Like everyone else in the world, number nerd Dr. Clio Cresswell just couldn’t help but be intrigued when she heard about the extraordinary tale of Michigan couple Jerry and Marge Selbee.
Their incredible get-rich-quick scheme even inspired the comedy-drama film Jerry & Marge Go Large starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening, so it’s quite the big deal – and apparently, it’s all thanks to some ‘basic mathematics’.
For those who don’t know about this super cool couple, let me enlighten you.
Convenience store owners Jerry and Marge had intended to retire in their 60s and ‘enjoy life a little bit’ in their golden years, but their plans took a drastic turn in 2003 after selling their livelihood.
Jerry entered the store he used to own and spotted a new lottery game, called Winfall, and picked up a brochure for it.
Explaining he has ‘a head for math’, the former business owner who boasts a bachelor’s degree in the subject said he realised there was something special it within just three minutes.
He realised that Winfall incorporated a ‘special feature’ known as a ‘rolldown’, which meant that if nobody scooped the jackpot for prolonged periods of time by getting all six numbers, it would stop swelling in size and the money would be divided among the next tier of winners.
As you can probably deduce, this meant that those who matched only five, four or three numbers received a bumper payday instead of the usual chunk they would be awarded.
Jerry previously detailed how he incredibly ‘cracked the code’, albeit in extremely confusing terms for most people, but he told CBS News that he thought loads of people would have clocked on to the loophole.
Jerry and Marge Selbee earned £23 million from the ‘100% legal’ lotto scheme (CBS)
But they hadn’t – and Jerry and Marge began raking the cash in with their lucrative lottery scheme, even inviting family and friends to join in.
Soon, they were playing for thousands – but in 2005, Winfall was shut down in the state of Michigan.
Luckily though, they found an almost identical game in Massachusetts called Cash Winfall where they were able to earn even more money, seeing them play for 10 hours a day, 10 days straight, with over ‘$600,000 per play.
The Massachusetts state treasurer eventually shut down the Cash Winfall game, and Jerry and Marge ended up £23 million richer by the end of it.
But although the astute lotto player was dubbed a ‘mathematical nerd genius’, Dr. Clio Cresswell doesn’t reckon he is one at all – as she believes Jerry simply had an eye for opportunity.
Speaking to 60 Minutes Australia, the senior lecturer at The University of Sydney explained her theory behind how he was able to hit the jackpot ‘more times than he could count’.
The former shop owner said he clicked onto the loophole just three minutes after picking up the Winfall brochure (60 Minutes Australia)
Cresswell said unlike Jerry, ‘not everyone is sitting on top of all the lotteries and studying all the numbers’ – including her.
She said: “I’m a mathematician, personally, I’m not particularly into numbers. I wouldn’t have noticed those numbers shift.
“You also know that these lottos or lotteries have educated mathematicians that are constantly looking at all these numbers, so if I wanted to make a lot of money, I’m not going to look at where all the top mathematicians are employed.
“So this was an anomaly, in that this rolldown created such a favourable condition for winning.”
Explaining how the loophole works, the maths boffin continued: “It’s as simple as, those that only picked three of the six numbers could then make a substantial amount of money, because it was rolling down to those less favourable.
“So instead of always playing and going, ‘I need to have all six numbers,’ you’re now actually going to make a substantial amount of money if you only pick three of the six numbers.
“And they were buying hundreds of thousands of tickets so they’re investing quite a bit of money – there’s still a risk, there’s still the kick, they’re still getting a gambling kick out of this game.
Dr. Clio Cresswell detailed how the couple pulled it off (60 Minutes Australia)
“What Jerry did is, he was able to see how much money was going to roll down.”
She explained most people wouldn’t pick up on the ‘patterns in the numbers’ like Jerry did, although we should do.
“All you needed to do is look at those numbers with basic mathematics and go, ‘Hang on a second, something’s going on here’,” Creswell said. “He was not a nerd, I don’t think he’s a math genius, bless his cotton socks.
“He’s dear to my heart because he’s someone who’s actually got his eyes open – you know, the numbers popped up and he didn’t just walk past and he obviously wasn’t doing things like picking his grandmother’s birthday.
“He knew very much that any number works, and in this case the odds were in so much favour.
“So it’s basic mathematics. What’s beautiful and and sweet is that he saw that.”
