Most people play the lottery hoping for a miracle. Stefan Mandel played to ensure a mathematical certainty. Between the 1960s and the 1990s, this Romanian-Australian economist didn’t just get lucky; he systematically dismantled the game, winning the jackpot an astounding 14 times. His strategy wasn’t about picking lucky numbers, but about buying them all.
Calculating a Way Out
In the 1960s, Mandel was a young economist living in Communist Romania, struggling on a salary of just $88 a month. He needed a way out, but emigration was restricted and expensive. Mandel spent years analyzing mathematical theories, eventually developing a number-picking algorithm he called “combinatorial condensation.” He claimed this method could predict five of the six winning numbers, reducing the number of necessary combinations from millions to mere thousands.
He gathered a group of friends, pooled their money, and purchased the calculated tickets. The plan worked perfectly. Mandel won the first prize, totaling roughly 18 years’ worth of his salary. After paying off his investors, he used his share to bribe officials and secure safe passage for his family to Israel, and eventually, to Australia.
The Australian Syndicate
Once settled in Australia, Mandel realized he could scale his operation. He determined that in certain lotteries, the total cost of purchasing every single possible number combination was significantly lower than the jackpot prize. If a jackpot was $10 million and there were 7 million combinations at $1 each, he could buy every ticket and guarantee a $3 million profit.
Mandel established a massive syndicate, convincing hundreds of investors to pool their resources. He set up a “lottery warehouse” filled with printers and computers, automating the process of filling out millions of slips. His group won 12 lotteries across Australia. The authorities were stunned. Every time he won, they changed the laws to block his methods, eventually banning printed tickets and bulk purchases. Mandel simply looked for a new target.
The Virginia Gamble
In 1992, Mandel set his sights on the Virginia Lottery in the United States. It used a system with only 7.1 million combinations, far fewer than other states. When the jackpot hit $27 million, Mandel activated his team. He had already printed millions of tickets in Australia and shipped them to the US.
The logistics were a nightmare. His team had to physically purchase the tickets at convenience stores in just a few days. In the final hours, a store chain overwhelmed by the volume ceased sales, leaving millions of combinations unbought. The plan was at risk; if the winning number was in the missing pile, they would lose everything.
Retiring on the House
Luck was on their side. They held the winning ticket. The Virginia Lottery commission tried to block the payout, and Mandel was investigated by the CIA and FBI. They found no wrongdoing; he had followed every rule. He paid his investors, took his share, and retired to a beach house in Vanuatu, having proven that even a game of chance can be beaten with enough preparation.