The mastermind behind the lottery stunt turned out to be former London banker-turned bookmaker Bernard Marantelli, aided by Zeljko Ranogajec, known as ‘The Joker’
A 74-year-old woman who exposed the “biggest lottery scandal in the world” has shared the precise moment she realised winners had been “cheated” by a London banker.
The mastermind behind the Texas Lottery stunt turned out to be former London banker-turned bookmaker Bernard Marantelli, aided by Zeljko Ranogajec, known as “The Joker.” Marantelli was determined to try and take down the Texas Lottery and turned to Ranogajec, who helped bankroll the cunning plan.
The pair aimed to buy every possible lottery number at $1 a ticket, to try and win the $95million (£70 million) jackpot.
To pull it off, they worked out a way to use “dozens” of official ticket-printing machines. This was all made possible because at the time, the state of Texas allowed online lottery ticket vendors to print tickets for their customers. With the help of one vendor, the duo printed huge reams of tickets during an intensive three-day operation.
Marantelli and Ranogajec would set up a shop in an old dentist’s office and a warehouse in Texas. Their crew printed thousands of tickets a minute to try and edge towards the 25.8million different number combinations.
But it wasn’t until the Lotto Texas jackpot reached a staggering $73million (£53million) on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, that suspicions arose. With no winner announced, the prize pot rolled over.
On the Sunday, the jackpot rose to $95million (£70million), prompting 74-year-old Dawn Nettles, a seasoned “lottery watchdog”, to investigate. “There hadn’t been a winner in 92 draws and sales didn’t support the odds”, she explained.
Dawn dedicates her life to the Lotto Report website, which was first launched in 1998 as a draw results page for players. She spends between 12-24 hours a day monitoring sales of the Texas Lotto for the morning, day, evening, and night draws.
The retiree always carries her computer with her so she can post the results from anywhere in the country and admits she doesn’t go to bed until at least “1 or 2am.”
She had been successful in exposing the lottery’s wrongdoings and the unfair way it had treated its players. One example included showing a Willy Wonka game that promised a $1billion winner that did not actually deliver any winners. The closest she found was a Texas winner who won $42,500 (£31,000).
Dawn was tracking the sale of lotto tickets when she noticed a strange surge in sales. Tickets for the draw on April 19, 2023 surged to an “unbelievable” $7.3million (£5.3million). “That night, I thought someone had invested £5million and used a computer program to predict numbers would be drawn”, she revealed.
“There was no winner that night so the jackpot was raised to $72million (£53million) for Monday evening’s draw.
“Sales were normal considering apps were selling tickets to people across the US. There was no winner on Monday night, so Wednesday’s jackpot was raised to $73million. No winner on Wednesday so the jackpot was raised to $74million (£54million) for Saturday’s draw.
“But on Friday, the Texas Lottery Commission raised the jackpot to $83million (£63million) and that’s when I knew what was going on. I knew someone was buying all the combinations and I also knew on Friday that the commission would increase the jackpot again. And they did, on Saturday – they raised it to $95million (£69million) which I figured was a little too high.”
Dawn believes the Marantelli and Ranoajec waited longer for the jackpot to rollover and increase in value in order to maximise the $26million spent on tickets.
The pair had enlisted an online ticket-selling company and put “dozens” of machines into action to churn out tickets from warehouses in Texas. In the time between the April 19 draw and the following one, their crew spent an intensive three days purchasing 99.3% of all possible number combinations.
With the capacity to turn over 100 tickets a second, their efforts culminated in clinching a $57million (£42million) jackpot, after Texas gave the green light for online ticket outlets to print tickets for players.
“I also firmly believed it was an app selling the tickets”, Dawn said. “I reasoned that the only way they could get all of the combinations into systems electronically. Two years later, we know QR codes were used, 60 to 70 lottery terminals were delivered to four locations and the bad guys were working 24/7 for three days to print the 25million tickets.”
The Texas Lottery Commission said there was nothing suspicious about the games. However, lawmakers have blamed Texas Lottery Commission for allowing third-party courier apps to print tickets for customers.
It later transpired that the winning ticket was printed in Colleyville and sold by a shop named “Lottery Now”. Curious to see if the shop actually existed, Dawn hopped in her car and drove to the given address.
“I drove over there on Sunday morning and there was no shop called “Lottery Now”, which was the name the Texas Lottery Commission posted as winning the ticket”, she revealed.
“There was no retail store at the address the commission provided – it was a small strip office complex. There were no signs indicating someone could buy lottery tickets there. There was no one there and I looked through the window and only saw two desks.
“The Texas Lottery Commission knew exactly where sales were coming from on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and they sat back and watched. It made me sick knowing how all this works.
“This was extremely unfair to Texas Lottery players. I knew this on Friday, April 21 when they upped the jackpot from $74million to $83million.”
Governor Dan Patrick labelled the crew’s win as “the biggest theft from the people of Texas in the history of Texas”.
In April, the Texas Lottery Commission decided to ban couriers from selling tickets online following several high-profile incidents, including a £70.33million jackpot win in 2023 involving bulk ticket purchases through a courier.
The worry over using apps like Jackpocket to buy lottery tickets online through licensed retailers has triggered investigations about potential misuse. Texas Lottery executive director Ryan Mindell stepped down in April amid serious concerns about the courier services.
“The proliferation of couriers in the state has raised serious concerns that the integrity, security, honesty, and fairness of lottery games is being undermined by the continued activity of courier services,” he stated.
Mr Mindell told a Senate hearing earlier in the year a junior employee signed off the request to allow people to rapidly print tickets. The men behind the scandalous lottery scheme have never spoken out. Bernard Marantelli was approached for comment.
Dawn confesses she only feels “partially vindicated” following the ordeal and wants those responsible to be held to account.
She added: “I need to see that those responsible for the many wrongdoings for the past 30 years are held accountable. Will our lawmakers right the wrongs committed against unsuspecting lottery players?”.