Guess we should have listened a bit more in our maths lessons, eh lads.
You’d be lying if the thought of winning the lottery hasn’t crossed your mind at least once.
The idea of retiring your parents, buying a dream home and booking an amazing holiday is always nice to think about.
Mind you, it doesn’t help if you never actually buy a ticket.
But one lottery player, who was moments away from becoming ‘set for life’, has opened up about how a split one-minute decision took it all away.
_Large.jpeg)
The lottery player was left devastated. (Getty Stock Image)
With a whopping $8.75m (£6.1m) fortune up for grabs, the ‘almost millionaire’ was outed by one little move.
Taking to Reddit, the user admitted ‘it’s been rough’ and they ‘had to leave work because I felt so sick that morning’.
On what happened exactly, they wrote: “I just started playing the lottery around the 1 billion dollar Powerball last week and found the odds on this game to be better.
“I used quick pick to pick my numbers in the app and decided to change them.
“I went back and forth between 25 and 34, and thought 25 would be the better choice. I would have been set for life.”
So close. (Reddit)
While there was some sympathy in the comments section, many users spoke about their own near ‘millionaire’ misses over the years.
“I had a dream as a kid that I picked the numbers. (like pick 4 or 5, $250k prize. but this was the 80s so it was a lot),” one person revealed.
“Gave my dad the numbers. They came up, I freaked out cause we won.
“Dad never bought the ticket. Have not repeated it since.”
A second person added: “Back in 2005, in my high school class, we were learning about stock trading. One of our assignment was to research a few company and to ‘invest these $5,000 into that company’.
“I did extensive research and found that iPods were a high selling and listening to Steve Job’s speech convinced me that this guy is going to take this far.
“I told my mom all about my ‘project’ at school but my mom still invested everything in Dell.
“I ended up investing all the $5,000 fake project money into Apple.
“I keep thinking about it still today and wished that my 13 year old self had the actual money and ability to invest back then.”
As they say, if you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the raffle.
I mean, you probably won’t win it if that makes you feel any better
Have you ever wondered just how many lottery tickets you’d need to guarantee yourself a win?
Of course you have, though really it’s just about making sure you get that one ticket amidst all of them that gives you the key to fame and fortune.
Mathematicians at the University of Manchester have calculated the exact number of tickets you’d need to buy to win the lottery, though you might not be happy with the definition of ‘win’.
Plus, even if you did manage to make use of this, there’s no guarantee that you’d even be able to make more money than you’d spent.
Still, if you want to know the secret number, according to irrefutable mathematics, the number of lottery tickets you need to guarantee a win is 27.
Yeah I know, it seems a bit low doesn’t it?
University of Manchester
If you want the National Lottery’s flagship Lotto game then there are a total of 45,057,474 possible draws that can occur, but the mathematicians came up with a way to be sure you’d get some money with just 27 tickets.
They worked out that if you had this many tickets, then at least one of them would have at least two numbers in common.
Here’s where it gets complicated and you wish you’d paid more attention in school.
They used a mathematical field called finite geography and put the numbers between one and 59 in pairs or triplets on a connective point in one of five shapes.
In total, you have three shapes called a Fano plane, two triangles and my brain hurts so please just look at the picture and pretend you understand.
University of Manchester
Dr David Stewart and Dr David Cushing found that each line generated a sequence of six numbers, enough to fit on a lottery ticket.
Put them all together and it creates 27 lottery tickets where at least one will have a couple of the numbers which get drawn, meaning a guaranteed prize.
Only it doesn’t mean guaranteed profit, as when the researchers tested this, they spent £54 on three winning tickets which gave them three attempts at the Free Lotto Lucky Dip, where they won nothing.
Yes, that’s the trouble with trying to find a perfect formula to beat the Lottery, it’s really damn difficult.
Matching two balls gets you a chance at the lucky dip, you’ve got to match three before you’re guaranteed of any sort of money as you’ll get £30 back.
Match four and you get £140, while five balls correct earn you a whopping £1,750.
To win a million quid, you’ll need to get five balls and the bonus, while the prize jackpot is only for those who get all six numbers right.
I mean, fair enough to be honest. If you’re ready to retire and suddenly land millions then why not just quit instantly?
Aussie Cliff Little became a millionaire overnight in 2019 when he bagged the entirety of a Powerball jackpot.
