Lotteries Orange County

More than 27,000 students begin classes at Orange Coast College on Monday. Parking is always at a premium at the Costa Mesa campus, but one student will not have to worry about parking in the spring semester, after the raffle of one personalized, reserved parking space in the staff parking lot. Students can choose to take part in the raffle for $1 during registration; the winner will be announced Jan. 17. Funds collected will support several campus refurbishing projects.

It was a day Dennis Pinto will never forget. At 3 a.m., his wife, Theresa, 31, died of ovarian cancer. At 7:30 p.m., he learned he had won the $3 million Super Lotto jackpot. Pinto, 32, who had played the same lottery numbers twice a week for eight years, felt only numb and exhausted when the clerks at Rancho Market in Costa Mesa last week announced he was finally a big winner. "I didn't really say a whole lot," he said. "I just looked at them and said, 'I hope you're not joking around.'

Question: What is $6.1 million divided by 37 divided by 20, with a ratio of 23 million to 1? Answer: One winning Lotto ticket--or, as Lotto winner Richard F. Krenz said, "just kind of money from heaven." Krenz, 55, is one of 37 employees at the Anaheim branch of Rockwell International Corp. who threw $52 into a pot for last Saturday's Lotto drawing and came away with a $6.1-million pot of gold.

A lottery ticket purchased in Tustin is worth $3.6 million, California Lottery officials reported Sunday. The winner is not expected to be announced until at least today, when district offices are open for prize claims, said lottery spokesman John Schade. The ticket correctly matched all six numbers drawn Saturday night for the twice-weekly "Super Lotto" game: 5, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 20.

Police say they have uncovered a private lottery, operated from a grocery store, which netted up to $40,000 a day and was based on the California lottery--but with a twist. According to investigators, workers at the An Dong Supermarket, where the owner and three others were arrested Wednesday, sold handwritten tickets for twice-weekly games. But customers could buy as many numbers as they chose, spending any amount per number.

Local and state investigators said Friday that a private lottery raided this week, which allegedly netted up to $80,000 a week, may be only a fraction of the illegal gaming operations in Orange County's Southeast Asian community. But police are hampered in their investigations of the games by the community's reluctance to cooperate with police, they say. Too often, police run into the "language barrier" and victims who refuse to talk, Garden Grove Police Lt. Kevin Raney said.

A Lotto ticket purchased at Ladd's Liquor store won $4 million for a Riverside County woman on Wednesday in the California Lottery. Yolanda Peterson of Banning will receive $160,000 a year over the next 20 years, after taxes. Winning is nothing new to Ladd's Liquor, owner Deepak Papatel said. This week a customer won $5,000 playing Decco and last year a ticket was bought that won $277,868, while another Topper player won $25,000, he said.

It was a day Dennis Pinto will never forget. At 3 a.m., his wife, Theresa, 31, died of ovarian cancer. At 7:30 p.m., he learned he had won the $3 million Super Lotto jackpot. Pinto, 32, who had played the same lottery numbers twice a week for eight years, felt only numb and exhausted when the clerks at Rancho Market in Costa Mesa last week announced he was finally a big winner. "I didn't really say a whole lot," he said. "I just looked at them and said, 'I hope you're not joking around.'

One of the six winning tickets in Wednesday night's Lotto 6-49 game was purchased in Yorba Linda, state lottery officials said Thursday. Each of the six tickets had the six winning numbers for the game, whose jackpot is $5.55 million, officials said. Each winner will receive $925,909, paid out, less taxes, in equal annual amounts over 20 years. The winners will not be identified until they come forward to claim their prizes. The other winning tickets were bought in Azusa, Hawthorne, Newhall, Hayward and San Francisco.

A lottery ticket purchased in Tustin is worth $3.6 million, California Lottery officials reported Sunday. The winner is not expected to be announced until at least today, when district offices are open for prize claims, said lottery spokesman John Schade. The ticket correctly matched all six numbers drawn Saturday night for the twice-weekly "Super Lotto" game: 5, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 20.

