Published on: October 7, 2024, 01:25h.
Last updated on: October 7, 2024, 01:25h.
The anonymous group that manipulated the Texas Lottery to win $95 million has been connected to Colossus Bets, a parimutuel betting site based in London, and Spinola Gaming, a software provider based in Malta, as reported by The Houston Chronicle.
The group, who claimed the prize through a shell company registered in New Jersey, virtually guaranteed the win by purchasing 25.8 million tickets. These tickets covered all potential winning combinations for the draw on April 22, 2023, a controversial strategy that was within the rules.
According to several sources close to the group told the Chronicle the operation was led by Ade Repcenko, the CEO of Spinola.
These insiders, including Phillip Gurian from Florida, claimed to have funded lottery services provider Lottery.com to process millions of tickets for the syndicate.
Engagement in Various Lotteries
During a meeting with investors after the draw, Gurian met Repcenko, who revealed that the group was active in lotteries worldwide, waiting for the jackpots to reach a level where they could be exploited mathematically.
He informed me that he collaborated with a group to pool funds in order to purchase all tickets when lottery jackpots reach a certain level and obtain a significant return,” Gurian stated to the Chronicle. “He said, ‘We just did it in Texas.’”
Two additional sources claimed that the funding for the operation came from Colossus Bets, a company owned by Australians Bernard Marantelli and Zeljko Ranogajec, both renowned gamblers. Ranogajec, in particular, is considered one of the most successful in the gambling world and is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
Colossus Bets developed the widely-used “cashout” feature in the sports betting industry and has previously taken legal action against operators, such as DraftKings, to protect its intellectual property.
Targeting Connecticut
In 2019, the Hartford Courant reported that Marantelli attempted to purchase 1 to 2 million tickets for a Connecticut Lottery draw. Lottery officials were aware of this as Marantelli approached them to inquire about setting up special terminals at the lottery headquarters to process the tickets, which they declined.
The extent of Marantelli’s ticket purchase in Connecticut and whether he followed through with the plan remains unclear, but he did not win the jackpot.
Given that the Connecticut draw offered a $25 million top prize and 7 million potential combinations, purchasing one million tickets at one dollar each would provide a 7/1 chance of winning an after-tax jackpot of approximately $13 million, a return of 13 times the investment.
In Texas, the group understood that they needed to invest $25.8 million in $1 lottery tickets to secure an after-tax jackpot of $57.8 million. Even if they had to share the first prize with another winner, they would still have made a profit, in addition to earning millions in secondary prizes.
Casino.org reached out to Marantelli for a comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.