Stefan Mandel, a Romanian-born mathematician, developed a system that allowed him to win the lottery 14 times, raking in a total of $30 million.

His strategy was so effective that regulations were introduced to make it harder for him to continue playing.

Mandel, wanting to escape poverty in Romania, devised a strategy that allowed him to win the top prize twice in a local lottery similar to the popular Lotto. The winnings allowed him to move to Israel, then Australia and the US, where he continued to refine his method.

His strategy was simple: he entered large-scale lotteries, when the value of the top prize exceeded the cost of purchasing all possible combinations. In Australia, after another win by Mandel, the authorities changed the law, making it impossible for one person to place a bet on every possible combination. Mandel, unable to continue playing, started his own lottery company and moved to the United States.

In the US, he focused on the Virginia state lottery, where there were 7.1 million combinations and one ticket cost only one dollar. He gathered a group of investors who gave him $2,500 each, which allowed him to bet on all the combinations.

In 1992, after winning $30 million, he attracted the attention of the US authorities, including the FBI and CIA. Despite the fact that Mandel did not break the law, he was prosecuted, and the rules of lottery games were changed, preventing him from continuing his strategy.

Eventually, Mandel filed for bankruptcy and left, presumably settling on a tropical island in the Pacific.

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