Local and state investigators said Friday that a private lottery raided this week, which allegedly netted up to $80,000 a week, may be only a fraction of the illegal gaming operations in Orange County's Southeast Asian community. But police are hampered in their investigations of the games by the community's reluctance to cooperate with police, they say. Too often, police run into the "language barrier" and victims who refuse to talk, Garden Grove Police Lt. Kevin Raney said.

Police say they have uncovered a private lottery, operated from a grocery store, which netted up to $40,000 a day and was based on the California lottery--but with a twist. According to investigators, workers at the An Dong Supermarket, where the owner and three others were arrested Wednesday, sold handwritten tickets for twice-weekly games. But customers could buy as many numbers as they chose, spending any amount per number.

A Lotto ticket purchased at Ladd's Liquor store won $4 million for a Riverside County woman on Wednesday in the California Lottery. Yolanda Peterson of Banning will receive $160,000 a year over the next 20 years, after taxes. Winning is nothing new to Ladd's Liquor, owner Deepak Papatel said. This week a customer won $5,000 playing Decco and last year a ticket was bought that won $277,868, while another Topper player won $25,000, he said.

Question: What is $6.1 million divided by 37 divided by 20, with a ratio of 23 million to 1? Answer: One winning Lotto ticket--or, as Lotto winner Richard F. Krenz said, "just kind of money from heaven." Krenz, 55, is one of 37 employees at the Anaheim branch of Rockwell International Corp. who threw $52 into a pot for last Saturday's Lotto drawing and came away with a $6.1-million pot of gold.

This Christmas, somewhere in Orange County--presumably Santa Ana--someone won't have to pout, and won't have to cry, but he or she will probably shout. Want to know why? Santa Claus is coming to town--with $10.1 million in his sack. Earlier this week, one lucky person walked into a Santa Ana liquor store and selected the numbers 30, 49, 3, 24, 47 and 46 for Wednesday night's Lotto drawing.

A 19-year-old Cal State Fullerton student who works two jobs won $2 million in the California Lottery Big Spin on Saturday. Before winner Brett Peterson left his home in Chatsworth to try his luck with the spin, he changed the message on his answering machine. "Hi, this is Brett, I'm in Sacramento for the weekend. . . . " the message says. "Wish me luck." Peterson's first spin landed in a double slot and the second in a million-dollar slot for a double payoff.

The Los Alamitos Unified School District, which was forced to scale back bus service because of a new state directive and budget deficits, will hold a lottery to fill 70 remaining seats on the revamped service. The budget problems arose when the state ruled that school districts could no longer charge parents for bus service, forcing the Los Alamitos district to cut back service to high school and middle schools.

This Christmas, somewhere in Orange County--presumably Santa Ana--someone won't have to pout, and won't have to cry, but he or she will probably shout. Want to know why? Santa Claus is coming to town--with $10.1 million in his sack. Earlier this week, one lucky person walked into a Santa Ana liquor store and selected the numbers 30, 49, 3, 24, 47 and 46 for Wednesday night's Lotto drawing.

The Los Alamitos Unified School District, which was forced to scale back bus service because of a new state directive and budget deficits, will hold a lottery to fill 70 remaining seats on the revamped service. The budget problems arose when the state ruled that school districts could no longer charge parents for bus service, forcing the Los Alamitos district to cut back service to high school and middle schools.

One of the six winning tickets in Wednesday night's Lotto 6-49 game was purchased in Yorba Linda, state lottery officials said Thursday. Each of the six tickets had the six winning numbers for the game, whose jackpot is $5.55 million, officials said. Each winner will receive $925,909, paid out, less taxes, in equal annual amounts over 20 years. The winners will not be identified until they come forward to claim their prizes. The other winning tickets were bought in Azusa, Hawthorne, Newhall, Hayward and San Francisco.