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The U.S. Sun spoke exclusively with a lottery expert to uncover the two ways to hack the system – one easy and one difficult
A COUPLE put their basic math skills to good use and took advantage of a simple lottery rolldown feature to rake in over $25 million, an expert has claimed.
Professor Tim Chartier has revealed exactly how they optimized the timing of their lottery plays to hack the system using a simple trick, as well as a more complex method to scoop a jackpot.
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Everyone dreams of becoming a millionaire – or even billionaire – but unless you think up the next big invention or company, the easiest way for you to secure a fortune is by playing the lottery.
While the lottery is easy to play, it’s far from easy to win.
The odds of winning a big prize in a lottery game such as Powerball or Mega Millions are roughly one in 300 million.
A crazy amount of things are more likely than winning the lottery, including being struck by lightning, becoming president, or even being hit by a meteorite.
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While some players have scooped up jackpot prizes the old fashion way – by beating the odds and correctly guessing the numbers – others have become millionaires by hacking the lottery system.
The U.S. Sun spoke with Tim Chartier, professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson College, about two distinct ways to “hack the system” when it comes to lotteries, in an exclusive interview arranged by casino.ca.
Chartier explained that the first method, taking advantage of the lottery’s “rolldown” feature, is relatively easy to implement – although it still requires intelligence, effort, and resources.
High school sweethearts Jerry and Marge Selbee from Michigan did just that, scoring millions of dollars.
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“Jerry and Marge Selbee didn’t beat the odds, they figured them out,” Chartier told The U.S. Sun, explaining that they had taken advantage of the structure of winnings.
Jerry, a math fanatic, was first intrigued by the lottery in 2003 when he noticed that the new lottery game Cash Winfall had a unique feature called a “rolldown.”
Chartier detailed how, if the jackpot reached a certain amount and no one had won the top prize, the prize money would then “roll down” to lower-tier winners, significantly increasing the payouts of players who matched five, four, or three numbers.
“Recognizing this, the Selbees calculated that by purchasing large quantities of tickets during these rolldown periods, they could profit,” said the lottery expert.
Every time there was a rolldown in the Cash Winfall game, the couple would buy hundreds of thousands of tickets at two local convenience stores in Massachusetts.
They did that for years, spending roughly $600,000 per play, seven times per year.
The Selbees exploited similar opportunities in other lottery games across the US, applying the same mathematical principles to games with favorable conditions.
Jerry and Marge Selbee didn’t beat the odds, they figured them out.”
By hacking the lottery system using mathematics and probability, the couple took in an astounding $26 million from various state lottery games.
The Massachusetts State Lottery discontinued the Cash Winfall game in 2012 due to players such as the Selbees exploiting the rolldown feature.
However, some lotteries may still have similar features in their payout structures, such as by redistributing unclaimed jackpot money to lower-tier prizes.
A second, much more difficult way to hack the lottery, according to Chartier, is by taking advantage of imperfections in the system.
The lottery system was designed to be random with strict measures in place to uphold the integrity of the game.
For example, each ball in the Powerball game weighs roughly 80 grams and can only deviate from the standard by three-tenths of a gram, Chartier explained.
Additionally, the $55,000 Powerball drawing machines are stored in a locked vault that is kept under constant video surveillance.
The U.S. Sun spoke exclusively with professor of mathematics at Davidson College, Tim Chartier, who revealed the truth behind lucky numbers.
Scooping up a jackpot prize in a lottery game such as Powerball or Mega Millions involves correctly guessing a series of numbers.
Many players swear by certain numbers, sticking with digits such as birthdays, anniversaries, or ages – but do these numbers statistically carry the luck that players believe they do?
According to Chartier, they do.
“I think a number is lucky if you have fun playing it and it improves your experience of winning,” he said.
“The big lotteries are, statistically speaking, a chance to dream of being a multi-millionaire or even billionaire. If playing a certain number heightens that experience, then yes!”
However, the lottery expert clarified that aside from the feel-good implications of playing your “lucky numbers,” no number is truly lucky when it comes to the lottery.
“All numbers are equally likely,” said Chartier.
He explained that even though all numbers are equally likely, some may seem to appear more often.
For example, rolling a six-sided die six times does not guarantee that you will roll each number exactly once.
No one is permitted to hold the balls due to security reasons, and they must be touched with gloves on to prevent dirt exposure.
The balls are retained in black briefcases to prevent exposure to light, and a random set is used each drawing, unknown to even lottery officials until 90 minutes before the scheduled drawing.
Despite the stringent procedures in place, Chartier admitted that lottery numbers are not entirely random, resulting in a higher probability of certain combinations.
For example, if the mixing process of the lottery balls was not perfectly uniform, certain balls may be more likely to appear.
Likewise, if one ball were slightly heavier or lighter than the others, it could have a different likelihood of being drawn.
In 1980, a group of players rigged the Pennsylvania Lottery by injecting weighted balls into the lottery machine, ensuring that only certain numbers could be drawn.
Although this instance involved tampering with the system, it highlights how flaws in the physical lottery system could theoretically be exploited.
However, hacking the lottery system using this method “is not easy to exploit in today’s world,” according to Chartier.
Modern lotteries have strict quality control measures in place to ensure randomness, such as standardizing the weight of balls and conducting repeated tests.
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
If you or someone you know is struggling with gambling addiction, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700 or visit the National Council on Problem Gambling online.
The U.S. Sun has previously spoken to other lottery experts.
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One expert revealed that lottery players are more likely than ever to become billionaires like winner Rosemary Casarotti – especially in a certain US state.
Another expert shared a list of reasons why winners take so long to claim their prizes – and top tips to “guarantee wealth.”
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