The bloke immediately retired from his career as a disability worker and went on to splash the cash.
But he didn’t just recklessly spend his $40million (£21million), he made further bank on the mega winnings.
The North Queensland bloke told Australian news broadcaster, 9 News, how it felt to win win the jackpot.
“When I see them come up – 1, 2, 3, 12, 20 – I said ‘Oof! I’m getting more than my money back,’” he said.
“The guy rang up, I said: ‘Who the hell are you?’ … he was from Lotto, and he confirmed it. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”
.webp)
9 News
Upon receiving the phone call, Little said: “I thought I would check my ticket before bed. I was quite calm. I knew I had some of the numbers and thought I might have won division six.
“Then I had another look and thought ‘no, you b******s are wrong!’ I had a look again. Then I went and had a shower.”
After quickly leaving his job, he went on to purchase a snazzy Toyota Supra sports car, properties for his children, and racehorses.
Setting up as a racehorse owner and investing in thoroughbreds has apparently been a lucrative investment.
“People might scoff at this, but the money is great. It’s only secondary importance when you see the cups,” Little explained.
.webp)
9 News
“Lotto is a game of chance, as we all know, but winning a Group One with the trainer training the horse and the jockey primed to go with it, that’s the excitement, the tactics in it and things like that.”
One of the racehorses he owns is a two-year-old called Cifrado. It’s reported that the racehorse has earned him a staggering $881,000 (£471,000) in prize money by the summer of 2023.
Despite striking gold with the horse, it’s said Little has never met the trainer, Rex Lipp.
And Little isn’t all that bothered about the glitz and glam of horseracing, preferring to watch Cifrado from his couch with a cold beer.
He told Racenet: “I had always liked racing, but I remember sitting down after I won the lotto thinking ‘what else can I spend my money on?’”
An elderly man who won £80,000 on the lottery was left in shock when his benefits payments stopped.
Daniel Millar couldn’t believe his luck when he won the huge amount of cash back in September 2017.
Daniel, from Scotland, spent the money pretty quickly, heading on a cruise, as well as holidays to Benidorm.
He also spent some of the money on house renovations and treating friends, family and neighbours.
Daniel won £80,000 (Media Scotland/Daily Record)
But Daniel said the win turned sour when his benefits were stopped as a result.
The grandad was no longer eligible for means-tested benefits, including income support, housing benefit and council tax reduction.
At the time, he told the Daily Record: “I didn’t know I had to tell the Department for Work and Pensions, so I spent it all by giving it to my two sons and my daughter, paid two family holidays, did up my house and bought clothes for me and my wife.
“The money was all spent by November. In December, I got a letter from the DWP saying I had to go to an appointment.
“They then told me I had been reported by the tax office for having £80,000 in my bank.
“I have to pay full rent and council tax so we have little left to live on.
“My wife, who is my carer, gets £62 a week. She has to put that aside to pay other bills like gas, electric and phone.”
Daniel’s wife, Bridget, added: “There are people winning millions of pounds and we just get a bit of luck and all of a sudden, we are punished for it.
“… The DWP have said we aren’t entitled to any money. They say that we have deprived ourselves of capital and don’t qualify for the benefits.
“We just don’t know what we will do.”
Daniel’s benefits payments stopped (Media Scotland/Daily Record)
At the time, a DWP spokeswoman said: “It’s very important that people tell us of any changes to their circumstances so they can receive the right support.”
Over on the House of Commons website, they explain how means-tested benefits work.
“For means-tested social security benefits, both income and capital are taken into account when determining whether a person or family is entitled to benefit, and how much they get,” they explained.
“… No benefit is payable if total capital exceeds £16,000.”
Last year, a woman in the States ended up being denied her winnings over a little-known technicality.
Hilde McMillen was delighted when she found out that she had won $1,000 (£789) on the lottery in Florida. However, when she tried to collect her winnings she ran into an obstacle.
When Hilde’s winnings didn’t drop in her bank account, she found out she wouldn’t be receiving them because she had been overpaid for unemployment benefits.
She said: “They told me they’re not going to pay me. Because I had an overpayment on my unemployment. I say I can’t believe that, I say, I paid that already.
“[It] took almost three hours to get [the DEO] and the lady was very nice, but she couldn’t help us with nothing.
“They held me hostage from my own money. My $1,000 was sitting at the unemployment office and nobody did nothing.”
