The new Paramount+ film “Jerry & Marge Go Big” portrays a couple who profits from a loophole discovered in two state lotteries, including the Massachusetts Lottery. How accurate is the film, and how much is Hollywood dramatization? Let’s explore the truth behind “Jerry & Marge Go Big.”
Typically the Massachusetts Lotto has a variety of games offered in players at present, but none like the kinds from the motion picture.
The Boston Globe reported in 2017 that the Massachusetts state lottery had more repeat winners than any other state. Some of the winners operated within the bounds of the law, while others did not. Paramount’s “Jerry & Marge Go Big” showcases two of the most successful exploits against the Massachusetts Lottery in history.
One of these exploits was conducted by Jerry and Marge Selbee of Evart, MI, portrayed by Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening in the movie. The other depicted in the film was carried out by a group of Harvard students, led by a vengeful character named Tyler. Both operations discovered a loophole in a game called Cash Winfall and capitalized on it to amass a fortune.
The film accurately portrays many aspects of the story, although some key details have been altered.
Winfall and Funds Winfall game titles
The two games featured in the movie, Winfall in Michigan and Cash Winfall in Massachusetts, were lottery draw games. Both versions played similarly.
Michigan’s game cost $1 per ticket, where players selected six numbers from 1-49, and the jackpot was capped at $5 million. Cash Winfall in Massachusetts cost $2, with players selecting numbers from 1-46, and the jackpot capped at $2 million.
The film portrays Winfall ending quickly, but in real life, the Selbees continued playing that game for two years, accumulating five-figure winnings. When Winfall shut down in 2005, the Selbees shifted their focus to Massachusetts.
They played Cash Winfall for six years, making four plays per year, one per quarter, during the “roll downs.” Their last play was in January 2012, after which Cash Winfall was discontinued. In total, the Selbees won over $26 million.
Typically the roll-down result
The roll-down effect in the two Winfall games is what accounts for the “loophole” they exploited, and the movie portrays it accurately.
A roll-down is the opposite of what most lottery players are familiar with regarding lottery jackpots. Games like Mega Millions and Powerball have jackpots that “roll over” if nobody wins them, meaning they continue to grow until someone eventually wins.
A roll-down is different for two reasons. Firstly, the jackpot is typically capped. Secondly, once that cap is reached, all the money that would have gone to the jackpot rolls down to lower-tier prizes, making them larger. A roll-down is nullified if someone hits the jackpot.
Couple enclosed to help family unit, friends together with community
The movie gets this mostly correct. The Selbees brought their friends and family (approximately two dozen people) along for the journey by selling shares of their company. These shares essentially provided them with the capital they needed to purchase enough tickets equally.
As for how the Selbees utilized their winnings, a significant portion went towards securing the education of their six children, 14 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. They also established a loan service for individuals seeking to expand their businesses or purchase properties.
Jerry together with Marge’ beds operation wasn’ t totally lawful
The Massachusetts Lottery, as depicted in the movie, shut down the Cash Winfall game at the stores where Jerry and Marge played. The film portrays this as a decision made by the lottery on a whim. In reality, Jerry and Marge violated lottery laws by operating the machines themselves.
The Selbees were seen operating the machines behind the counter, as reported by a Boston Globe journalist. The film attempts to explain how the Selbees were able to do this, but it is not entirely logical. Additionally, the couple also violated a lottery law that states a player cannot purchase tickets for absentee players. The lottery did not clarify whether Jerry and Marge were purchasing tickets for absentee players.
In essence, Jerry and Marge caused the shutdown of the Cash Winfall machines at their selected retailers.
College ligue portrayed simply because one-entity bad guy
The movie makes several changes regarding the college syndicate that also played the Cash Winfall system. Firstly, they were MIT students, not Harvard students. Harvard likely sounded more elitist. Secondly, there is no evidence that the syndicate attempted to sabotage Jerry and Marge. Every movie needs a villain.
In 2005, around the same time the Selbees began playing Cash Winfall, MIT undergraduate student James Harvey chose lotteries as his final math degree project. He ultimately discovered the same loophole as Jerry Selbee. Like the Selbees, he incorporated a business with some of his classmates and pooled their resources to buy tickets in bulk. Harvey made it his full-time job for the next several years and, like the Selbees, he made a substantial profit.
The MIT group was not the only college syndicate, though. A Boston University team of students played alongside the Selbees and Harvey. They were actually the first group to realize that teams competing during the roll-downs stretch the winnings too thin to make significant profits.
MIT class forced some sort of roll along
In August 2010, the MIT syndicate discovered that roll-downs could be forced prematurely if certain conditions were manipulated.
The Massachusetts Lottery calculated the roll-down cycles based on historical data, tracking average ticket sales and the time it took to print tickets. It determined that when a jackpot reached $1.7 million, a roll-down would occur in the next drawing. Anything below $1.6 million meant there would be insufficient ticket sales to push it past $2 million.
However, the MIT syndicate had a different understanding. It found that it could force a roll-down when the jackpot draw was close to $1.6 million but not above it. Under normal circumstances, ticket sales alone would not be enough to exceed $2 million.
But with a determined effort, they could make it happen. On August 12, 2010, when the estimated unclaimed jackpot in Cash Winfall was $1.59 million, the roll-down was expected to be at least two or three weeks away. Most lottery players would wait to play, but not the MIT syndicate. They executed their plan.
The group spent the majority of a year manually filling out 700,000 tickets, which they distributed across Massachusetts over a couple of days. The surplus ticket sales exceeded the lottery’s estimates and triggered a roll-down the following week. Harvey’s syndicate made over $700,000 from that roll-down.These lottery games are mostly phased out now in the United States. Florida includes a couple associated with them , but the vulnerabilities exploited by the Selbees and college students have been closed. These games are more common in Europe.
Tyler Andrews has covered sports, art, and entertainment in the US and abroad. He started his career covering Los Angeles sports before expanding into the national sports market. He spent four years in Barcelona, covering FC Barcelona football as well as art and entertainment in the Catalan capital. Tyler, a Las Vegas native, is a graduate of both Cal State Long Beach and Chapman University. He currently resides in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and family. When he’s not chasing after their two children, he enjoys attending concerts with his wife, collecting comic books, and supporting the Vegas Golden Knights.
