A Massachusetts state lottery game is now being investigated after a betting group led by an MIT grad scooped up hundreds of thousands of tickets and landed a $2 million prize.
In August 2010, the group – led by Yuran Lu -- bought 80 percent of the available tickets for an Aug. 16 Cash WinFall drawing, in which they won nearly all the prizes, the Boston Globe reports.
In just four days, the group bought 700,000 tickets, which pushed the jackpot over $2 million. Each jackpot starts at $500,000, but when it reaches or passes the $2 million mark, money “rolls down” to increase the value of lower payouts.
Stores that sold the tickets for the group requested permission to sell over their $5,000-a day-limit (tickets cost 50 cents). But lottery officials said they could not predict the bulk sales would trigger a rolldown, the Boston Globe reports.
The state gives notice to players when a rolldown is expected to occur, as more players buy tickets during that period. Lu’s scheme, however, left the majority of players unaware of the prizes available.
The investigation will be led by state Inspector General Gregory Sullivan.
“There is no presumption of wrongdoing,’’ Grossman told the Boston Globe. “But we felt this was an important step we needed to take to protect the integrity of the lottery.’’
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