American Notes Lotteries

When the jackpot in the Virginia state lottery topped $27 million last month, many local residents gave in to the temptation of buying a few extra tickets. But most were beaten to the punch: in the days before the Feb. 15 drawing, a group of buyers spent approximately $5 million snapping up the bulk of the 7,059,052 possible combinations.

Virginia lottery officials suspect that an Australian investor group, which regularly places huge sums of money in foreign lotteries, was behind the mass purchase. The group apparently located Virginia lottery outlets that were willing to churn out mass quantities of tickets in order to reap huge sales commissions.

Although the investors fell short of obtaining every combination, the gamble may have worked, as only one winning ticket was issued. The Australians are said to have claimed victory, but no one has officially come forward to collect yet. The winner is given 180 days from the drawing to trade in the lucky chit for a payoff of $1.2 million a year over the next 20 years. Meanwhile, Virginia officials are considering rewriting the lottery rules to prevent well-heeled players from cornering the market -- and scaring off other customers -- in the future.