Emily Brown
Experts have shed light on how four Princeton University graduates managed to come up with a way to 'beat' the lottery system and rake in millions of dollars.
While the rest of the world was shutting down due to coronavirus lockdowns, Manuel Montori IV, Matthew Gibbons, Hannah Davinroy, and Zoë Buonaiuto were busy securing themselves the title of 'millionaires'.
The group, linked to Montori's company Black Swan Capital, LLC, had come up with a system which helped them seek out winning lottery tickets, and in September 2020, Montori cashed in a staggering 61 winning scratch-offs tickets in just one day.
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In total, the group secured 66 winning tickets purchased from different shops and gas stations across the states of Indiana, Missouri, Washington and the District of Columbia, earning them a total of $6 million.
Speaking to Good Morning America about the group's winning streak, Philip Stark, Professor of Statistics at Cal Berkeley, said: "They're either the luckiest people in the world or they found a way to beat the system."
So, how exactly can you 'beat' the lottery? Well, it takes a lot of time, effort and money.
One manager who worked at one of the stores where the group found their winning tickets told ABC News that the group would buy up every book of scratch-off tickets she had.
An estimate on how much that would cost suggests the group could have spent more than $2 million on buying the tickets in the hope their efforts would result in a profit.
Shopkeeper Darian, located in Bloomington, Indiana, told The Indianapolis Star that Davinroy and Buonaiuto mentioned that they were working on a study after buying out their entire stock of lottery tickets.
Darian estimated that the pair must’ve spent over $48,000 in total at her location throughout their winning streak.
Experts looking into the winnings have suggested that the group may have analyzed publicly available data regarding past ticket results to help increase their chances of winning.
Some also theorized that, because the lottery tickets they were buying were ones that were soon to be discontinued without the grand prize being found, they chose to hunt those down for that specific reason.
However, experts have warned that buying hundreds of lottery tickets still doesn't guarantee a win, so investing the money is a gamble.
The winners chose not to reveal their tactics at the time, but there's nothing to suggest the group was acting outside of the law.