Buy all Lotto Combinations - Win Big

[aoluain]

Back in the early 90's in Ireland a 21 man syndicate was created to buy all the Lotto
combinations in order to guarantee a win. Stefan Klincewicz masterminded a Guaranteed
win on the Irish Lotto draw of the 30th of May 1992.

The Jackpot had been accumulating and Stefan had his eye on this jackpot of £1,706,046
with the addition of winning the Match 4 and Match 5 rewards also.

The task was to manually fill out all of the 1,945,792 combinations on 243,474 Lotto coupons
and also to assemble a 21 person secretive gambling crew to gamble with almost £1,000,000
with a hope of approximately 30% return. These 21 backers were to be used to placing high
value bets with low odds.

later in the week alarm bells started to ring at the Lottery offices because various Lotto terminals
around the country which would normally have only taken in £1000 work of coupons were
suddenly taking in up to 10 times their usual amount. There were also rumor's that some
newsagents where the coupons were sold were still processing more coupons after business hours.
This resulted in the Irish National Lottery shutting down some terminals.

Because of the reduced amount of terminals closer to the Saturday night Lotto draw there was
a mad rush to try and buy the final number combinations, the syndicate actually only managed
to get about 82% of the combinations on before the draw but they played a shrewd game.

They left the “least likely” number combinations until last and bought the “most likely” numbers first!

When the 6 numbers were drawn at 8pm on the Saturday evening it ended up that there were
2 other winners, 3 winners in total, another syndicate and a single ticket winner.

After splitting the Jackpot and accumulating “Match 4” and “Match 5” winning numbers
The 21 person syndicate won a total of £1,116,000 and were able to show a profit of £310,000.

And it was all legally done!

Article from the Irish Independent

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[Lanatsa]

You should at least put up some source link about this topic and I do made out some search and I found which things you've bee talking into.

https://thehustle.co/the-man-who-won-the-lottery-14-times . Man who had able to win lottery for how many times, they do all buy all the possible

lottery combinations and making lottery wins into business.If we do read up the article it would really be explaining everything.

[dunfida]

You should at least put up some source link about this topic and I do made out some search and I found which things you've bee talking into.

https://thehustle.co/the-man-who-won-the-lottery-14-times . Man who had able to win lottery for how many times, they do all buy all the possible

lottery combinations and making lottery wins into business.If we do read up the article it would really be explaining everything.

There is already a thread which the topic is this. Man won 12 times in lottery and who had been talking about Stefan mandel.You are right that OP should put up some source links for him to avoid some problems later on about this forums rules about copy pasting article contents without posting up the source because you would end up on having that copy-pasting.
So better be aware or else you would get banned.Back on topic on hitting those lotto combinations then its actually possible but the question is that this do really need big capital where it means that you do need lots of
people that would be funding you up on buying all possible combinations  on that lottery game.

[aoluain]

Apologies guys, i totally forgot to attach the news article, I have it listed at
the bottom of the OP and here >
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/how-a-secret-syndicate-managed-to-buy-the-lotto-35981173.html

[boyptc]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

[acroman08]

what does the "least likely combination" meant? do they mean the least likely to win or least likely to be picked by other lotto buyers?

although the story sounds good it is incredibly risky(at least for me) even if they got about 82% of the combination. I wonder if they did this again or if the lotto company(not sure what they are called) placed a rule or preventive measures to prevent this kind of thing happening again.

[Botnake]

I don't get the logic,  how can one win the lottery if they buy all the combinations when there's a house a huge house edge.

What about those bettors who have already buy the tickets?

I think this is crazy, maybe it worked in the past but I think in the recent days it will not anymore work and I also I believe no one is doing this experiment anymore, or have even tried.

[aoluain]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

No it cannot be done again, the Lotto company increased the amount of numbers,
so the amount of combinations increase!

First it was a 6 numbers out of 36, then they expanded to 39, now it is 47!

what does the "least likely combination" meant? do they mean the least likely to win or least likely to be picked by other lotto buyers?

although the story sounds good it is incredibly risky(at least for me) even if they got about 82% of the combination. I wonder if they did this again or if the lotto company(not sure what they are called) placed a rule or preventive measures to prevent this kind of thing happening again.

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc. Stefan was very good
with numbers, he was/is a businessman, I actually cannot find any information about him.

I don't get the logic,  how can one win the lottery if they buy all the combinations when there's a house a huge house edge.

