How Stefan Mandel Won $27M by Buying Every Lottery Ticket

On Feb. 15, 1992, Stefan Mandel and a syndicate of investors purchased every combination in Virginia’s 6/44 lottery — 7,059,052 tickets — and collected about $27 million in prizes. Backers provided capital and authorized retailers issued the tickets.

Mandel targeted draws where the expected payout exceeded the cost of buying every line. His team calculated the total number of combinations for the 6-from-44 format, raised funds from hundreds of investors, arranged rapid ticket printing and processed sales through retail outlets to complete purchases before lottery officials could intervene.

The Virginia result was the peak of a series of wins. Mandel began with smaller prizes in Romania, then worked in the U.K. and Australia. His record includes roughly 14 jackpot-level wins across those markets.

After the syndicate’s international activity, lotteries changed rules. Australia and France restricted bulk purchases and automated printing. U.S. lotteries altered game formats, required machine-validated playslips, limited large orders and tightened retailer policies. Lotteries also expanded monitoring and fraud controls.

Game designs have shifted so the number of possible combinations increased. For example, Powerball currently has 292,201,338 possible combinations. Higher combination counts, order limits, timing constraints and tax rules have affected the feasibility of buying every line in major national games.

The documented facts are: Mandel’s syndicate bought every 6/44 combination in Virginia on Feb. 15, 1992; the group collected about $27 million in prizes; and lotteries revised procedures after the incident to reduce the chance of similar operations.