Illegal lottery. How much of a "better deal" was offered?

The US Attorney's office may be a bit red-faced in having indicted a corpse for the sale of lottery tickets and will undoubtedly seek to have that portion of the indictment dismissed. The indictment against the wife will stand despite her advanced age and ill-health. The indictment against her son will stand as well.

It was alleged that for decades the trio ran a lottery scheme whereby they sold lottery tickets based on existing state lotteries but offering lower-priced tickets and offering better payouts.

How it ran for decades without being discovered I don't know but I'd be curious as to how much of a better deal was offered?

Further details will probably emerge but some pricing information seems to already be available.

Herbert Daniels, Sr. of Detroit. Deceased.
His wife, Truvillion, elderly and gravely ill.
Daniels, Jr. Arrested

Some of the buyers must have been too poor to pay the official price of One Dollar. So should we view those indicted as leeches or as entrepreneurs who merely offered a better deal than the state did? And how much of deal did they actually offer?

Your chances of winning the grand prize in the lottery are pretty much the same after you buy the ticket as they were before you bought the ticket, yet if you are going to spend the money, getting a better deal might make sense.

Quote: FleaStiff

Some of the buyers must have been too poor to pay the official price of One Dollar.

Usually illegal operators just offer a better payoff, $600 instead of $500 for the daily number for example. I'm thinking it's the daily number here too in this story, the daily has always had a certain popularity. No link?

The same phenomenon as the current increase in smuggled cigarettes? if the state wants to put an outrageous price on something, and of course the daily number run by a state is a rip-off, then this will mean it is easy to put out a better deal illegally. If you participate, you run the risk that your winning ticket cannot be paid due to such busts, though.

According to court documents, gamblers could place a nickel bet, and win as much as $250; a 50-cent bet paid out $2,500.
No information given as to just what Michigan and New York lottery tickets were involved. Decades long activity though.

From Dilbert: Dogbert comes up with a scheme to sell half-price lottery tickets. He advertises that the tickets have only one fifty-millionth lesser chance to win than a regular lottery ticket. His first customer gives him fifty cents and then says, "HEY! This ticket is for YESTERDAY'S lottery!" Dogbert responds, "And your point is...?"

Quote: mkl654321

Dogbert comes up with a scheme to sell half-price lottery tickets that have only one fifty-millionth lesser chance to win than a regular lottery ticket. This ticket is for YESTERDAY'S lottery!" Dogbert responds, "And your point is...?"

It took me awhile but I finally got it.

only a sucker would believe that an illegal lottery operator would pay them a grand prize of x millions.

then again, only suckers play the lottery.

It's not like it's hard to beat the terrible odds on the lottery though.. For something like the pick 3, I'd be more then willing to pay 750 for 1 on a straight number wager.

And that would be paying 50% more then the official lottery...


It's amazing how many dumbasses throw their money away on this. If it wasn't for the fact it's illegal, I'd drop the whole AP at casinos thing and go stand outside the supermarket and sell lottery tickets.

Quote: Hcer

It's amazing how many dumbasses throw their money away on this. If it wasn't for the fact it's illegal, I'd drop the whole AP at casinos thing and go stand outside the supermarket and sell lottery tickets.

We have some good "risk of ruin" calculators here. I wonder what kind of bankroll you would need to run an illegal daily number paying $750 on pick-3? It would seem that if you squirreled away profits, you'd have enough pretty soon unless you had the bad luck of too many hitting their number when you first started up.

Quote: odiousgambit

We have some good "risk of ruin" calculators here. I wonder what kind of bankroll you would need to run an illegal daily number paying $750 on pick-3? It would seem that if you squirreled away profits, you'd have enough pretty soon unless you had the bad luck of too many hitting their number when you first started up.

Your risk of ruin is nothing.

You're running an illegal lottery here, if someone hits big you disappear and don't pay up. I have no doubt that was the plan for the operators of this thing. They don't give a crap if someone hits the super long shot they can't afford to (or don't want to) pay. They just disappear and not pay the winner.

the REAL ror here is the probability of going to jail for a long long time.

Quote: Hcer

if someone hits big you ...They just disappear and not pay the winner.

Quite possibly however this does appear to have been an enterprise that was ongoing for more than a decade.