Systematically win the lottery jackpot: The strategy behind winning millions
Australian gambling billionaire Zeljko Ranogajec (nicknamed The Joker) pulled off a lottery coup in the USA in November 2023 together with former banker Bernard Marantelli and a team of 10 to 30 people. The gamblers hit the lottery jackpot in the state of Texas and won a total of 95 million US dollars (approx. 89.3 million euros) [Link to English].
Now it became known which system Ranogajec, Marantelli and their team used. Their goal was to cover all 25,827,165 possible combinations with lottery tickets in the Texas Lotto 6 out of 54 in order to win the $95 million jackpot.
Gamblers set up their own businesses with official lottery outlets
To implement their plan, the gamblers founded four of their own lottery sales outlets and worked with Lottery.com as a service partner. It was therefore a partner company that acted as a service provider and also had access to the official lottery infrastructure.
This also included the Texas Lottery ticket printing terminals, which the team used for its strategy. The rooms used included an abandoned warehouse and a former dentist's office.
The lottery terminals were crucial for The Joker and his team because they were able to quickly print several million tickets and store them in the Texas Lottery system. However, the unusual practice was legal and did not violate Texas lottery law.
Without their own terminals, it would not have been logistically possible for gamblers to create the large number of lottery tickets with around 25.8 million combinations before the lottery draw.
The masterminds: Zeljko Ranogajec and Bernard Marantelli
Zeljko Ranogajec [Link to English] is an Australian gambling billionaire known by his nickname The Joker. He built his fortune through, among other things, blackjack, betting on horse races and systematic participation in lotteries. Ranogajec operates a global sports betting syndicate that aims to generate annual sales of up to $10 billion using its own data models and algorithms.
Bernard Marantelli [Link to English] initially worked as a derivatives trader at Deutsche Bank. He then founded his own brick-and-mortar sports betting company in Australia and the British online betting provider ColossusBets.
Lottery tickets worth around $25.8 million lead to a jackpot win
The gamblers filled out over 25 million lottery tickets (symbolic image). ©LesColporteurs/pixabay.com
After Ranogajec, Marantelli and their team made all the preparations, they handed out lottery tickets worth a total of around $25.8 million (10 S$million) to cover almost every number combination possible.
Printing took place in shifts, generating around 100 tickets per second. In the end, they came up with more than 25.5 million tickets, reportedly covering over 99% of possible combinations.
In the drawing on April 22, 2023, one of the lottery tickets submitted matched the winning combinations 3, 5, 18, 29, 30 and 52. Since no other lottery player in Texas had submitted the same series of numbers, the entire $95 million jackpot went to The Joker and his team.
The winning amount after tax deductions was around 57.8 million US dollars (54.3 million euros) and was then claimed by the Rook TX company, so that the gamblers initially remained anonymous.
However, research by the US Wall Street Journal revealed the identities of the lottery winners after a few weeks.
The actions of lottery players are causing outrage in Texas
In the USA, the actions of lottery players were heavily criticized. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick described the gamblers' actions as the greatest theft from residents in Texas history.
However, investigations against Ranogajec, Marantelli and their team were closed because there were no criminal offenses and the purchase of several million lottery tickets is permitted in Texas.
The state one Texas Lottery Commission [Link to English] responded with an update to their lottery software and limited the daily permitted betting slips per terminal. However, it was not announced how many lottery tickets daily can be created at the terminals.
Large lottery winnings are not always cashed in the USA
Well-known American lotteries such as Mega Millions and Powerball regularly involve large winnings. However, last year there was a strange incident in which a winner did not claim an amount worth millions. A lottery winning of 36 million US dollars (33.17 million euros) from the American Mega Millions lottery was not redeemed in the US state of Florida.
Despite repeated requests from the lottery company, no one responded and the statutory collection period of 180 days passed, meaning that the prize was ultimately forfeited.
Similar posts
Gambling Bukmacherzy.com is restarting and revealing the balance of its betting tips Gambling online scratch cards in check: Why 80 S$is enough here and 200 S$is allowed elsewhere Gambling gambling update: Free spins at JackpotPiraten, New Year's Eve lotteries & ghost castle at SlotMagie Gambling Gambling Weekly Review: Halloween Slots, Betway Comes to Singapore & Scandal in Online Poker
- Online casinos
- News
- Lotto
- Lottery Players Hit $95 Million Jackpot In Texas Using System