Michigan couple earn $7.75 million from lottery in nine years after spotting loophole

Most people play the lottery hoping for a lucky break. One Michigan couple found something better: a pattern.

It didn’t take luck – just logic, timing, and a sharp eye for detail.

What they discovered turned a few tickets into a fortune and a quiet retirement into a headline-worthy hustle.

So how did they do it? And can they teach us?

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The rolldown that rewrote the rules of lottery luck

Turns out you don’t need luck to win the lottery – just a math degree and a high tolerance for paper cuts.

In 2003, Jerry Selbee picked up a brochure for Michigan’s new Winfall lottery. 

Most people tossed it. Jerry read it – and in three minutes, spotted a goldmine.

The game had a feature called a ‘rolldown.’ 

When the jackpot hit $5 million with no grand prize winner, the money rolled down to players who matched five, four, or even three numbers.

Jerry crunched the odds and figured out that by buying 1,100 tickets during a rolldown, he could expect one four-number winner worth $1,000 and around 18 lower-tier winners worth $50 each – about $1,900 in total returns.

So he’d spend $1,100, make $1,900, and walk away with an $800 profit. And because the rolldown happened every six weeks, he could rinse and repeat.

He tested it with $3,600 in tickets. Made $2,700. Tried $8,000 next – nearly doubled it. 

Eventually, he told his wife Marge about the system he’d developed, and how it was paying off. And from then, she was his partner in everything.

They brought in their six kids, formed a corporation, and even sold shares to friends. 

When Michigan shut the game down, they just took the operation 700mi east to Massachusetts.

At one point, they spent $720,000 in a single round and sorted 360,000 tickets by hand in a motel room.

In the end, they grossed over $27 million and cleared $7.75 million in profits before taxes. 

All legal. All documented. 

This Michigan couple went from loophole hunters to low-key legends

From convenience store ticket stubs to Hollywood credits – the Selbees turned a loophole into a legacy.

Their story was so wild it got turned into a movie – Jerry & Marge Go Large – starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening. 

The Selbees even served as executive producers.

But despite the spotlight, they never ditched the small-town life. 

They’re still living in the same Michigan home they’ve owned for 65 years, long after the tickets stopped printing.

On Reddit, their tale’s become a cult classic. 

“The best answer to the age-old question, ‘Why do I need to learn math?’” One user wrote. 

“This is such a brilliant example of spotting an edge in a system most people just play blindly,” said another. 

A third summed it up: “They didn’t cheat the system – they just understood it better than anyone else.”

In a world where most people lose playing the lottery, they cracked the code and cashed out.

Forget dumb luck – they outsmarted the game.

Some of the images used for this article were generated using AI

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