Ever wondered what the odds of winning the lottery are? 1 in 14 million!
In fact, being struck by lightning, or winning an Oscar is a more likely thing to achieve. However, one mastermind did the unthinkable and managed to win the lottery 14 times by creating a formula that would make him a millionaire.
And, this is his story…
Stefan Mandel, an economist in communist-era Romania, worked out a formula in the late 1950s that could predict five out of six winning numbers in a lottery system with 40 numbers.
The math whizz went on to get three of his friends to invest in his creation and won the jackpot on his very first try before he left for Australia, where he landed another 12 wins.
Because of the immense amount of possible combinations in the Australian lottery system, he decided to get as many tickets as possible instead of trying to predict the winning set.
The process involved six steps:
- He would first calculate the overall number of possible combinations
- Then look for lotteries with a winning margin of at least three times the number of possible combinations
- To fund his idea, he raised enough money to buy every single combination
- He then printed out millions of tickets with every combination (which used to be legal)
- Then he delivered the tickets to authorized lottery dealers
- And lastly, he won the money and paid the investors
He ended up having an army of ticket buyers that purchased and submitted slips around the country because the main aim was to get hold of every ticket option available which essentially provided a guaranteed way of securing a jackpot win.
The Stefan Mandel Lotto Systems Pty. Ltd
After each jackpot win, his company would receive the prize money and would then distribute it among the investors.
Mandel eventually gained Australian citizenship which meant that he could play the UK lotteries as well, and because the UK National Lottery had not been established at the time, he focused on smaller lotteries that suited his formula better.
At the time, there were no rules against individuals buying scores of tickets and also no protective mechanism that ensured purchasing all tickets would exceed the value of the prize pool.
His operation was 100% above board and he ran it in a highly detailed and professional manner.
But, eventually, the Australians implemented a new law that forbade a single person to buy all the tickets for a particular draw.
Again, Mandel managed to outsmart the lawmakers by finding partners to purchase tickets and split prizes before another law was introduced that banned a group of people from buying all the lotto tickets.
After outsmarting Australian Lotteries 12 times, he decided to hit US Lotteries, specifically the Virginia Lottery.
Tickets were affordable at only $1 a piece and the total number of combinations was 7.1 million, which Mandel believed was doable. He contacted all his investors in Australia and managed to gather over 2,500 people for the project.
In 1992 the Virginia Lottery reached $27 million and that was when Mandel and his team decided to buy 6 million tickets and had the luck to win the jackpot. But, the grand jackpot was not the only prize they won because Mandel won most of the other rewards too.
According to estimates, his investors earned $30 million from the project, so one can only wonder how much Mandel himself earned.
Stefan Mandel’s genius formula made headlines across the globe
But suspicions about the operation’s legality led to a four-year legal battle before the State Lottery eventually admitted defeat. And, because Mandel didn’t want to attract any more attention, he decided to move to Israel.
Although he was never involved in the lottery business in Israel, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison because of a technical and victimless crime of non-publishing a prospectus in a cooperative society.
But, the court did the sentence in his absence so he never went to prison, and rather decided to finally retire in the South Pacific.
He now lives in a beach house in Vanuatu, and I’m assuming that money isn’t his primary concern
What a legend!
Crypto Casinos with the Best Lotteries!
BitDice
BitDice has both a weekly and a monthly lottery. You can either buy a ticket for $0.10 (Weekly) and $0.05 (Daily) or you get a free ticket for every $50 (Weekly) and $20 (Daily) wagered. The prize pool changes depending on the number of tickets bought and at the time of writing it was a whopping $650572.97.
BitDice has a provably fair lottery
You need to choose 7 numbers and the more matching numbers, the higher the prize but what I really like about this lottery is that you can check the provability of the game in the far right corner which is something I haven’t seen before.
Oshi.io
Oshi Casino also often runs a monthly lottery but in this lottery, you don’t necessarily need to buy lotto tickets and instead earn them when making a deposit.
The prize pool is also somewhat different because the main prize is 3000 EUR + 250 Free Spins and then there are 31 other prizes (almost like raffle tickets) all of which are either free spins or cash prizes.
Oshi Casino’s lottery
And, the ticket prices are as follows:
- For every 30 EUR deposit you will get 1 lottery ticket
- For every 50 EUR deposit you will get 2 lottery tickets
- For every 90 EUR deposit you will get 4 lottery tickets
- For every 150 EUR deposit you will get 7 lottery tickets
- If you deposit more than 150 EUR, each ticket will cost you 20 EUR
DuckDice.io
DuckDice also has a $100,000.00 lottery, and tickets cost $0.10 but this lottery is weekly, and they hand out bonus lottery tickets on top of your prize money.
- 5 Numbers + the Jackpot Ball – $100,000.00
- 5 Numbers – $3,000.00 + 100 tickets
- 4 Numbers – $20.00 + 20 tickets
- 3 Numbers – $1.00 + 1 ticket
- 2 or No Numbers – The lottery will be reserved for free, and continue participating in the next day’s draw.
DuckDice has a weekly $100,000.00 Lottery and they give away free lotto tickets
They also give away free lottery tickets in various contests and challenges and randomly give out free tickets to players after every lottery draw. And, if you are a friendly and active duckling (as they refer to players), you might get some tickets for simply spending time on the forum and chat.
BC.GAME
BC.GAME has a daily $100,000 lottery Jackpot and one ticket is only $0.10 but what I found really interesting is that they have also created a token – BCL – especially for players who love the lottery. You can use BCL to redeem lottery tickets at any time and 1 BCL is equivalent to one lottery ticket.
The prizes are as follows:
- 5 Numbers + the Jackpot Ball – $100,000.00
- 5 Numbers – $3,000.00
- 4 Numbers – $20.00
- 3 Numbers – $1.00
- 2 or No Numbers – The lottery will be reserved for free, and continue participating in the next day’s draw.
A provably fair algorithm is used to draw the lottery prizes and you need to purchase your tickets before 14:55 UTC+0 every day in order to participate. The rules are also very straightforward – you need to choose six numbers for each ticket, the first five are from 1 to 36, and the last one is from 1 to 10.
Stand a chance to win $100,000 daily at BC.GAME
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