It’s common knowledge these days that the odds of someone winning the lottery are pretty miniscule. An often-cited statistic is that you’re more likely to be struck by lightning and die than choose the lucky ticket.

When there are millions of possible combinations for a lottery ticket then, well, you’d need to buy a lot of lottery tickets if you want to be in with a good chance of taking home the jackpot.

And that’s exactly what one Romanian economist named Stefan Mandel did, with the help of investors and a syndicate – named the International Lotto Fund or ILF - which saw them win a total of 14 lotteries around the world.


In an interview available on YouTube, Mandel explained: “Theoretically, anybody can buy all the possible combinations. Any high school boy or girl can calculate those combinations.

“Nobody has ever developed a logistical system to lodge such a large amount of play slips.

“We were the only winners and that was it.”

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Eventually, Mandel targeted a lottery in Virginia, where the rules around picking six numbers between one and 44 meant they only had 7,059,052 – apparently, this was a good thing.

You have more of a chance winning the Conservatives' lottery, if you wanted to take part in that for some reason.

What was also a good thing was that Virginia allowed individuals to purchase tickets and print them at home, making it a lot less inconvenient and awkward than doing it at a cashier – they only needed 30 computers.

It was in February 1992 that his syndicate went for a jackpot of $27m, and because they had done every ticket imaginable, they scooped up $900k in additional prizes for the tickets which placed second, third, fourth and so on.


14 international agencies investigated him and the ILF – including the CIA and FBI – but both were cleared of any wrongdoing.

And where is Mandel now? Well, according to The Hustle, he’s apparently spending his days in a beach house on a remote island off the coast of Australia.







↪ https://www.indy100.com/a .. ilf-2660998253

I never understood why people that play the lottery don't just pick the seven most drawn numbers every week. They're listed on the webpage

zzxxccvvbb said 🔗 I never understood why people that play the lottery don't just pick the seven most drawn numbers every week. They're listed on the webpage

Why don't you?

92bricks9shots said 🔗

More than math it's also logistics to scale the operation.

It's dehumanizing to be a great at statistics and probability to figure out a scheme that can only be used once because regulators change the rules later. Same thing with Casinos once you become known they won't book your action. Anytime you have to bet against the house it's a lost cause.

All the smart quant money moved on to Wall Street where you can build a business around directly making money with math and stock investing/ gambling.

zzxxccvvbb said 🔗 I never understood why people that play the lottery don't just pick the seven most drawn numbers every week. They're listed on the webpage

Hey I just watched a table full of people strategize roulette...finger counting and all

"See I was looking at the results...the board showed the last 3 hits were red" so you betting red? "Nah I'm thinking a black number"

zerogate said 🔗 Why don't you?

Because the lottery is fu#king stupid

whatevaitakes said 🔗 More than math it's also logistics to scale the operation. It's dehumanizing to be a great at statistics and probability to figure out a scheme that can only be used once only to have regulators change the rules later. Same thing with Casinos once you become known they won't book your action. Anytime you have to bet against the house it's a lost cause. All the smart quant money move on to Wall Street where you can build a business around directly making money with math and stock investing/ gambling.

I just need to get paid one time though, but thats just me. If I could just set a trust fund for my kid, I'm good.

zzxxccvvbb said 🔗 I never understood why people that play the lottery don't just pick the seven most drawn numbers every week. They're listed on the webpage

I'm bout to try this sh1t thanks

They spent 14.2 million on the tickets if they $2 a pop

..not counting the 30 computers

27 mil after taxes in NY, you break even or it’s a loss

Good thing it’s VA & it take money to make $$ I guess

95% of bx communicates via smileys, do you think they're going to take anything away from this??

frontopronto said 🔗 They spent 14.2 million on the tickets if they $2 a pop ..not counting the 30 computers 27 mil after taxes in NY, you break even or it’s a loss Good thing it’s VA & it take money to make $$ I guess

All that money them old folks put into the lottery they coulda had a business and BEEN a millionaire. sh1t with the money they spend they had the chance to fail at 2 businesses and still succeed on the third. Doesn't even need to be something crazy or gotta be super smart, the my pillow guy was a crackhead and made millions off them pillows. People lack imagination and want things easy

sh1t I'd take my chances making mills off poker before I count on the lottery. At least there's some level of ski1l with that and you can study it and improve

20Vent said 🔗 I just need to get paid one time though, but thats just me. If I could just set a trust fund for my kid, I'm good.

