Old couple figured out a way to beat the lottery and win millions

 
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Off Topic Reply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
LongBeachPoly
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 14 Jul 2012
Posts: 16026

PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:58 am    Post subject: Old couple figured out a way to beat the lottery and win millions

Video (13 minutes long) -


Looks like this is an old story that I never heard of before (2003). They've now made this into a movie called Jerry & Marge Go Large Trailer #1 (2022)

Here's the trailer starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Benning:


Quote:
‘Jerry and Marge Go Large’: Retirees made town rich gaming the lottery

In 2003, a retired Midwestern couple in their 60s chose the former by winning millions after discovering — and exploiting — a legal loophole in a lottery game sold across the United States.

They are Jerry and Marge Selbee of Evart, Michigan. Together with their friends and neighbors, they raked in cash for years playing a game called Winfall by figuring out exactly when buying up hordes of tickets would pay off. Their wild story is now getting the cinematic treatment in “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening, respectively, which debuts on Paramount+ Friday.

Jerry, now a grandfather at 83, is the one who cracked the game, using his strong background in mathematics. At one time, he’d worked a number-crunching role at Kellogg’s cereal headquarters in Battle Creek.

He would go on to own a corner store with his wife Marge, 84, one that had a lottery machine in it for years.

When it came time to enter the golden years, Jerry told The Post he started spinning the adventure partly because of boredom.

“It gave us something to do every six weeks or so that was completely different,” Jerry Selbee said. “Being retired, you can only do so much camping, picking rocks, which was a hobby of ours, and things like that.”

Jerry realized that Winfall had a pretty significant loophole. In Michigan, the game’s jackpot would “roll down” each week if no one won, expanding the prize winnings. This happened until it capped out at $5 million. At that point, if no one hit all six numbers on their ticket, the prize would be allocated to a handful of lesser winners, who matched a majority of the winning digits.

This was where Jerry saw an opening. In 2003, he was able to figure out that, by the law of averages, roll-down weeks were a guaranteed victory if you bought enough tickets. In their case, they bought thousands at a time.

“It didn’t take me three minutes to figure the game out [as portrayed in the film]. I had to do a little bit of research on the risk to reward analysis … I decided I could play the game and, as long as nobody won, other than me, it would be profitable,” Selbee said.

But at first, it took some trial and error, according to the mathematician.

“My first play, I played $2,200 … but I lost $50 on that play. So that [showed me] to compensate for the variance between the mathematical and the probability of getting more or less,” he said.

Selbee figured out that the trick was to bet more. The second time around, he put down $3,600 and won back $6,300.

“I knew I was on the track … my third play, which is in the movie, was $8,000 and I got back $15,700. So I knew that the system worked.”

Selbee’s uncanny strategy was even mind-blowing for some of the film’s cast.

https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/jerry-and-marge-go-large-retirees-made-millions-gamin-lottery/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
jonnybravo
Retired Number
Retired Number


Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 30621

PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:23 pm    Post subject:

Wow that's amazing.
_________________
KOBE
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
LarryCoon
Site Staff
Site Staff


Joined: 11 Aug 2002
Posts: 11264

PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:54 pm    Post subject:

This was covered pretty thoroughly in the book "How Not to be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking" by Jordan Ellenberg. There actually were three grouts who figured out the Expected Value quirk of that Massachusetts Lottery tweak and made lots of money from it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website Reply with quote
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Off Topic All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1
Jump to:  

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum






Graphics by uberzev
© 1995-2018 LakersGround.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Terms of Use.
LakersGround is an unofficial news source serving the fan community since 1995.
We are in no way associated with the Los Angeles Lakers or the National Basketball Association.


Powered by phpBB