A Gambling Syndicate Bought Every Lottery Number And It Worked
In April 2023, the Texas Lottery wasn’t beaten by luck. It was beaten by math.
A shadowy gambling syndicate pulled off one of the most audacious plays in lottery history by doing something no regular player could even imagine: they bought every possible number combination. All 25.8 million of them. One dollar per ticket. No guesswork. No superstition. Just brute-force probability.
And it worked
The Perfect Exploit
Texas Lotto uses a simple format: pick six numbers, combinations capped at 25.8 million possibilities. For decades, that number acted as a natural barrier—printing, paying for, and validating that many tickets was logistically impossible.
Until it wasn’t.
In 2023, a well-funded gambling group quietly coordinated the use of official Texas Lottery terminals across multiple locations. While everyday players waited in line to buy a handful of tickets, industrial-scale printing operations churned out tickets nonstop.
Every number. Every outcome. No risk.
The Players Behind the Play
At the center of the operation was Zeljko Ranogajec, an Australian gambling legend nicknamed “The Joker.” Known for running enormous betting syndicates and exploiting razor-thin edges at scale, Ranogajec doesn’t gamble—he engineers outcomes.
The operation was orchestrated by Bernard Marantelli, a bookmaker experienced in turning theoretical edges into real-world systems. Together, they transformed the Texas Lottery into a predictable machine.
When the dust settled, the group held the winning ticket.
$95 Million By Design
The jackpot hit $95 million. Opting for the lump sum, the syndicate collected $57.8 million in cash.
After subtracting the $25.8 million spent buying every combination, the profit came to roughly $32 million.
No hacks.
No stolen tickets.
No insider tampering.
Just money, math, and flawless execution.
Why This Shouldn’t Have Been Possible
Lotteries are built on the assumption that nobody can buy every outcome. They rely on friction: time limits, terminal capacity, human behavior.
This group erased all of that.
By scaling ticket printing across multiple terminals and locations, they turned a game of chance into a certainty. The system followed its own rules—and paid the price.
The Aftermath
Once the story surfaced, it triggered uncomfortable questions:
- Should lotteries cap ticket purchases per entity?
- Are systems designed for individuals vulnerable to syndicates?
- Is this genius… or a design failure?
The Texas Lottery didn’t break any rules. Neither did the gamblers.
But one thing became clear:
the house wasn’t ready for someone who could afford to play every hand.
If you have enough money, the lottery isn’t a gamble at all.
