Chosen Few Voice Optimism, Shock : 3 Early Lottery Players Get in on the Spin

Abed Jabaieh, a Simi Valley liquor store owner picked Tuesday for a chance to win up to $2 million more in the California State Lottery, said he bought his qualifying ticket in the first hour that lottery tickets were on sale.

“It was one of three tickets that I bought,” Jabaieh said of his purchase on Oct. 3 of the $2 ticket, which won him $100 and automatically qualified him for a chance at the big money.

Since then, the 27-year-old bachelor from Palestine said, he has purchased $400 to $500 worth of lottery tickets from his own store, but with less luck. “I win $2 here, $5 there, nothing big,” he said. “But I keep on trying.”

Jabaieh’s name was among 10 drawn Tuesday from a drum containing 6,250 winners of $100 lottery tickets. This week’s winners will join 10 others, whose names were drawn last week, as participants in the lottery’s first multimillion-dollar “spinoff” Monday night.

Event to Be Telecast

Each of the 20 finalists, in spinning a large roulette-type wheel, will win a prize ranging from $10,000 to $2 million during the event, which will be broadcast in the Los Angeles area on KABC-TV, Channel 7.

Besides Jabaieh, the names of two residents of the San Fernando Valley area--Daniel Cruz of Panorama City and Vernon Hessing of Chatsworth--were drawn Tuesday.

Jabaieh told lottery Director M. Mark Michalko, who notified him of his good fortune, that, if he wins, he will buy a hundred cases of champagne and throw a big party. He said he wasn’t “too surprised” when Michalko telephoned.

“I’m an optimist,” Jabaieh said, despite his lack of luck since he got his $100 ticket. “I knew I’d win.”

He also said he believes he has a good chance to win $2 million.

Hessing, 33, a senior computer operator at Capitol Records, said he had lost hope of becoming a finalist after last week’s drawing.

“I didn’t know they were going to have another,” he said. “I hadn’t even received my $100 yet. I was really surprised.”

Hessing said his winning ticket was among five he purchased at a Northridge supermarket the second day lottery tickets were available. Hessing, who is single, said he has no idea what he will do with the money if he is a big winner.

Daniel Cruz’s winning ticket was one of 20 he bought at a doughnut stand the day the lottery opened, his wife said. Linda Cruz said the lucky ticket was the second her husband, a 37-year-old aircraft product-quality inspector, scratched off.

Mrs. Cruz said she and her husband, who have three children, haven’t had time to think about what they will do with the money from Monday’s spinoff.