Is it possible....

Reply #25

RJOh — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 12:31:06 GMT

Did that group have a strategy for picking their numbers or did they just plan to buy a bunch of QPs and hope to get lucky

Reply #24

lchoro — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:40:04 GMT

There was a relevant news story just a couple of years ago or so when the Powerball jackpot hit over $ 200 million. I think the some of the players on the Minnesota Vikings formed a pool where each one put up $ 1,000. Even with all the tickets they could've bought, they still came up empty on the grand prize. There's no indication that they were even able to match 5 balls.

Reply #23

JAG331 — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 16:40:10 GMT

It seems ludicrous that any one group could buy all the tickets for the Mega Millions or Powerball drawings.However, I think that one day some group or sole investor will use a reduction strategy and make a run for the money. Let's take last night's Mega Millions drawing numbers: 13-24-44-48-52 / 30. I felt confident on the number 13. I also was looking for an Even megaball. My one quick pick gave me 13 in the first position, followed by four even numbers, and an even megaball. There are on... [ More ]

Reply #22

RJOh — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 02:02:26 GMT

I have a lottery program that I wrote in GWBasic and it high-lites the winning numbers in a list of combinations 20 lines per seconds or better, most programs can do even better. As long a the tickets are in the same order as the file there's no problem finding the winning tickets. A problem might exist if some one made a mistake while making out the tickets. As I said in an earlier post, some States require the tickets be made out by hand. but there are printing programs for those who plan to... [ More ]

Reply #21

sagan — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:48:15 GMT

and then what happens if more than one group and or persons win? it might bei understand some years ago a man purchased 10 winning tickets by mistakeand also in another lottery some, one person purchased multiple winning ticketsso you can imagine how the partners would feel in that scenario good luck to all

Reply #20

sagan — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:40:58 GMT

someone calculated how many terminals and people would be needed and time to fill out and purchase enough tickets to win.then you have to find the winning ticket plus all the smaller prize tickets and collect on them,this task appears to me to be way beyond fun.plus all the legal stuff to make sure all your partners are reliable.way not worth it for me even for $55,000

Reply #19

Rip Snorter — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:12:44 GMT

Thanks RJOH. If I'm reading you correctly, the rules or laws are against anyone having exclusive use of lottery sales machines, then, as opposed to some number of tickets bought for a draw?Thanks,Jack

Reply #18

Rip Snorter — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:09:34 GMT

Hi Michael. I appreciate your expressing that you think that. However, having thought it, would you mind confiding where you came by the information? I doubt I'll ever be in a position to do anything of this ilk, but if I could do so, or even wanted to think of doing so, I'd sort of like to have an actual idea about what's forbidden, where it's forbidden, and where the line is crossed between legality and illegality in actual regulations or statutes.Somewhere evidently the line in the sand is... [ More ]

Reply #17

RJOh — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 23:07:30 GMT

Some states have rules against using tickets not filled out by hand, but I don't know if they would enforce it once you won. It would be like letting an underage person lose his money playing the lottery and then refusing to pay because of his age if he won. There was a court case featured on 60 minutes in which a casino in Vegas did just that a couple of years ago.The laws not allowing any person or group to have exclusive use of a lottery terminal is probably easy to enforce as long as the s... [ More ]

Reply #16

pumpi76 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:03:48 GMT

Jack i think that what forbiding is the playing of large amount of combinations like for example 3 million combinations....In my opinion that's what they need to forbid...michael brown

Reply #15

Rip Snorter — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:58:17 GMT

I am glad that they pass that legislation that would make it impossible to do again i wish all state did the same..It would be interesting to know exactly what the legislation forbids, and where it's forbidden. I've wondered idly in the past what's considered 'cheating' on lotteries. Maybe that's it, but if so, what about full wheels, etc. At what point would it cross over the fence into the free fire zone and nail a person as a 'cheater' when it came time to cash in the tickets?Any ideas?Jac... [ More ]

Reply #14

pumpi76 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:24:04 GMT

Todd i agree with you when you said: and it will cause regular players to bail, because who wants to play a game, when some group is guaranteed to win? I am glad that they pass that legislation that would make it impossible to do again i wish all state did the same.....But guys if you think about it, notice when you are writing down your numbers...If you write down your numbers on the playslip too hard, the computer would not accept it and you will have to do it again...This is something one has... [ More ]

Reply #13

Rip Snorter — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:20:44 GMT

Actually, an abbreviated version of something of that sort in a place like, say, Texas, for the MM draw when it gets high might, if legal, be something that could pay off in lower tier prizes with the multiplier. One thing watching the MM challenge results history suggests is that some of the players can usually get 3-0 on 15 numbers and 5 MBs. Maybe a consortium of players where someone had those skills could actually make a go of it using full wheels or abbreviated wheels on, say, 30 numbers... [ More ]

