Law of Averages at Work : Top Prize Eludes All 20 Finalists in Lottery Spin

The law of averages caught up with the California Lottery Monday, as none of the 20 finalists who spun the game’s big wheel in Hollywood managed to come up with the $2-million grand prize.

“Anybody who knows the odds knows you’re not going to have three or four $2-million winners every week,” said Bill Seaton, the lottery’s public affairs director, after the day’s top winners--four in all--could do no better than $100,000 each.

Last week, four of the 20 finalists beat overall odds of 25 million to 1 and won the $2-million grand prize. One of the four, Jose Caballero, 24, faces deportation after admitting that he entered this country illegally from his native Mexico.

Immigration status became an issue again on Monday, when Seaton said he was told by a lottery security official that one of Monday’s finalists is in this country illegally, but he said he did not know which one. The security official declined to discuss the issue. Lottery officials said that like Caballero, winners in the California Lottery can keep any winnings, regardless of immigration status or country of residence.

Willa Grady, 46, of Northridge did not have any specific plans for her $100,000.

“My main priorities are my immediate family,” she said. “I don’t have any great want for anything for myself.”

Grady, a department store sales woman in the San Fernando Valley, took her turn at the lottery wheel calmly, but she commented to the studio audience while the wheel was spinning that, “my husband, Johnny, is having heart palpitations.”

When the red rubber ball landed in the $100,000 slot, Johnny Grady leaped to the stage, did a brief victory dance, gave both his wife and host Chuck Wollery a hug and shouted repeatedly into Wollery’s microphone:

“Winner! Winner! Winner!”

Johnny Grady attributed his wife’s victory to an encounter he had before the show with Joseph Anello, husband of Reyna Anello, 52, who was to become another of the $100,000 winners.

“I rubbed his bald head for luck, and it worked!” Johnny Grady said.

Reyna Anello, a custom jeweler from Healdsburg, said she plans to use her winnings to expand the family jewelry business and to buy gifts for her family.

Sharon Nunez, 29, another $100,000 winner, said she plans to buy a house, “a nice doggie” for her son, Mathew, “and some clothes for myself.” Nunez, a housewife who lives in Newport Beach, said she plans to invest the remainder in a fast-food franchise--”a McDonald’s or maybe a Denny’s.”

Lorenza Sanchez, 48, a housekeeping maid at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, said she does not have any idea what she will do with her winnings of $100,000.

There were six $50,000 winners on Monday--George Galindo, 54, of Fontana; Pete Lopez, 54, of Sacramento; Maruhisa Mochizuka, 36, of La Mirada; Savitri Patel, 22, of Merced; Hazel Torigian, 67, of Dinuba and Adolfina Viramontes, 38, of Woodbridge.

Ten people won $10,000--Leon McConnell, 48, of Shafter; Phyllis Barker, 47, of Claremont; Emma Herbert, 26, of San Jose; Joyce Kane, 37, of Moraga; Beatrice Profitt, 49, of Huntington Beach; Victor Rovira, 43, of Mission Hills; Marina Ruiz, 28, of Long Beach; Linda Woods, 59, of Canoga Park; Barbara Wangberg, 35, of Citrus Heights, and Ivan Weich Jr., 20, of San Diego.