Stop Predatory Gambling

Cash Win-Fail

by Catherine

This weekend’s excellent reporting from The Boston Globe’s Andrea Estes and Scott Allen revealed a “quirk in the rules” on a lottery game in Massachusetts called Cash WinFall. They found that the game had been exploited by a few bettors, including MIT and Northeastern scientists and a couple who made repeated trips from Michigan to Massachusetts to buy over $600,000 worth of $2 Cash WinFall tickets within three days. One statistician commented, “Cash WinFall isn’t being played as a game of chance. Some smart people have figured out how to get rich while everyone else funds their winnings.” Indeed, just three groups of people ended up claiming 1,105 of the 1,605 winning tickets from the game.

Lottery officials issued a statement, saying, “It is very important to note that their actions in no way compromised the operation or integrity of the game.” Their words appear rather meaningless, considering, the following day, Massachusetts Treasurer Steve Grossman announced that the State Lottery would be closing the game’s loophole: stores will not be allowed to sell more than $5,000 worth of Cash WinFall tickets per day and the game will be phased out by next spring. Since it appears information on lottery winners is public information, it seems unlikely that Lottery officials were oblivious to the surge in the game’s purchases for a few days every month. Their sudden concern over the game’s “integrity” appears superficial at best and it seems highly likely that had the Globe not reported the game’s flaw, Cash WinFall would have remained profitable for a very small number of people while continuing to exploit the majority of the people buying into it.