What about those bettors who have already buy the tickets?

I think this is crazy, maybe it worked in the past but I think in the recent days it will not anymore work and I also I believe no one is doing this experiment anymore, or have even tried.

At the time the normal jackpot would not have been so high, at the time the jackpot
was not won for the previous 2 draws so the jackpot was multiplied. They were unfortunate
because they only got £588,000 share of the jackpot, but they got alot of the rewards for
matching 4 and 5 numbers.

It wouldnt work now.

They were lucky !

[o_e_l_e_o]

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

There is no such thing in a fair lottery.

Assuming the lottery is not rigged, and every number has an exactly identical chance of being drawn as every other number, then any combination of digits is just as likely as any other combination of digits. 1-2-3-4-5-6 is just as likely as 6 seemingly "random" and unconnected numbers. There is no combination which is more or less likely to win.

[TimeTeller]

what does the "least likely combination" meant? do they mean the least likely to win or least likely to be picked by other lotto buyers?

although the story sounds good it is incredibly risky(at least for me) even if they got about 82% of the combination. I wonder if they did this again or if the lotto company(not sure what they are called) placed a rule or preventive measures to prevent this kind of thing happening again.

And if the winning combination is out of the picture from their selected combinations?
This is really high risk to take. One can't tell the "least likely combination" in a lotto.
This is pure chance or based on luck, so hard to predict the most likely combination here.
A tedious task to embark on. Will just work instead. At least that's for sure money at the end.  

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

There is no such thing in a fair lottery.

Assuming the lottery is not rigged, and every number has an exactly identical chance of being drawn as every other number, then any combinations of digits is just as likely as any other combination of digits. 1-2-3-4-5-6 is just as likely as 6 seemingly "random" and unconnected numbers. There is no combination which is more or less likely to win.

Yes, that is right. You can never tell in a lottery.
Because that's lottery. Every number has equal chance to be picked at.

[Distinctin]

This method will not work now, betting on lottery is define as flashing your money in the toilet, that means you are just wasting your money when you are betting on lottery due to slim chances and there's no way we can exploit it. Gambling will always be popular as there are bettors who are willing to take the risk just to fulfill their dreams to win, but with the technology nowadays, it's easy for them to compute their chances and they'll not allow it to be exploited.

To my knowledge, Lottery is the type of gambling where it's the hardest way of winning.

You can gamble in your lifetime and yet no guarantee that you'll at least hit a win one time.

[FlightyPouch]

A sure win in this strategy but that means that it is also not that easy to execute. As far as I know, there are a lot of regulations or limits when it comes to these lotteries. For example, having a limit to certain tickets an individual can buy. Some buyers of tickets even thought of this strategy as a cheat but for me, it is not a cheat the fact that you are just increasing your chances of winning.

[acroman08]

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

sorry for asking again but is there any reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn? assuming that the lottery is fair shouldn't all the numbers have the same percentage of being picked?
it would be interesting if there is an article saying the reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn.

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

There is no such thing in a fair lottery.

Assuming the lottery is not rigged, and every number has an exactly identical chance of being drawn as every other number, then any combination of digits is just as likely as any other combination of digits. 1-2-3-4-5-6 is just as likely as 6 seemingly "random" and unconnected numbers. There is no combination which is more or less likely to win.

I thought so too, that's why I was so confused when they said "least likely combination" and ask what they meant about it.

[maydna]

If a syndicate does that with many people inside, they can win the lottery because they can combine them and buy tickets in huge numbers. Even if there are limitations for one person to buy the tickets, if the syndicate has many people, they will get the big number of the tickets, so they will have a chance to win. It is still worth it for them because the prizes are huge to win, but the house will not let them win many times as they will be suspicious that if they see the same person buy the tickets in a large amount of the tickets.

[Darker45]

This story made be remember way back in college when a certain national state-sponsored lottery was not won for several consecutive weeks. The pot money ballooned to almost a billion in Philippine peso. It grew so huge that almost everybody is already betting, trying to grab a chance of that unbelievable wealth. Even wealthy politicians and celebrities are buying number combinations as well. Very long queues are noticed in every lottery ticketing outlet.

My statistics professor at that time made a computation. Even if you place a bet on all the number combinations, you would still end up profitable. But the problem was how to make it possible filling out millions and millions of lottery cards, each to be read by a machine, each to be issued a receipt, and so on. But it could have been won legally.

