Jerry and Marge Found a Legal Lottery Loophole. They Won $26 Million.
A retired couple from Michigan discovered that when Winfall jackpots rolled down, the math favored buyers. They legally won $26 million. Here is how.
The Cereal Box Moment
In 2003, Jerry Selbee was a 68-year-old retired manufacturing worker in Evart, Michigan, population 1,900. He picked up a brochure for a new state lottery game called Winfall and started reading the rules while eating breakfast.
Most people skim lottery rules. Jerry did the math. And what he found changed his life.
The Loophole
Winfall had a unique "roll-down" mechanic. If no one matched all 6 numbers and the jackpot exceeded $5 million, the prize money rolled down to lower tiers. Match-5 winners would get $100,000+ instead of the usual few thousand. Match-4 winners got $1,000+. Match-3 winners got $50+.
Jerry realized that during a roll-down, the expected value of a $1 ticket exceeded $1. In other words: on roll-down weeks, buying tickets was a positive-expected-value investment, not a gamble.
Jerry calculated that for every $1,100 invested during a roll-down, he could expect roughly $1,900 back — a 72% return. Not a "chance." An expected average. The math was unambiguous.
Scaling Up
Jerry started small — $2,200 on the first roll-down. He won $2,150, almost breaking even. Then he bought $3,400 on the next one. He won $6,300. The math worked.
He and Marge formed a corporation called GS Investment Strategies and started buying tens of thousands of tickets before each roll-down. They drove to convenience stores across Michigan, hand-filling bubble sheets for hours. At their peak, they were buying $500,000 to $600,000 worth of tickets per roll-down event.
They also recruited friends, family, and eventually investors. By the time the game ended, their group had collectively wagered over $26 million — and won it all back plus profit.
Was It Legal?
Completely. Jerry and Marge did not hack anything, bribe anyone, or manipulate the drawing. They bought publicly available tickets at face value and exploited a mathematical feature that the lottery commission itself designed into the game. The Michigan Lottery investigated and confirmed: no rules were broken.
The lottery commission was aware of high-volume buyers. They actually benefited — Jerry's group generated massive ticket sales revenue. The state got its cut regardless of who won.
The Movie
In 2022, Paramount released Jerry & Marge Go Large starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening. The movie captures the essence of the story: ordinary retirees who outthought the system, not through luck or fraud, but through basic arithmetic that nobody else bothered to do.
What This Means for Today's Games
Modern lotteries have eliminated roll-down mechanics precisely because of Jerry Selbee. Powerball (1 in 292 million odds) and Mega Millions (1 in 290 million) are designed so the expected value of a ticket is always negative — typically around $0.50-0.80 per $2 ticket. There is no edge to find.
The Jerry and Marge story is not a blueprint for beating today's lottery. It is a reminder that games have rules, rules create math, and sometimes the math says something the designers did not intend. Explore the odds and statistics of today's games on our analysis pages — just know that the Winfall-style loophole no longer exists. Lottery draws are random events, and this content is for entertainment and informational purposes only. Play responsibly.
Disclaimer: For entertainment purposes only. Lottery outcomes are random and past results do not influence future drawings. This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by any state lottery commission. In the event of a discrepancy, official winning numbers shall control. Results sourced from NY Open Data (data.ny.gov). Always verify with your official state lottery.