It's just easier (not easy) to go to Wall Street. You have more data and more possibilities. Hell, flip real estate you can do that all day long.

zzxxccvvbb said 🔗 I never understood why people that play the lottery don't just pick the seven most drawn numbers every week. They're listed on the webpage

If it only were that simple

Hellmatic said 🔗 All that money them old folks put into the lottery they coulda had a business and BEEN a millionaire. sh1t with the money they spend they had the chance to fail at 2 businesses and still succeed on the third. Doesn't even need to be something crazy or gotta be super smart, the my pillow guy was a crackhead and made millions off them pillows. People lack imagination and want things easy sh1t I'd take my chances making mills off poker before I count on the lottery. At least there's some level of ski1l with that and you can study it and improve

You ain’t lying but common sense ain’t so common

All that to make 1-2 mil each, if that, after splitting it

&& having to deal with the Feds too, nahhh fam

BlackjesuS said 🔗 Hey I just watched a table full of people strategize roulette...finger counting and all "See I was looking at the results...the board showed the last 3 hits were red" so you betting red? "Nah I'm thinking a black number"

Man I ki1l them on the roulette majority of the time. My strategy always works. The key is knowing when to fold em and bounce to the bar.

Hellmatic said 🔗 All that money them old folks put into the lottery they coulda had a business and BEEN a millionaire. sh1t with the money they spend they had the chance to fail at 2 businesses and still succeed on the third. Doesn't even need to be something crazy or gotta be super smart, the my pillow guy was a crackhead and made millions off them pillows. People lack imagination and want things easy sh1t I'd take my chances making mills off poker before I count on the lottery. At least there's some level of ski1l with that and you can study it and improve

You clearly have a misunderstanding of how business works.

HollywoodPK said 🔗 You clearly have a misunderstanding of how business works.

Lottery players slapping my post but won't explain why. By the way I put multiple uses for the money not just attempting a business even stocks. And a business don't gotta be on a grand scale

You can sell your own merch, t shirts, dropshipping, etc. No excuses for tryna roll the dice on the lottery, in the end the worst that can happen is you get the same result and don't make any money but chances are you ain't gonna get big money off the lottery either. There's better odds with the business/idea No matter how you wanna slice it.

If they don't know how to run a business those 20 dollars they spent on mega millions can get the person started with a book

frontopronto said 🔗 You ain’t lying but common sense ain’t so common All that to make 1-2 mil each, if that, after splitting it && having to deal with the Feds too, nahhh fam

sh1t anything might be better than trying your luck with that. You might as well take the money and flush it down the toilet

Monstrosity said 🔗 Man I ki1l them on the roulette majority of the time. My strategy always works. The key is knowing when to fold em and bounce to the bar.

That just sounds like self control homie...my og typically wins more than not...so I believe in winning but it's just luck other than card counting or the OP being low-key rich already

BlackjesuS said 🔗 That just sounds like self control homie...my og typically wins more than not...so I believe in winning but it's just luck other than card counting or the OP being low-key rich already

Naw it's statistics vs how much you're willing to lose.

Based on my strategy and how much I'm willing to lose it makes it almost impossible for me to lose.

But again, you gotta know when to get up outta there.

the real flip is make your own lottery

Monstrosity said 🔗 Naw it's statistics vs how much you're willing to lose. Based on my strategy and how much I'm willing to lose it makes it almost impossible for me to lose. But again, you gotta know when to get up outta there.

fair enough...can't argue with that...keep winning

Inside job