And speaking of lotteries
tax breaks for the smart …
In 1992, a group of Australian investors—led by math whiz
Stephan Mandel—decided they could literally buy the $27 million
jackpot in the Virginia state lottery. Racing against the clock,
they bought 5.6 million of a total 7.1 million possible
combinations.
The Australians walked away with the only winning ticket—and $27
million.
Big
lotto jackpot not what it seems
Actually, I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often (or maybe it does
and is underreported). In our own little lovely state of Florida, our little state lottery has a
22,957,480:1 odds of winning, so it would seem that somebody would try it, once the pot has grown
to, maybe, three times that amount, which does happen, to make it
profitable, if maybe a bit logistically daunting.
I would also expect that the Australians probably did a bit better than the
$27 million, because lesser combinations (like 5 out of 6) also pay out.
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