![]() ![]() The group’s activity bears the hallmarks of a longstanding strategy for improving the odds to beat scratch-off games. They found the unclaimed $5 million winner. "And I think there's another store in another town that they were doing it, buying from them, too." "They were doing the same thing I think at least at two other stores," she said. The manager said they paid with cash or cashier's checks, and they weren't just buying at Break Time. That meant the women were dropping $8,000 a visit. "It was several weeks."Įach book included 20 scratch-off tickets, which sold for $20 each. "I know they were buying 20 books a day, three times a week here," said a store manager who asked that her name not be used. It had been in operation for several years, but at least one of the three top prize tickets remained unclaimed as the clock ticked down. The spree unfolded as the lottery was preparing to close the game. This summer in Missouri, two women snatched up thousands of $5,000,000 Cash Extravaganza tickets during a series of visits to Break Time, a convenience store and gas station near a busy I-70 interchange in Columbia. ![]() In other states, however, the group appears to have struck pay dirt. Without knowing the size of the initial outlay, it’s impossible to know. But without the top prize, the group’s expenses may very well have exceeded its winnings in Indiana. View Gallery: Bloomington lottery ticket smoke shop schemeĪ winning $7 million ticket might have made Montori and his friends rich. ![]() And that doesn’t account for the time, travel or people needed to scoop up tickets from places as far flung as Mishawaka, Corydon, Indianapolis, Richmond and Terre Haute. If they purchased similar amounts at each store, Montori and his group would have spent at least $2.3 million. The other 60 winning tickets Montori cashed in were purchased from more than four dozen different gas stations, liquor stores and other lottery outlets all over Indiana, the Hoosier Lottery website shows. Ultimately, they purchased about 1,600 tickets at a cost of $48,000, Crites estimated. The pattern continued until the lottery informed the store that the game was sold out. The woman would then return to buy up the new tickets. They said they were working for a man conducting a study and the results would later be shared on YouTube.Īfter emptying the store’s inventory on their initial visit, Crites said one of the women asked to be notified when a new supply of tickets arrived. She said two women who identified themselves as Hannah and Zoe were involved in purchasing as many as 400 tickets at time during several visits that began in May. “Basically, they would clean us out,” said Darian Crites, a manager at Smoke ‘n’ Lotto in Bloomington, which sold one of the winning $10,000 tickets Montori claimed in September. In Indiana, the group appears to have gone on a frenzied buying spree in the final months of the MEGA CA$H game. Are Montori, Gibbons, Buonaiuto and Davinroy really that lucky? Have they found a way to beat the lottery at its own game? Or are they investing far more money than they are winning in a scheme doomed to fail? 'They would clean us out' It’s a good bet, however, they’ve had other big paydays that haven’t come to light yet. He didn't win that one, but did collect a $500 consolation prize. Gibbons was one of the finalists selected from players who submitted non-winning tickets. They also had a 1-in-5 shot at another $1 million in a Hoosier Lottery second chance drawing at the Indiana State Fair last year. $100,000 Montori collected from the D.C.$1 million Davinroy collected on behalf of Black Swan from the D.C.$121,000 Davinroy collected from the Missouri Lottery in September.Other winnings identified by IndyStar include: Montori collected a $5 million top prize from a scratch-off ticket in Missouri on Oct. Their biggest payday came a week after the Hoosier Lottery bonanza. All of them are associated with an obscure company Montori founded last year called Black Swan Capital LLC. ![]() Montori has been on an 18-month winning streak, or so it would appear. It includes much larger paydays and is part of a scheme that includes at least three other Princeton alumni: Matthew Gibbons, Hannah Davinroy and Zoë Buonaiuto. ![]()
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