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Organization: California Lottery
Date: January 9, 2009
"The Big Spin" Show Signs Off, Making Way for "Make Me A Millionaire"
SACRAMENTO — After 23 years on the air, "The Big Spin" show, the California Lottery's first game show, is signing off for good. This week is a retrospective which includes some of the most memorable contestants who have appeared. The show will also take a look back through the years at the different hosts, games, show sets and many of Maiquel's fashions and hairdos.
Maurice Wiley is no stranger to "The Big Spin" show. In April, Wiley appeared for the third time on the show. In 1989, he was a $1 million winner on "The Big Spin" which gave him the opportunity to retire early from his job as a guidance counselor. Today he stays active by encouraging the community to provide scholarships and funds for the teachers in his school district. Due to his dedication to the students in his own Inglewood neighborhood, in 2003, he was honored by the California Lottery as a "Hero in Education." Then, in 2006, he returned to the show to play the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine and won $100,000. Wiley explained, "Because of the California Lottery, I feel that I have been able to and will continue to touch thousands of lives."
Another memorable contestant was Joan Puccinelli, who won $1 million in 1997. Puccinelli's husband was experiencing some health problems and with all the medical bills, the prize came at the perfect time. "If it hadn't been for the California Lottery, I don't know where my husband and I would be today, I really don't," said Puccinelli.
The last contestant profiled is Kris Schoonmaker, who won $1 million last August. Schoonmaker took his prize and is helping provide computers to a school district in the Philippines where his wife and mother-in-law both work. "To have won this prize and to actually help a group of kids that have never seen a computer, let alone tried one out, is really a blessing. So it's an awesome privilege and I'm very humbled to be able to do that," said Schoonmaker.
The California Lottery will debut a new and improved show next week, called "Make Me a Millionaire." For more information on show times in your area and to see a sneak preview of "Make Me a Millionaire," please visit www.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.
