2009 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article

SACRAMENTO - The California Lottery's TV game show, "Make Me a Millionaire," awarded $209,000 in cash and prizes to 12 lucky contestants this week, including one real-life cowboy.

Two contestants on this week’s Lucky Penny game segment won a new car. Ashley Klinger of Seaside and Tanya Worrell of Alta were both thrilled with their wins!

Amber Ettleman of Redding won $30,000 on the Millionaire game segment and plans to spoil her son with her prize.

The big winner of the day was Marc Johnson, a business owner from King City who won $80,000 on the California Cool segment. Johnson has definite plans for his winnings after paying off his mortgage. Johnson is a cattle wrangler who goes to rodeos and competes. He said he will spend his money on traveling to the events and entry fees to compete. “I love to rope cattle and I’m pretty good at it,” he said.

This week’s winners:

The California Lottery believes in creating a better, more sustainable environment for future generations, which is why all cars given away on “Make Me a Millionaire” are fuel efficient and use clean innovative technologies. All new car winners on this week’s episode won a Honda Insight Hybrid.

For more information about “Make Me a Millionaire,” visit www.calottery.com. For high resolution photos, please contact (916) 324-9639 or e-mail newsroom@calottery.com.

More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California 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 nearly $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of more than $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.