Mass. Changes Rules To Cash WinFall Lottery After Easy Wins

The days of easy wins for savvy gamblers in Massachusetts appear to be over, because state officials shut a loophole in a lottery game that was exploited for big prizes.

A small group of number-crunching players had discovered that there were certain times when the odds of winning heavily tilted in their favor if they bought at least $100,000 worth of tickets. The flaw in the lottery system was exposed by The Boston Globe on Sunday. But state officials made it harder yesterday for the big spenders to hit pay dirt by placing a $5,000 limit on the amount of tickets they could buy in one store on any day, according to the Globe..

Cash WinFall was a relatively obscure game where players had to match six numbers on their ticket with randomly drawn numbers. But if no one matched all six and the unclaimed jackpot was around $2 million, the prize money was redistributed among ticket holders with fewer matching numbers. Statisticians calculated that players buying $100,000 of tickets were virtually guaranteed to win during those brief periods.

One couple in their 70s, Marjorie and Gerald Selbee, had won more than $1 million this year by buying at least $614,000 worth of tickets so far, the Globe reported.

State lottery officials also announced yesterday they will end Cash WinFall next year, because of declining sales, ABC reported.

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Comments

[Jennifer Zirn]

04:01 PM on 08/04/2011

I'd say the ratio of spending to winning isn't worth it, though I don't have that kind of money to spend. But if that is how they want to spend thier money/day, let them. It isn't like they are hurting anyone or robbing them.

They change the rules, then annouce they are ending the game.

[hiitthedirtboys]

12:05 PM on 08/04/2011

Low self fiber these two...Your daddy teaches you to do the right thing... Not find a way to cheat and take advantage of a big hole you find of anothers mistake.

[charlie byrd]

11:58 AM on 08/04/2011

so i guess the republicans changed the rules so nobody else can be rich?? uhhh, i mean "job creators". rolmao

[Paula A Higgins]

11:00 AM on 08/04/2011

So, in fact, what they actually WON was $386,000, considering they had to spend $614,000 to win the million. Still worth it, but who has $614,000 to spend on lottery tickets? Not me.....

[Todd70]

01:15 PM on 08/04/2011

Actually, in fact they only made a profit of a little over $8,000 according to a Fox interview with them. Also there's about 25 people in their group that got a cut of that profit. The article on here is wrong.

[rcarol]

10:40 AM on 08/04/2011

If I had $100,000 to blow on lottery tickets, I wouldn't have to play the lottery.

[Risky Rich]

10:10 AM on 08/04/2011

Hey, if they want to spend $600,000 on lottery tickets let them. So what. Spending that much should give them a better chance of winning. Wow this is great, just as soon as you come up with a good & honest idea on how to make money someone has to step in and ruin it.

[billselfconcord]

12:59 PM on 08/04/2011

Honest ???

[Risky Rich]

07:38 AM on 08/05/2011

Why? Cause they found an honest way to win the lottery?

[Todd70]

11:58 AM on 08/05/2011

If you think it's unfair of the Selbees buying hundreds of thousands of tickets, you can't blame the Selbees, you can only blame the lottery. The stores had a limit of $5,000 a day for Cash Winfall, but the stores asked the lottery to increase the limit and the lottery increased the limit and knew exactly what was going on.

The lottery highly advertised the rolldowns, the rolldowns were the great thing about the game. So it's not true that the Selbees new a secret that few knew about.

A couple years ago it got a lot of media attention when Mark Muir claimed that by buying at least $10,000 worth of tickets you were guaranteed huge profits.

In reality though, Cash Winfall was just borderline profitable and extremely high risk. Gerald Selbee said that they only made a profit of a lttle over $8,000 on the $614,000 they wagered. He also said that every time they have an 11% chance of losing 60% to 80% of what they spent. Also there are about 25 people in the Selbee group to include lawyers and financial experts.

[Michael Bierman]

10:00 AM on 08/04/2011

I see, just like Vegas, if you are smart enough to win you are kicked out, big deal the crooked house will make sure even if you beat them fair, you can't come back. People are suckers.

[Todd70]

09:37 AM on 08/04/2011

This article is horribly misleading.

It says that they bought AT LEAST $614,000 worth of tickets so far. In fact they bought $614,000 worth of tickets JUST in July, read the Globe article. They also bought around $600,000 worth of tickets in May. They also bought around $600,000 worth of tickets in late December of last year, which most likely they cashed in January of this year.

But I guess for more interesting reading, the article misleads people into thinking they made over a million off $614,000. And I guess readers would rather believe fantasy like that than to believe reality.

[RMS Queen Mary]

08:39 AM on 08/04/2011

Gee, let me just whip $100,000.00 out of the pocket change I carry with me at all times and buy a bunch of lottery tickets! Must be nice to be able to afford to do that. Sounds to me like one more example of the rich getting richer

[patardugno]

08:08 AM on 08/04/2011

Really, I would say the only people who would be upset about the new rule, might be the people who made the game, run it & sell the tickets. The scammers will just sent all of the contributors to their pot in to buy $5,000. worth of tickets each & do the same thing. I am not sure why it is being called a scam? The tickets are paid for. They are selling a lot of tickets to the "scammers". What is the problem? I guess as long as any type of gambling is rigged to it is in favor of the house, NOT the gambler,...that's ok.

[YouGReckshun]

07:23 AM on 08/04/2011

Hey.. as they said in the article, "the savvy gambler".. some horse racing "enthusiasts" will wager up to $500 to win $100 on a single race..

[Lauraluv896]

06:45 AM on 08/04/2011

Lottery is just another scam.
Your not supposed to win.
Keep your money and go out
to dinner.

[shymathguy99]

06:42 AM on 08/04/2011

They are idiots and their ill-founded decision only makes them lose money. When there is no winner for awhile, the odds go up to make up for the lack of winners so far. It all balances out in the end.

But by prohibiting people from buying tickets, they only reduce the amount of money Massachusetts makes because they go through fewer winner cycles - for each winner there are a large number of losers and a great amount of profit. Reducing the number of players only shrinks the game and reduces their profits.

I should know - I made 800 on my Math SAT. Note my screen name!

[Michael Bierman]

10:05 AM on 08/04/2011

You don't seem shy, you just bragged to millions of folks on here.

[shymathguy99]

01:52 PM on 08/04/2011

Millions? Don't I (we) wish.

[kencrn419]

05:32 AM on 08/04/2011

The lottery is a state tax on people who can't do math.

It's a sucker's bet.

[billselfconcord]

01:02 PM on 08/04/2011

The state doesn`t TAKE the money from your check.

[kencrn419]

06:41 PM on 08/04/2011

Correct...the suckers line up at the Quickie Mart to HAND it to them.

[prettyeyes640]

01:46 AM on 08/04/2011

Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that people in Mass. (especially older people) have that kind of money where they could just spend a $100,000 at a drop for lottery tickets, with a pay-off that small? Maybe I'm missing something here.

[sansainte]

12:10 PM on 08/04/2011

What you seem to be missing is common sense. What makes you think that there aren't some very wealthy older folks in Massachusetts that can well afford to spend their money this way.. Maybe you think all "older people" are poor. Has brilliant of you.