How to Win the Lottery Without Playing
When you buy a lottery ticket, you are basically spending two dollars for the chance to win millions of dollars. It’s an incredibly long shot, but for many people it’s the only shot they have at becoming rich. The lottery is one of the most popular gambling games in the world, with an estimated annual turnover of more than $80 billion.
Until recently, most state lotteries operated like traditional raffles. People buy tickets, and the winner is announced at a future date, often weeks or months away. But new innovations have transformed the industry. Today, many states offer a range of instant games, such as scratch-off tickets. These are cheaper to produce than regular tickets and allow the lottery to attract new customers, such as those who want to try their hand at winning big without waiting.
When the lottery first came into use, its advocates emphasized its value as a source of “painless” revenue: it allows voters to voluntarily spend money on state government that they would otherwise have paid in taxes. This arrangement grew even more attractive when state governments started to run huge deficits in the post-World War II period.
But what if it turns out that the best way to win the lottery is not to play it, but to get a bunch of people together and pool their resources? That’s what Romanian-born mathematician Stefan Mandel did when he won 14 lottery jackpots. His strategy was to raise money through investors so that he could buy tickets covering all possible combinations, rather than just the top ten numbers.
