News writer
Some claim it was the biggest US lottery scandal in recent history.
Three years later, a group of professional gamblers from across the globe is taking credit for it.
According to reporting from the Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian gambler named Zeljko Ranogajec, a mysterious betting magnate widely known as “The Joker,” claims he helped finance the massive effort, which garnered a $95 million jackpot from the state game Lotto Texas.
Ranogajec made these claims directly to the Sydney Morning Herald in an article this month.
A simple idea on a massive scale
In an April 2023 Lotto Texas drawing, a Delaware-based syndicate known as Rook TX acquired approximately 25.8 million ticket combinations, effectively guaranteeing that at least one would match the winning numbers.
The group reportedly spent around $26 million on tickets for the drawing. It was an operation that allegedly involved state lottery officials and, in some reports, child labor.
If Ranogajec's interview is accurate, he backed the ploy, in part.
His team had supposedly absorbed millions in losses during previous attempts after failing to win the jackpot. However, Rook TX had claimed most of the second-place winning tickets in a previous April draw.
A 72-hour ticket blitz
While the math behind the plan was relatively simple - buy up all the combinations of numbers for the win - the logistics were more complex.
Over a 72-hour window between lottery draws, teams worked across numerous retail locations in Texas to print tickets at an extraordinary pace. The scale of production reached hundreds of tickets per second in some cases.
The syndicate ultimately secured the $95 million jackpot from Lotto Texas. They opted for a lump-sum payment. After accounting for ticket costs and other expenses, the operation is estimated to have generated roughly $20 million.
The alleged characters
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, these are the alleged players in the scam. Some of them haven't been identified.
- Zeljko Ranogajec: Primary financier and betting magnate known as “The Joker” who funded the operation, enabling the group to spend tens of millions on tickets. He worked with about 30 associates.
- Bernard Marantelli: A Melbourne professional gambler who organized and executed the strategy, coordinating teams, logistics, and large-scale ticket printing in Texas.
- David Walsh: A wealthy associate and backer involved in the broader syndicate's betting activities.
- A Maltese intermediary: Helped connect key members of the international group and facilitate coordination.
- On-the-ground teams: Dozens of workers who operated ticket-printing hubs to produce millions of entries within a short window. In some unconfirmed reports, this includes child labor.
Was the state lottery involved?
Lawsuits have alleged that, yes, the state knew what was going on.
Greg Potts, an executive with Lottery.com, said his company helped print the tickets - and that he was shocked that the Texas Lottery director, Gary Grief, allowed the big buy to take place.
In the Sydney Morning Herald article, Marantelli said that the lottery commission also helped Rook TX take the win. Marantelli told the Sydney Morning Herald:
I sat outside the Spicewood location, and I saw what I believe was a lottery official and an IGT technician/official turn up in two cars and unload, I think 15-ish terminals, and take them inside, and plug them in, and spend two hours setting them up. In what world do I think that those guys didn’t have the correct permissions to do that from the lottery headquarters?
What now?
In response to the controversy, multiple investigations were launched by state authorities, including law enforcement and the attorney general's office. The investigation is ongoing.
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