Reply #12

Todd — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:07:48 GMT

The story about the VA Lottery being won in that manner is TRUE, and it caused them to create some laws after the fact that made it difficult or impossible to do again.The funny part is that the VA Lottery probably made a lot of money on that stunt. The reason lotteries don't like it, however, is that it makes it look like the game is rigged, and it will cause regular players to bail, because who wants to play a game, when some group is guaranteed to win

Reply #11

RJOh — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:33:58 GMT

I thought I read in some of your earlier posts that you had researched the last 20 years of lotteries, you shouldn't have to believe any one if you've done that kind of work. That group was featured on a TV show at the time named How They Do That . They supposedly hired several bonded players, made out the tickets in advance and commandeered several Seven-Eleven store terminals and was able to cover 80% of the combinations and won. Virgina as did other states after that came up with rules tha... [ More ]

Reply #10

JAG331 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:56:05 GMT

The bottleneck is printing the tickets...I wish I knew the exact amount of time it takes for a machine to spit out a five line ticket...let's say five seconds? One line per second, and you're able to commandeer a machine for an entire four days (Friday to Tuesday)...although, are ticket sales allowed in the early morning hours? But best case scenario, you can run numbers 24 hours a day...for nearly four days.In four days, you would need around 520 continuously running terminals to print out al... [ More ]

Reply #9

JAG331 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:40:31 GMT

I changed my comparison from 350m:500m to 500m:750m...because it wouldn't make any sense to buy every ticket with a $350m jackpot

Reply #8

Rip Snorter — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:21:21 GMT

I'd say the possibility of other winners is the torpedo fate could launch at this sort of effort, no matter what size the jackpot. I'd agree the chances of it would be a lot better with $500M than it would be at $350m.But the physical limitations of buying that many tickets seem to me to be almost insurmountable, in any case. If a consortium of players was large enough to do it the split would grind it down to a point where it wouldn't be worth the trouble.Maybe if someone, maybe a Jack Whitta... [ More ]

Reply #7

JAG331 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:10:10 GMT

http://www.holycross.edu/departments/economics/vmatheso/research/lottery2.pdfVictor Matheson has a nifty paper dealing with whether the $27 million Virginia lotto was a good bet, and some neat graphs and formulas. Unfortunately I don't see any validation on whether the group won or lost!He does bring up a good point about expected return...when buying the Trump Ticket (all possible combinations), you have to consider how many tickets will be sold for that drawing. Extrapolating, I would thin... [ More ]

Reply #6

JAG331 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:45:15 GMT

The plot thickens...may.casinocitytimes.com reports: (Turning a profit) was demonstrated with clinical precision by a mysterious group known as the International Lottery Fund of Australia. On March 5,1992 an Australian lottery syndicate comprising 2500 members claimed the $27 million jackpot at the Virginia state lottery. They had bought approximately 5 million of the 7 million possible ticket combinations, working round the clock to cover each combination with modern technology. I love trying t... [ More ]

Reply #5

JAG331 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:39:40 GMT

Here's what I've found about the Australia-VA connexion:The following comes from a 2003 posting on www.signonsandiego.com. In 1992, an Australian group attempted to corner a $27 million Virginia Lotto jackpot and managed to buy 2.4 million of the 7.1 million possible combinations before time ran out. They didn't win. Perfect opportunity...jackpot at four times greater than the odds...just not enough people. I'll see if I can find how many were in the group.

Reply #4

pumpi76 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:26:07 GMT

Well guys, i do not believe a single word you all are saying...It is impossible...I believe that that australian guy both perhaps 100,000 and won the jackpot, but not more than 4 million...michael brown

Reply #3

RJOh — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 06:35:09 GMT

People use to travel around the world to play for a $20M jackpot, now many of them won't travel to the corner store to get a ticket for that amount. Some have post here that a dollar is too much to pay for ticket if the jackpot is less than $200M.

Reply #2

red0412303609 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 03:59:06 GMT

i think the guy from australia won it yes-- he was romanian and he fled australia very quikly with all the moola--- he came from sydney and is now somewhere in Russia--- I remember the story well-- Who knows if hes alive or iced

Reply #1

JimmySand9 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 02:55:33 GMT

It has been done successfully before. An Australian group came to Virginia, and bought up all the combinations for the Virginia Lotto. The jackpot was enough to make a profit on the whole thing (like $20 million over 20 years). If you have a lot of people to help, and if the jackpot is big enough, it's a practical scheme. But such opportunities are about as likely as winning a jackpot, because you need a lot of friends and a lot of money for this to work.

Is it possible....

pumpi76 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 02:35:54 GMT

Guys, over my time researching lotteries I've heard people say that if they had the resources they would play a vast amount of combinations...But there is something a lot of people don't realize...I believe that if you wanted to play 1 million not alone 2 million combinations in period of 1 day or 2 or 3 days it could not be possible...Think about it if you were to be on the gas station waiting in line to play your combinations you could not play (pay for them) for example 1,000 combinations at... [ More ]