I guess nobody was determined enough to create a syndicate to make it possible unlike the story in the OP.

[DoublerHunter]

~snip~
I guess nobody was determined enough to create a syndicate to make it possible unlike the story in the OP.

^ Probably you are right. Unless if that syndicate can manipulate the result of the lotto result or have an inside job to manipulate the near possible result and only have a few combinations. The OP story will probably need more cash to set as a capital buying those tickets of all combinations, I dont know if you will miss in a draw and you had to lose already thousands of dollars.
We know how risky betting of the lottery, the chances are very slim, you dont have a guarantee to win even though jow many tickets you have if you dont have luck in your life.

[Janation]

I think I heard this before.

There is this Facebook page discussing amazing things and this is one of them. It is quite amazing and as far as I know, they are banned in a certain place because of what they are doing. Still, they generated a lot of profits that, based on the narration of the video, have a lot of investors at that time to fund that activity.

[ralle14]

sorry for asking again but is there any reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn? assuming that the lottery is fair shouldn't all the numbers have the same percentage of being picked?
it would be interesting if there is an article saying the reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn.

I guess they based it off on the previous results of the lottery, there's really no way to tell which numbers are going to be less likely picked than the rest.

This method will not work now, betting on lottery is define as flashing your money in the toilet, that means you are just wasting your money when you are betting on lottery due to slim chances and there's no way we can exploit it. Gambling will always be popular as there are bettors who are willing to take the risk just to fulfill their dreams to win, but with the technology nowadays, it's easy for them to compute their chances and they'll not allow it to be exploited.

I agree their strategy won't work now but I think the difference is more on the set of rules than the technology since I remember some of the lottery winners manage to pull it off by taking advantage of the limited set of rules.

[dothebeats]

Imagine the sheer dedication of this group just to get £300k in profits. I'm pretty sure they are clever enough to discern which numbers are more likely to get picked and ended up ditching those that aren't really appealing to their algorithms or formulas. I've always wondered whether this can be done on legitimate lottery games and boy, I never knew someone already did it. But yeah, the how's and what's on their strategy--specifically the way they chose the non-probable combinations--may never be revealed, though it's a legendary feat nonetheless.

Would be surprised if someone does this today and actually wins something significant, way more than what their initial investment is.

[leea-1334]

Yes,,, the favorite story repeated many times to us gamblers and an example where one guy learnt how to beat the house:) Probably a lot of other untold stories too (since when you tell them then people know how to fix the flaw).

These days almost impossible to do this type of thing I guess without a big capital.

[newwest]

This is an amazing story, this is a big brain play by Stefan. It required a lot of work and effort, filling out almost 2 million lottery tickets manually will take almost forever and even submitting them to different branches. Even if they were able to make only 82% of the combinations, this kind of odds is still risky. I wonder if this kind of plan will still work if a lottery prize accumulates very high.

Lucky enough for them they were able to make some profits out of it and not got wasted anything else not only efforts but money would have gone as they were still short of 18%. Fortune favours the brave what I can imagine form this situation and not sure if still people would try out all such things at present as well to win it.

[Janation]

This is an amazing story, this is a big brain play by Stefan. It required a lot of work and effort, filling out almost 2 million lottery tickets manually will take almost forever and even submitting them to different branches. Even if they were able to make only 82% of the combinations, this kind of odds is still risky. I wonder if this kind of plan will still work if a lottery prize accumulates very high.

Lucky enough for them they were able to make some profits out of it and not got wasted anything else not only efforts but money would have gone as they were still short of 18%. Fortune favours the brave what I can imagine form this situation and not sure if still people would try out all such things at present as well to win it.

I don't know how that works though.

Here in our country, we have this lottery where people guess which will be the combinations of numbers that appear. There are a lot of numbers and that also means there are a lot of possible combinations. For example, guessing 6 numbers would appear out of numbers 1-45, I am not good with math but as far as I know, using the formula of Combination that is like 8145060 possibilities and multiply that to the price of a ticket (P20) is like P162901200 or $3388108.75 with just a prize of P28 Million which is like $582359.40, that is a huge loss.

[Russlenat]

Yes,,, the favorite story repeated many times to us gamblers and an example where one guy learnt how to beat the house:) Probably a lot of other untold stories too (since when you tell them then people know how to fix the flaw).

These days almost impossible to do this type of thing I guess without a big capital.

