Oct 19, 2022 - News

Inside Michigan's $30 million lottery scam

Joe Guillen

Illustration of a pair of legs sticking out from a pile of money. — Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

A local real estate broker became one of the state lottery's biggest winners ever by buying hundreds of tickets a day with money from investors in his Ponzi-style scheme, The Atlantic reports.

What happened: The broker, Troy-based Viktor Gjonaj, exchanged thousands of winning tickets for nearly $30 million over a nine-month stretch, using a system he believed gave him an edge based on perceived patterns.

But his system was bunk. In reality, he was cashing winning tickets with pure luck, propped up with massive expenditures on tickets.
Gjonaj lured investors into sham real-estate deals to support his gambling problem.

What they're saying: "Once I hit the $10 million, I think it raised 100 red flags within the lottery," Gjonaj recalled.

The impact: As the scheme inevitably fell apart, Gjonaj feared for his family's safety and eventually confessed to federal authorities.

He was charged with one count of federal wire fraud in January 2021.

Read the full story

Add Axios on Google

Inside Michigan's $30 million lottery scam

More Detroit stories