Massachusetts Lottery closes loophole after big wins

Aug 3, 2011, 7:09 am (75 comments)

Massachusetts Lottery

It was great while it lasted, for the few who knew the trick and had the money to take advantage of it.

A lottery game in Massachusetts, known as Cash WinFall, had a quirk in it. Every three months or so, if the WinFall jackpot exceeded $2 million but nobody picked all six of the randomly-chosen winning numbers, the money in the jackpot pool would go to people who picked only four or five correct numbers.

The Massachusetts Lottery said the odds of picking all six numbers were 1 in 9,366,819. But during so-called "rolldown weeks," someone who picked five numbers could win as much as $135,000 — and the odds of success were 1 in 39,000.

If you bought enough tickets, said a state official who asked not to be quoted by name, the odds of making a profit could be very high.

The Lottery Commission said a Michigan couple, Gerald and Marjorie Selbee, both 73, periodically came to western Massachusetts to buy tickets in bulk, often by the hundreds of thousands. They even got themselves temporary jobs at local stores — he in the town of South Deerfield, she in nearby Sunderland — so that they could systematically sell themselves tickets without troubling store clerks.

It would be in a store's interest to have them, said officials; a store gets a 5 percent commission on every ticket sold, and a 1 percent bonus if it sells a winning ticket.

Messages left for the Selbees in Michigan and Massachusetts were not immediately returned. Apparently they ran a profit. Since July 1, the Lottery Commission said, the company they set up for tax purposes "made 187 prize claims totaling $206,649." That did not include lottery tickets that won them amounts of $600 or less.

"They did nothing nefarious or illegal, and it's unfortunate that they've been portrayed otherwise," said Beth Bresneham, the marketing director for the Massachusetts Lottery. But she added, "There's a perception that people with more money do better."

And as word spread, the lottery faced an image crisis. In May, during a rolldown week, there were 1,605 prizes awarded — and 1,105 of them went to just three companies, like the one set up by the Selbees, that bought lottery tickets in volume.

"The integrity of the lottery is our priority," Bresnehan said. "It's critical to our success. We want people to know that when they play, they have the same chance of winning."

State Treasurer Steven Grossman has now announced that stores will be limited to selling $5,000 worth of WinFall tickets per day, so that big-volume buyers would have to go from store to store for lottery tickets.

And the two stores the Selbees used have been suspended from selling lottery tickets for now.

"I'm hoping that, yes, my license will be restored because I've got people that want to buy their tickets here," Paul Mardas, owner of the liquor store in Sunderland, said in an interview with ABC affiliate WGGB-TV.

The WinFall game has already been fading in popularity, said the Lottery Commission, and will be ended next year.

"I want to assure the public that the Cash WinFall game is not in any way compromised and is providing an urgently needed $11 million in annual profit to the Commonwealth," Grossman said in a statement. "There is nothing wrong with the game itself."

ABC News

Comments

jarasan's avatarjarasan
RJOh's avatarRJOh

They really didn't eliminate the opportunities for big spenders to buy thousands of lottery tickets, they just made it harder.   If any of them do buy that amount of tickets for a future drawing, you can be sure they will be more discrete and avoid reporters like the plaque.

jarasan's avatarjarasan

Eventually they will change the rules.  This is just the first bureaucratic move to appease the "little guy". P.S. it is the "plague".  The federal govt. is like the the bubonic plague.

sully16's avatarsully16

Are you kidding me ? They put a spending cap on the amount you can play at each store, when they themselves can't control spending. Sounds like big government screwing over small business. They need to let people spend their money the way they see fit.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

What I don't get is why did they suspended the license of the store where they worked part-time if they did nothing wrong/illegal why punish the other merchants???????

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Aug 3, 2011

Are you kidding me ? They put a spending cap on the amount you can play at each store, when they themselves can't control spending. Sounds like big government screwing over small business. They need to let people spend their money the way they see fit.

I Agree!

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

I can't be a part of Government, I am not goofy enough!

Government can't control it's own spending so they make rules for individuals ............. Crazy

On a positive note .................... I will stop by the Bentley store in Pittsburgh to look today ..............

........................... just in case ..................... Cool $55 million or so after taxes!!!!

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Aug 3, 2011

They really didn't eliminate the opportunities for big spenders to buy thousands of lottery tickets, they just made it harder.   If any of them do buy that amount of tickets for a future drawing, you can be sure they will be more discrete and avoid reporters like the plaque.

I agree but still cant believe this is happening. Is it even legal? punishing all the stores in the commonwealth because of a few rotten tomatoes that allowed the high roller customers to print their tickets is not right. I suspect this game will be discontinued when they realize that their new rule cannot stand after a lawsuit.

I am no lawyer but I feel this new rule interferes with interstate commerce which is contrary to the Constitution and therefore it is null and void.

rooster8786

Leave it to the state to legally steal from the players, and yet when players, LEGALLY, learn how to take advantage of a state given advantage, the state shuts it down.

RL-RANDOMLOGIC

I don't see anything worng that needs to be fixed or discontinued.  These people sock a lot of money

into the game and are still taking risk.  When the article says they cashed in 187 winning tickets and

won a little over 200K then it works out to about 1100 dollars per ticket cashed in.   Once you consider

how many tickets they probably purchased to do this I doubt they came out rich.  The person who buys a

single ticket and wins $10.00 I would say got a bigger ROI per ticket then they did.  If you purchased 100,000

tickets and averaged 10 bucks per ticket then a single play could net you a million bucks.   It might be worth

the risk but it is still a risk and having a game of chance closed because some have more to invest then others

is the big scam here.  I would love to see all the big games do something like this because my few lines I play

have the same chance as the same number of tickets they play.  I would rather win 10 bucks when I play then

to hope for a billion and win nothing.   If powerball paid $45 for a 3 of 5 then I would play that game anytime

the roll down was expected.   If I did happen to hit a 4 of 5 then it would still pay more then I could normally

expect when I play.  The only downside would be if people stoped playing waiting on a roll down.

 

RL

surimaribo24's avatarsurimaribo24

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Aug 3, 2011

Are you kidding me ? They put a spending cap on the amount you can play at each store, when they themselves can't control spending. Sounds like big government screwing over small business. They need to let people spend their money the way they see fit.

verry well said.

I Agree!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Aug 3, 2011

Are you kidding me ? They put a spending cap on the amount you can play at each store, when they themselves can't control spending. Sounds like big government screwing over small business. They need to let people spend their money the way they see fit.

They want people to Play the Games, but they don't want Anyone to Win! LOL

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by dallascowboyfan on Aug 3, 2011

What I don't get is why did they suspended the license of the store where they worked part-time if they did nothing wrong/illegal why punish the other merchants???????

Because the Government is Punitive!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by jarasan on Aug 3, 2011

Eventually they will change the rules.  This is just the first bureaucratic move to appease the "little guy". P.S. it is the "plague".  The federal govt. is like the the bubonic plague.

Massachusetts Lottery Players Unite: Boycott the Massachusetts Lottery Games! LOL

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