According to foreign media reports, last April, a mysterious company exploited a loophole in the rules and probability calculations of the Texas lottery, which had a jackpot of $95 million (approximately 676 million yuan). By spending $25 million to purchase all possible number combinations, they won the $95 million jackpot! Officials later acknowledged the issue with the system and made adjustments, but stated that the company's actions were not illegal.
In April 2023, the Texas lottery game (Lotto Texas) awarded a jackpot of $95 million (approximately 676 million yuan). According to officials, this prize is the third largest in the history of the Texas lottery and the highest in nearly 12 years for this game.
Lotto Texas is a well-known local lottery game. Although it is not as popular as Powerball or Mega Millions, it still attracts significant attention. The starting jackpot is $5 million, and if no one wins, the prize pool continues to accumulate. Before the April 2023 draw, the jackpot had rolled over for 93 consecutive draws, reaching an astonishing $95 million.
This led to the subsequent event!
The winner of this large prize was a New Jersey company named Rook TX, which orchestrated the operation remotely with four lottery stores using networked methods. By calculating the combinations and odds, they spent $25 million to purchase 26 million tickets, covering all possible combinations for that draw, effectively "covering the board," and ultimately winning the entire $95 million jackpot, making a substantial profit.
According to state regulations, the winner can choose to remain anonymous, so this event has largely gone unnoticed. However, no secret can be kept forever, and the incident has recently been exposed, causing significant discussion. Local lottery players expressed dissatisfaction, as this means the lottery is no longer fair.
However, investigations revealed that although the company exploited some loopholes to win, they did not break any laws. The only loophole was that three of the four lottery stations they used had very low sales for several months and were nearly abandoned. Each machine has a certain limit per draw, and when the sales behavior of the four stores exceeded the limit, they called the Texas Lottery Center to complain. The center did not notice anything unusual and readily provided a much higher limit than usual.
Local media stated that when the lottery center receives special or unusual complaints or requests, they should question and investigate the situation rather than simply agreeing to the requests. However, the Texas Lottery Center stated that there were indeed some loopholes, but the staff's actions were neither against the rules nor illegal. They will adjust their procedures in the future to prevent similar incidents.
An official also revealed to reporters that although the company ultimately gambled $25 million to win the $95 million jackpot, it was not without risk. Their purchased tickets accounted for about 90% of the sales for that draw, but since the lottery is a random event, if one of the remaining 10% of ticket holders also hit the jackpot, they would have to share the prize money.
If calculated, a $95 million jackpot split between two people would amount to $47.5 million each, and choosing a lump sum payment would result in about $28.5 million after taxes. This "business" would then be at a loss, and if more people won the jackpot, the company would lose everything.
