and Big Spin wheel. The show aired statewide Saturday, May 26, 2007. This week a total of $252,500 was won by Big Spin contestants!

The Fantasy 5 Dream Machine players who won big this week were Luis Mendoza of Dana Point and Carmelita Velasquez from Vallejo.  Mendoza, a chef at Denny's, is cooking up travel plans to Mexico with his $75,000 win.  Velasquez, a Starbucks employee, took home $55,000. She knows exactly what she is going to do with her windfall, "I'm buying a new car!"

Ronald Jones

Ronald Jones of Los Angeles felt very blessed after defeating nine other contestants in Aces High, giving him the chance to spin the prize wheel. Jones was so overwhelmed with emotion that he needed to sit down for awhile to catch his breath. After recovering, he won $60,000 spinning the big wheel. Jones plans to donate a percentage of his winnings to his church and use the rest to travel and help out his family.

Lisa Stevens of Granite Bay uncovered a Spin-Spin-Spin on a winning Big Spin Scratchers® ticket and went directly to the prize wheel. Stevens walked away with $40,000 which she is going to donate to different charities.

Name City Amount
Luis Mendoza Dana Point $75,000
Ronald Jones Los Angeles $60,000
Carmelita Velasquez Vallejo $55,000
Lisa Stevens Granite Bay $40,000
Louise McCalebb Sacramento $5,000
Beverly Douthet Los Angeles $4,000
Erika Roman Calexico $2,500
Jose Mendez Winnetka $2,000
Shana Marji Winnetka $2,000
Lori Carr Anaheim $1,750
Rose Samoulian Sanger $1,750
James Powell San Jose $1,750
Leighton Worthey Sacramento $1,750
  TOTAL 252,500

Public education in California receives at least 34 cents of every dollar players spend on Lottery products. The California Lottery contributed a record $1.28 billion to public education in 2005-06 out of historic sales of $3.58 billion, the sixth year in a row the Lottery has provided more than $1 billion in supplemental funding for education. Since the Lottery began in 1985, it has contributed more than $18 billion to California schools.


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Last updated:  July 06, 2007 11:01:17 AM  | ©2007 California State Lottery