I agree, most of the cheats happened in the past when the system is not yet fully secured, now, things are different, it's us bettors who are losing money and there's a little chance to find an opportunity to exploit the gambling operators. They know their business risk, they would spend a lot of money to improve their security so this one will only remain as an inspiration to gamblers to still find something to exploit to make easy money.

[traderethereum]

I think it can be done if they have many members who work together to buy the tickets because if one people can buy a lot of tickets, and the other members do the same thing, they will have a big chance to win the jackpot.
Those gamblers can pretend that they do not know each other, and they still buy the tickets with many combinations that will have a chance to win.
If they are lucky, which I think they can get their luck works, they will win the jackpot.
But I do not think that the method can always work in many casinos because if they can win on two or three casinos, the other casino will trying to figure out how they can win as the lottery games will depend on the luck factor to win.

[Pmalek]

But what about all the other people who bought lottery tickets and combinations? There is no way of limiting other people to play the lottery. I don't understand how the lottery didn't anticipate a move like that and made it so that even if you bought 100% of all possible combinations, you wouldn't be able to make any profit. 

Imagine if you were to bet on horse races and bet on every single combination and make profit no matter the outcome of the race? It's simply not possible nowadays.

[boyptc]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

No it cannot be done again, the Lotto company increased the amount of numbers,
so the amount of combinations increase!

First it was a 6 numbers out of 36, then they expanded to 39, now it is 47!

Okay then.

That's a lot of change and for sure other lotteries have been finding out some solution if there will be groups that are gonna try this strategy out.

[FlightyPouch]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

No it cannot be done again, the Lotto company increased the amount of numbers,
so the amount of combinations increase!

First it was a 6 numbers out of 36, then they expanded to 39, now it is 47!

Okay then.

That's a lot of change and for sure other lotteries have been finding out some solution if there will be groups that are gonna try this strategy out.

I guess they have this under control the fact that there are a lot of people still not doing this strategy. But let's consider the fact that the price of lotto is increasing which means that if they will be doing that strategy, they will be waiting for the big prize so that they could earn a profit. Is this legal if tried in the Philippines?

[Kakmakr]

Well..... give it to them... they deserve that profit. It has to be a massive undertaking to prepare for such an event ....because to work out the combinations and then filling in all those cards at many different locations ....must have been a gigantic process.

You will never be able to do that again, because the combinations to do that with today's lottery numbers, will never be profitable.... even if the Lotto is $100 000 000. (Also, some Lottery operations now want the exact order in which the numbers are drawn... so that adds even more combinations to the equation.) 

[swogerino]

That is some massive dedication to reach the objective and I am glad they did back then.This is one of the most difficult task to manually fill all the combinations and although they didn’t get that 30% profit they were looking for they manage to come out in profit.Hats off to the guy who orchestrated this in 1992.

[Kelvinid]

I can't imagine how long he stays on the lottery outlet waiting for it all to be punch on the system. I can't imagine if he does this alone or hires someone to do the task or he owns an outlet so he can't bother other gamblers on the line next to him.

A lot of people want to win the jackpot prize and I salute this person for having this plan, spending millions just to win the prize, that was a crazy thing to do.

I don't think if there is someone who could follow in his footsteps and do the same strategy. He deserves praises for his great idea but I don't think is a kind of cheating since He is paying all of it just like others paying their combinations.

[shoreno]

I can't imagine how long he stays on the lottery outlet waiting for it all to be punch on the system. I can't imagine if he does this alone or hires someone to do the task or he owns an outlet so he can't bother other gamblers on the line next to him.

A lot of people want to win the jackpot prize and I salute this person for having this plan, spending millions just to win the prize, that was a crazy thing to do.

I don't think if there is someone who could follow in his footsteps and do the same strategy. He deserves praises of his great idea and I don't think is a kind of cheating since He is paying all of it just like others paying their combinations.

according to what i read the draw was on saturday night so they still have 5 days to fill the tickets with their chosen numbers and it wasnt only done by a single person but there are 21 person involved .

 i think they just buy the tickets and take them on their home to fill it out so that they wont interupt other buyers and this act is also not usual if done in public because other lottery ticket buyers will think negative but this is legal as what on the article stated .

[michellee]

That is big luck to that person who can win that lottery. He can gather 21 people to help him to win the jackpot, and he really did that. But they will need more time to have so many combinations to get the right numbers that they do not know if that will work. One person can buy a lot of tickets, and that is 21 people gather with one reason to win the jackpot. They can really win the jackpot, and one of their members also won the money, and they get the biggest winning in their lives.

