The man who won the lottery 14 times (part 2)

Comment #16

Stack47 — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 19:58:48 GMT

The state lotteries own the terminals and basically decided their retailers can't tie up a terminal for hours or days for one customer.

it prevents a coordinated effort.

The Aussie syndicate had 72 hours to purchase over 7 million combinations using play slips with probably 5 lines each and still only managed to get 78% of the combos. Lottery rules aren't their problem, logistics is. Most lotto games now have around 14 million combos making the purchasing them all basically impossible.... [ More ]

Comment #15

Rodney Lundy — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:41:06 GMT

Good read

Comment #14

GiveFive — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:14:14 GMT

His legacy lives on in US legislation: All 44 states that run lotteries have enacted laws preventing the profitable replication of Mandel's strategy.

How's that done? What do the laws say that keeps someone from buying every possible combo?

I realize that's logistically impossible for a one person acting alone to pull off buying every combo, but I'm curious as to how the lawmakers crafted a law with language such that it prevents a coordinated effort. G5

Comment #13

itpmguru — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:44:14 GMT

Comment #12

Dd2160 — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:46:38 GMT

Wow he stiff his investors...terrible thing to do!!!

It was 4am when i read this so i could have been half sleep..lol.

Comment #11

Todd — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:10:40 GMT

That's a great point.

Comment #10

TheMeatman2005 — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:58:59 GMT

If each store that printed 700,000 tickets at 6 cents per ticket they would benefit $42,000 for their trouble.

Not a bad day's work.

Comment #9

gunjack — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:26:54 GMT

now mega millions and power ball tickets is 2 bucks a ticket, Maybe thats why they went up on the price

Comment #8

Stack47 — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:13:50 GMT

The $27,036,142 jackpot (and $900k in secondary prizes) was to be paid out in 20 annual installments of $1.03 million.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that average out to $408 a year for the 2,524 investors

Comment #7

RJOh — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:00:52 GMT

The jackpot has to roll to an amount that would pay out enough to cover playing all the possible combinations and how often does that happens today with any lottery

Comment #6

duckman — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 02:49:12 GMT

One thing that would also ruin the profitable payout for the buy-all-combinations player is if there are multiple jackpot winners...

Comment #5

itpmguru — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 02:21:14 GMT

It is like a night when you play your favorite P3 # 20x or 30x exact hoping for that big win, but realizing you forgot to play it with a $6 CBO to cover all possibilities and your investment.

He was indeed a smart lottery player, but he was also a scammer taking the investors for a ride.

Comment #4

Raven62 — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:00:53 GMT

If it wasn't for Rolling Jackpots: Buying All the Combinations would never work Profitably

Comment #3

steelthug — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:51:13 GMT

for real that was a scare

Comment #2

music* — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:28:13 GMT

Was it all worth it? Mandel will be forever remembered as the man who changed the laws for every lottery player.

He did come close to losing it all because of one retailer.

Comment #1

Bleudog101 — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:25:37 GMT

Reading this and my only thought was the clerks who had to print the many tickets, how many times the rolls of paper had to be changed. They got lucky since the article said all possible combinations were not purchased. Might agree with the investors that he is toxic...to others but certainly not himself. He got his money in a big way.

The man who won the lottery 14 times (part 2)

Lottery Post — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:56:06 GMT

Just after 11 PM on February 15, 1992, a lottery ball machine at the Virginia State Lottery HQ spit out 6 winning numbers on live television: 8... 11... 13... 15... 19... 20.

In the coming days, officials would find out that one person had secured not only the $27,036,142 jackpot, but 6 second prizes, 132 third prizes, and 135 minor prizes collectively worth another $900k.

What unfolded next was the strangest, most improbable lottery tale in history one involving thousands of internation... [ More ]