A retired couple who claim to have cracked the code for winning big on the lottery have bagged a whopping £23million. Jerry and Marge Selbee have won jackpot after jackpot over the last nine years on a US lottery game, the Daily Star reports.
Their success started in 2003, when the couple discovered a little-known legal loophole on the Winfall game. According to the New York Post, they were then able to work out when buying several tickets at once would pay off - and have been raking in the cash ever since.
Their story has now been turned into a film, Jerry and Marge Go Large, which came out in the US in June. Following its release, experts at The Cinemaholic have explained exactly how the couple were able to make their millions on the lotto game.
They explained: “Each ticket of Winfall cost $1 and a player could pick six numbers between 1 and 49 with one ticket. If the six numbers Michigan Lottery drew were the same six numbers a player picked, the individual would win a jackpot of at least $2million or higher.
"If the player guessed five, four, three, or two of the six numbers, lesser prizes were awarded.”
Jerry, who will be played by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston in the new film, used basic maths skills to figure out how to make sure he made a profit when the prizes were at their highest. Pay attention, as this gets a little confusing.
In his own words, Jerry said: “If I played $1,100, mathematically I’d have one four-number winner, that’s 1,000 bucks. [Then] I did a mental quick dirty and I come up with 18, so I knew I’d have either 18 or 19 three-number winners and that’s 50 bucks each.
"At 18, I got $1,000 for a four-number winner, and I got 18 three-number winners worth $50 each, so that’s 900 bucks. So I got $1,100 invested and I’ve got a $1,900 return.”
Disaster stuck, however, in 2005 when Winfall was discontinued in Michigan where the couple lived. However, the found an almost identical game in Massachusetts, so they travelled there and found that they could win bigger due to a £1.5 million ($2 million) winning cap.
They also found that a 92.8 per cent chance of nobody getting big winnings existed there.
Jerry added: “Our first play was $80,000 with 40,000 tickets, and our last play was $712,000 with 366,000 tickets.
“We did spend 11 to 14 nights at the motel in South Deerfield and it was something we looked forward to. It was something different and it was profitable and it was able to help our family and help our friends out with a little financial boost.”
Despite their incredible winnings, the retired couple never really splashed the cash and live in the same they've lived in for many years.
Jerry and Marge Go Large, starring Cranston and Annette Bening, is available to watch on Paramount+.
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