[aoluain]

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

sorry for asking again but is there any reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn? assuming that the lottery is fair shouldn't all the numbers have the same percentage of being picked?
it would be interesting if there is an article saying the reason why these numbers are the least likely to be drawn.

Least likely numbers to be drawn, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-3-6-12-24-36, etc.

There is no such thing in a fair lottery.

Assuming the lottery is not rigged, and every number has an exactly identical chance of being drawn as every other number, then any combination of digits is just as likely as any other combination of digits. 1-2-3-4-5-6 is just as likely as 6 seemingly "random" and unconnected numbers. There is no combination which is more or less likely to win.

I thought so too, that's why I was so confused when they said "least likely combination" and ask what they meant about it.

These are numbers I picked to give an example, There are number statistics
and Stefan was /is actually an accountant so he would have worked out over
the previous 6 years of lotto play what the numbers were.
Here are some statistics > https://irish.national-lottery.com/irish-lotto/statistics
Not all numbers have the same frequency!

But what about all the other people who bought lottery tickets and combinations? There is no way of limiting other people to play the lottery. I don't understand how the lottery didn't anticipate a move like that and made it so that even if you bought 100% of all possible combinations, you wouldn't be able to make any profit. 

Imagine if you were to bet on horse races and bet on every single combination and make profit no matter the outcome of the race? It's simply not possible nowadays.

Yes there were other people who won matching 4 and 5 numbers but the vast
majority were won by the syndicate because they had bought more combinations.

A matter of volume.

Well..... give it to them... they deserve that profit. It has to be a massive undertaking to prepare for such an event ....because to work out the combinations and then filling in all those cards at many different locations ....must have been a gigantic process.

-snip-

I can't imagine how long he stays on the lottery outlet waiting for it all to be punch on the system. I can't imagine if he does this alone or hires someone to do the task or he owns an outlet so he can't bother other gamblers on the line next to him.

-snip-

according to what i read the draw was on saturday night so they still have 5 days to fill the tickets with their chosen numbers and it wasnt only done by a single person but there are 21 person involved .

 i think they just buy the tickets and take them on their home to fill it out so that they wont interupt other buyers and this act is also not usual if done in public because other lottery ticket buyers will think negative but this is legal as what on the article stated .

They actually had maximum 7 days, minimum 6 days to set the plan in motion.
Starting on Sunday I would imagine they were already filling out tickets.

[Cling18]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

I was also shocked because this strategy has been in my thoughts for years. I didn't expect that it really happened in real life. I guess they have done that in connivance with the lotto operators before. However, I don't think that the same thing could happen again because there were already lots of changes in the mechanics and it will cost a lot of money and effort.

[boyptc]

I've never thought that actually this kind of strategy in my fantasy has ever existed. But doing the strategy will really cost them money at first and it's a big syndicate back then having that amount because inflation wasn't yet a big deal by that time.

Do you think this time that a group of people will remake this strategy? for me, I don't think that there will be.

I was also shocked because this strategy has been in my thoughts for years. I didn't expect that it really happened in real life. I guess they have done that in connivance with the lotto operators before. However, I don't think that the same thing could happen again because there were already lots of changes in the mechanics and it will cost a lot of money and effort.

Yeah, that's also what I realized that doing it, for now, will not make sense anymore. It's already been known in the lottery business and they have countermeasures to avoid the same result as what has been done in history.

I guess they have this under control the fact that there are a lot of people still not doing this strategy. But let's consider the fact that the price of lotto is increasing which means that if they will be doing that strategy, they will be waiting for the big prize so that they could earn a profit. Is this legal if tried in the Philippines?

I don't know, maybe it is legal but how much does it take for those interested groups to do it. It needs a lot of money.

[bitbollo]

I heard about a similar story even for an USA lottery... and each time I am really surprised of that bravery for invest a such amount of money.
Even the younger age of the inventor of this system is something that is really surprising to me.
BTW these are tricks that doesn't work anymore since these lotteries are trying to have always a big number of combinations available.

