* * * * *
                                        
       I wonder what grade this would get at the Harvard Business School?
                                        
And speaking of [DELETED-lotteries-DELETED] tax breaks for the smart [1] … 

> In 1992, a group of Australian investors—led by math whiz Stephan Mandel
> decided they could literally buy the $27 million jackpot in the Virginia
> state lottery. Racing against the clock, they bought 5.6 million of a total
> 7.1 million possible combinations.
> 
> The Australians walked away with the only winning ticket—and $27 million.
> 

“Big lotto jackpot not what it seems [2]”

Actually, I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often (or maybe it does and
is underreported). In our own little lovely state of Florida [3], our little
state lottery [4] has a 22,957,480:1 odds of winning, so it would seem that
somebody would try it, once the pot has grown to, maybe, three times that
amount, which does happen, [5] to make it profitable, if maybe a bit
logistically daunting.

I would also expect that the Australians probably did a bit better than the
$27 million, because lesser combinations (like 5 out of 6) also pay out.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/11/05.1
[2] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
[3] https://boston.conman.org/
[4] http://www.flalottery.com/
[5] http://www.flalottery.com/inet/downloads/jackpotestimates.pdf

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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