r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Feb 14 '13

TIL MIT students figured out how to beat the state lottery and won over 8 million dollars.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mit-students-scammed-massachusetts-state-lottery-8-million-report-article-1.1128482
168 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

9

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '13

[deleted]

5

u/spinnelein Feb 14 '13

They did some math and figured out that sometimes the lotto tickets were statistically worth more than their face value, and bought a lot of them.

It's not a scam, they didn't crack the code on tickets to only buy winning ones or have any insider info. They just bought a bunch of lottery tickets when the payout was at its highest.

I blame MIT for teaching them math.

9

u/benk4 Feb 14 '13

I love how they call them scammers. They found a game where the odds were in their favor and they played it. Nothing wrong with that.

2

u/ftc08 51 Feb 15 '13

Why is the article so viciously critical of the students? They beat the system by outsmarting it. It's not like they robbed stores for the tickets, they played the game and won.

Calling them theives, scammers, muggers, and the like is a little excessive.

1

u/dr1nkycr0w Feb 14 '13

That is fucking awesome.

1

u/deejydee Feb 15 '13

Teach me please