stefan Mandel, the genius economist who won the lotto 14 times, not by luck but by math

winning the lotto is less likely than being struck by lightning. but there is one man who has won this impossible luck a whopping 14 times. he’ s Stefan Mandel, an economist from Romania who didn’t rely on blind luck – he turned the lottery from the realm of “luck” into a game of “probability” with sophisticated mathematical calculations and strategies to exploit loopholes in the system.

an $88 monthly salary, the first step out of poverty

growing up in communist Romania in the 1950s, Mandel’s monthly salary was just $88. to lift himself out of poverty, he turned to the lottery, but with a different approach. After digging through countless probability papers, he developed an algorithm that maximized his chances of winning second prize by hitting five out of six combinations of numbers. With friends investing in him, he put it into action and was lucky enough to win first prize, using the money to escape Romania and settle in Australia.

buy all combinations: mandel’s six-step winning formula

in Australia, where there were no restrictions on lottery ticket purchases, Mandel had an even bolder plan. he would only execute this strategy when the jackpot prize was more than three times the total cost of buying all the tickets in every possible combination. He would raise money from investors, build an automated system with computers and printers, and win the top prize in Australia 12 times during the 1980s.

mandel’s six-step formula

1. calculate the total value of all possible number combinations.
2. find a lottery where the jackpot prize is at least three times the total cost of the tickets.
3. raise enough money from investors to buy each combination.
4. use a computer algorithm to print lottery tickets for every combination.
5. submit the millions of printed lottery tickets to official retailers to complete the purchase.
6. collect the winnings and split the profits with investors.

how the Virginia Lottery Scam Shook the U.S

mandel’s challenge took him to the U.S. He targeted the Virginia Lottery, which had a relatively small number of combinations at 7.05 million. In 1992, when the jackpot soared to $27 million, he raised money from 2,524 investors and airlifted seven million lottery tickets to the U.S., printed over a three-month period. he was only able to buy about 6.4 million of them due to some retailers giving up, but the lucky goddess was on his side: He ended up winning the top prize, taking home $27 million in jackpot money and about $28 million in ancillary prizes.

the end of a legend, and what’s left

after this unprecedented event, Mandel was investigated by 14 different agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, but his methods were found to be legal. However, after distributing his winnings to numerous investors and going through a lengthy legal battle, he filed for bankruptcy in 1995 and left the lottery world. He is now said to be living out his days quietly on an island in the South Pacific. after Mandel’s case, most countries introduced regulations to prevent one person from buying all the combinations, and he went down in history as the first and last person to beat a lottery system with math.