2009 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article

SACRAMENTO - Queen Mateo brought her friends and her good karma to the “Make Me a Millionaire” show this week and ended up winning $1.4 million, becoming the third millionaire on the California Lottery’s fast-paced game show.

As the director of a health care center, the 36-year-old Mateo cares for people professionally – at least she used to. After she won her prize, knowing layoffs were imminent, she volunteered to be laid off so no one else would lose their job.

In her personal life, Mateo has helped countless friends with their educational and business goals. Many of those friends and family members arrived at the “Make Me a Millionaire” show wearing T-shirts that said, “Make Queen a Millionaire.” After she won, Mateo’s group of vocal supporters leapt to the stage and helped their hero celebrate her victory by dancing and shouting.

Now Mateo, a resident of San Marcos, plans to give back to her community by investing some of her winnings into upgrading care homes for the elderly and helping the care home owners avoid foreclosure. “Due to the economy, some of these homes are being foreclosed and the tenants are being kicked out – that is wrong,” she said.

For Mateo giving is a way of life. “I try my best to give more than I take,” she said. “You don’t feel empty if you help other people out.”

Mateo’s road to riches began during her birthday month. When her husband asked what she wanted for her birthday, she told him: “Just make me a millionaire!”  When he saw the Make Me a Millionaire Scratchers® tickets at the local retailer, he bought her four tickets. When she realized she was going to the show, she immediately broke into what she called a “hoe down,” her own special kind of dance.

The “Millionaire” segment of the show begins with a randomly selected number between 1 and 50. The contestant then has to guess whether the next number will be higher or lower. Mateo played a perfect game by correctly guessing higher or lower 11 times in a row to spell out “M-I-L-L-I-O-N-A-I-R-E.”

Here is a list of some of this week’s other top winners, including Mateo:

For more information about the new show, visit www.calottery.com/millionaire. 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, Lottery players have contributed more than $21 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $56 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.6 billion in compensation since 1985.