Is there a way to beat the system and win the lottery? INSIDE EDITION talks to one math whiz who say she did just that. Is his method really a sure thing?
Talk about making your own luck! Has this guy figured out the secret to winning the lottery?
Gerald Selbee is a retired convenience store owner, and he's also something of a math whiz.
He was looking for ways to supplement his retirement income when he figured out that the Massachusetts Cash Winfall lottery had so few players, all he had to do was buy enough tickets, at just the right time, and he was almost guaranteed to win.
That's when he turned a sleepy convenience store in Sunderland, Massachusetts upside down. Usually they sell about $40,000 worth of lottery tickets a day. That is, until Selbee walked in and bought more than more than $300,000 worth of lottery tickets. The owner couldn't believe it.
Paul Mardas, owner of Billy's Beer and Wine, said, "It was shocking and surprising."
Just printing Selbee's order tied up the ticket machine for hours. Then there was the agonizing wait to see if his calculations were correct. After all, it was still possible someone else could win.
"We would twiddle our thumbs for days and days and days," said Selbee.
But his gamble paid off. The little balls fell in his favor and Selbee claimed more than $1 million in prize money this year.
But he's also lost big other times.
"We have had a substantial loss once which was $350,000," said Selbee.
This MIT-educated math expert has checked out Selbee's strategy and confirmed it almost guarantees a return over the long haul.
Mohan Srivastava, statistician, said, "They played big massively. They bought hundreds of thousands of tickets."
So what does Selbee say to people who think he's stiffing the little guy who buys just a couple of lotto tickets?
"My only response to that is, everyone has the same opportunity," said Selbee.
