How a Secretive Gambler Called 'The Joker' Took Down the Texas Lottery
- Reference: 0177054467
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/17/1440236/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-took-down-the-texas-lottery
- Source link:
The group, operating through a limited partnership called Rook TX, [1]purchased 99.3% of all possible number combinations , printing over 25 million tickets across four makeshift workshops in Texas. Using dozens of official lottery terminals and working nearly around the clock for three days, the team systematically printed hundreds of tickets per second.
Texas officials have since launched investigations, with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick calling it "the biggest theft from the people of Texas in the history of Texas." The Texas Rangers are now investigating the operation. Through legal representation, the syndicate maintains they "followed all applicable laws, rules and regulations" throughout the process.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-took-down-the-texas-lottery/ar-AA1COrK4
Small chance of loss (Score:2)
Can you imagine how they would feel if they lost everything due to the 0.7% of tickets they didn't buy? It really was gambling.
Re: (Score:2)
according to the article, they excluded those numbers because they didn't want to split the jackpots and I guess the math somehow made sense.
AGAIN? Didn't he do this last week? (Score:3)
Dupe!
Re: (Score:1)
yup: [1]https://idle.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
[1] https://idle.slashdot.org/story/25/04/13/1716210/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-beat-the-texas-lottery
Dupe (Score:2)
[1]https://idle.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
[1] https://idle.slashdot.org/story/25/04/13/1716210/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-beat-the-texas-lottery
Lottery Is Theft (Score:3)
Lotteries are theft. Period. It's an idiot tax. The main reason they're upset is if people start to lose faith; they'll lose the idiot tax income.
The simple fact is all they did was buy most of the possible combinations. What's illegal about that? Did they steal tickets? Did they not pay for the ones they printed? It sounds like they just legally gamed the system. This is exactly the type of behavior they should support as it's exactly what republican states do all the time. Sometimes we call it malicious compliance.
But that doesn't change the fact lottery is theft to start with; and I sure as fuck won't cry about people scamming a scam.
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> Lotteries are theft. Period. It's an idiot tax.
I don't see how it's theft if it's a voluntary purchase and the terms are disclosed to the purchaser before purchase.
It may be an idiot tax, but if we call it "theft", then a $6 coffee at Starbucks is also theft, because you can get something equivalent much cheaper somewhere else.
For your $1, you get a lottery ticket with an expectation value of $.90 (or whatever), plus the thrill of imagining yourself winning a lot of money. I don't consider that worthwhile, but some people do, and it's their money to (m
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Suppose you say "I'll punch you in the face for $5" and I say "ok!" So you punch me in the face. Ouch! That hurts. And then I hand you $5.
Was that theft?
Or am I just an idiot?
they used some of their children that may be all (Score:2)
they used some of their children that may be all TX needs to void the win and keep the cash paid in.
Theft? (Score:3)
It seems this was all done above board. I think Texas is just sore because they figured nobody would actually do this.
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My thoughts exactly, where did the theft happen?
It seems much more like a screw up on the part of the Lotto company to me that someone finally took advantage of.
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It may have been a terms of service violation for either the lottery itself or for the machines used to print the tickets. Civil matter, not theft.
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no they entered arrangements with authorized lotto ticket sellers to use their machines in accordance with the lotto guidelines. literal 24/7 arrangements where they stayed open/operating their printers. Like, "Here's $5K... stock up on your lotto paper for your machines..."
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It would have been a very poorly designed contract if it allowed them to do that. Most lotteries don't allow bulk purchases and don't allow the machines to be used in that way.
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I was trying to find an article on Florida banning this practice, but couldn't. I remember some state(s) supposedly passed a law to make this practice illegal.
Maybe it didn't hold up, and that's why Florida added a bunch of numbers around 10(?) years ago to make it infeasible.
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> It seems this was all done above board. I think Texas is just sore because they figured nobody would actually do this.
Yeah, but he was so good he apparently [1]did it twice [slashdot.org].
[1] https://idle.slashdot.org/story/25/04/13/1716210/how-a-secretive-gambler-called-the-joker-beat-the-texas-lottery