How the Texas Lottery Scandal and Its Massive Payout Might Have Changed the Whole Game

In 2023, two men purchased millions of lottery tickets in Texas to win the $95 million jackpot. After they won and pocketed tens of millions of dollars, it might have changed the game for good within the Texas Lottery Commission. But what was the Texas lottery scandal, and was it illegal to purchase that many tickets?

In the end, the two men who played with more than 25 million tickets were given the proper payout. But the details surrounding the scandal are coming out again thanks to a TikTok where the user explains exactly what happened and how wild the story is. According to the creator, someone should make a movie about the scandal.

According to Newsweek, a man from London by the name of Bernard Marantelli, along with some business associates, purchased more than 25 million tickets at $1 each to play the Texas lottery, which had a jackpot of $95 million at the time. The kicker, however, other than purchasing that many tickets, was that Marantelli and his partners bought sanctioned machines so that tickets could be printed out around the clock, so they could purchase enough to ensure their win.

In the end, they did win the jackpot. Later, per Newsweek, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said it was "the biggest theft from the people of Texas in the history of Texas." The Wall Street Journal reported that Marantelli's plan was paid for by a Tasmanian businessman and gambler by the name of Zeljko Ranogajec, whose nickname is the Joker.

After they ran their lottery machines long enough to buy almost every possible ticket available in the state, they walked away with $57.8 million of profits, per The Wall Street Journal. When the story was later shared on TikTok, users commented to commend the businessmen's plan rather than to condemn them for seemingly pulling a fast one on the Lottery Commission.

One user commented, "They scammed the scammers."

Another wrote, "It's not a scam. If you have $25 million to spare, that's the chance you take. They spent money just like everyone else. BRILLIANT."

Although Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick spoke out against the lottery scandal, the payout was made, and it does not appear to have been illegal. Still, possibly because of the Texas lottery scandal, the Texas Lottery Commission could be shut down. According to NBC 5 DFW in Fort Worth and Dallas, as of April 2025, lawmakers in the state considered shutting down the lottery as a whole.

The outlet reported that lottery ticket sales decreased significantly, potentially because of the lottery scandal from 2023.

Rob Kohler, a Baptist General Convention of Texas anti-gambling lobbyist, said, "They've lost players. There's no doubt. You can look on social media. There's folks [that] care enough that they bother to write down several sentences, you know, [saying], 'I used to do this and I'm not going to do it anymore because it's fixed.'"