[Mauser]

I don't fully understand this, how can you make a profit with lottery if you have to pay a tax on your winnings? For every $1 you spend, you will only get 60-70cents back, I thought in the long run you will just lose money playing lottery. And especially buying all possible combinations will cost you more money than you can earn back. It's been a while since these guys made such a massive profit. Could we replicate the strategy today? I mean it sounds like a real abitrage strategy if you can buy all possible outcomes you should be a guaranteed winner.

[aoluain]

I don't fully understand this, how can you make a profit with lottery if you have to pay a tax on your winnings? For every $1 you spend, you will only get 60-70cents back, I thought in the long run you will just lose money playing lottery. And especially buying all possible combinations will cost you more money than you can earn back. It's been a while since these guys made such a massive profit. Could we replicate the strategy today? I mean it sounds like a real abitrage strategy if you can buy all possible outcomes you should be a guaranteed winner.

@Mauser, the Irish Lotto is TAX FREE!

In the case of this event there was a few different factors which had to come right:

The Jackpot amount V's the cost of buying the numbers
[the jackpot amount back in the 90's varied from around £300,000 to mostly £1,000,000
 on some occasions it reached up to £1,300,000 and once or twice over that so they had to
 wait for the jackpot to be right and the below criteria to be right]

The Team - recruiting the right members who were able to gamble with big money
                 at the time when the Jackpot was ripe for taking

The strategy - What combinations were more/less important than others

The Implimentation - Having the logistics in place to enact the gamble

[Fredomago]

This is an amazing story, this is a big brain play by Stefan. It required a lot of work and effort, filling out almost 2 million lottery tickets manually will take almost forever and even submitting them to different branches. Even if they were able to make only 82% of the combinations, this kind of odds is still risky. I wonder if this kind of plan will still work if a lottery prize accumulates very high.

Lucky enough for them they were able to make some profits out of it and not got wasted anything else not only efforts but money would have gone as they were still short of 18%. Fortune favours the brave what I can imagine form this situation and not sure if still people would try out all such things at present as well to win it.

Big nerve to go ahead with this strategy as chances to lose still at risk. Good catch for this people as they are getting benefits after taking this strategy, not all can relied even you calculate but missing the fact that gamble always accompanied by risk.

Lucky for them that they still able to bank £310,000 splitting it up to 21 person orchestrated this strategy, like what OP said it was a good one that being done legally, if in some sense that the winning combo wasn't hit, that huge amount of capital that this people used will be waste and will be grab by the lottery  facilitator.

[kryptqnick]

A friend of mine thought of a similar idea once, but hypothetically because he wouldn't want to get in trouble. The idea was to create a community via an app, and this community would target some specific lottery and buy out as many tickets as possible (but not all of them because it's not realistic), and they all don't spend much on the venue individually, but in case the community got the ticket right, the reward is split equally between all participants. So it's not like there's a guarantee of winning, but there's a way higher chance of getting some reward than when one simply buys a lottery ticket.
But nowadays I think such an enterprise would be targeted and outlawed.

[South Park]

what does the "least likely combination" meant? do they mean the least likely to win or least likely to be picked by other lotto buyers?

although the story sounds good it is incredibly risky(at least for me) even if they got about 82% of the combination. I wonder if they did this again or if the lotto company(not sure what they are called) placed a rule or preventive measures to prevent this kind of thing happening again.

Most likely what this means is that the gamblers kept track of every single result of that lottery and then they tried to see if there was any bias in the results, if there were some numbers that appeared not as frequently as they should then they avoided those numbers and instead concentrated themselves on the numbers that appeared more frequently, while from a purely mathematical point of view there should not be any bias if the method used to try to pick the numbers of the lottery is flawed biases could appear and as such the methodology used by these gamblers is correct.

[imstillthebest]

A friend of mine thought of a similar idea once, but hypothetically because he wouldn't want to get in trouble. The idea was to create a community via an app, and this community would target some specific lottery and buy out as many tickets as possible (but not all of them because it's not realistic), and they all don't spend much on the venue individually, but in case the community got the ticket right, the reward is split equally between all participants. So it's not like there's a guarantee of winning, but there's a way higher chance of getting some reward than when one simply buys a lottery ticket.
But nowadays I think such an enterprise would be targeted and outlawed.

your friend must be rich because the possible combination are millions and that will cause him millions for buying all tickets but asking for help is a smart move to do to not all shoulder the payments like what the character did in the story but my question is who held the funds in the group that he created, was it your friend ?
 i will not easily trust my funds to random guys if there is no escrow involved but i will maybe if i know the members of this group .