A retired couple has won millions of dollars after using "basic artihmetic" to crack the US lottery.
Jerry and Marge Selbee won $26 million after realising they could beat the odds of a state lottery game released in 2003.
The couple had retired and sold their convenience store in Evart, Michigan, when Mr Selbee, who graduated from college with a degree in maths, came across a brochure for a new lottery game called Winfall.
Unlike the well known Mega Millions games where the jackpot keeps building until someone hits all six numbers to win the big prize, Winfall instead had a feature called “rolldown.”
The feature meant that if a jackpot reached $5 million and no one matched all six numbers, the money trickled down to the lower-tier prize winners, boosting the payouts of those who matched five, four or three numbers.
Mr Selbee realised in “three minutes” the potential of the new game, he told CBS.
If he bought $1,100 worth of tickets he would have at least one four-number winner, which would pay out at $1,000.
He would also get around 18 or 19 three number winners, paying $50 each and earning him a total of $1,900.
When Mr Selbee first tried his plan he bought $3,600 worth of tickets - and won back $6,300.
The second time he nearly doubled his investment of $8,000.
“It is actually just basic arithmetic,” Mr Selbee said.
“Amazed” that no one else had figured out the scheme, he and his wife began playing hundreds of thousands of dollars, eventually setting up GS Investment Strategies and inviting family and friends to buy shares for $500 each.
When the game closed down in Michigan due to “lack of sales,” the couple discovered it was being offered in Massachusetts and began playing there instead.
The Selbees said that they would sit in a hotel and sort through tickets for 10 hours a day, ten days in a row, playing more than $600,000 per attempt.
Mr Selbee said he kept all the losing tickets - $18 million and 65 tubs worth - in case there was ever a physical federal audit.
Eventually, the Massachusetts state treasurer shut down the game and began an investigaton but found that their chances of winning were not affected by the high-volume betting and the Selbees did not commit a crime.
Their corporation earned $26 million in total, including an $8 million profit, which was used to renovate their home, and pay for the education of their six children, 14 grandchildren, and 10 great children.
Producers have bought the film rights to the couple’s story.
