SACRAMENTO –On The Big Spin show this week two contestants won a total of $125,000. The show aired statewide Saturday, September 15, 2007.
Joyce Chen, a business owner from Rosemead thought that she only won $25 when she scratched her ticket until she saw the third “TV Show” and realized she would be going to The Big Spin show! She outplayed nine other contestants in two rounds of elimination play in the Aces High 
game to get to The Big Spin wheel. After winning $100,000, Chen hopes to retire earlier than expected and invest the rest.
Maria Cerna, a Vons employee from Sun Valley, decided that she would go to a store that she never shops at and buy a Scratchers® ticket hoping this would bring her good luck. “It looked like the ticket was saying, ‘Buy me’,” said Cerna. Well it worked! She uncovered “SPIN-SPIN-SPIN” sending her straight to The Big Spin wheel. “You know when good things happen and you don’t know how to react? I had to rub my eyes and read the back of the ticket to make sure I was reading it right,” explained Cerna. She walked away with a $25,000 prize that she will use to buy a new car.
| Joyce Chen |
Rosemead |
$100,000 |
| Maria Cerna |
Sun Valley |
$25,000 |
| Ernesto Gomez |
Sacramento |
$5,000 |
| Natalia Barraza |
Coachella |
$4,000 |
| Pamela Bullock |
Pomona |
$2,500 |
| Korie Shokmalli |
Monte Rio |
$2,000 |
| Susan Torralba |
Temecula |
$2,000 |
| Albert Rosatti |
Clovis |
$1,750 |
| Myra Gibbs |
Bay Point |
$1,750 |
| Ruel SanJongco |
Santa Ana |
$1,750 |
| Maria Ultreras |
Los Angeles |
$1,750 |
| |
TOTAL |
$ 147,500 |
The California State Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $19 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $52 billion. Retailers win too, earning $3.3 billion in compensation since 1985.