Lottery winner explains how he hacked the system and won 14 jackpots

It's everyone's dream to win big on the lottery.

Just think about it, your numbers come in and you're set for life; you can quit your job and travel the world.

But unfortunately, the likelihood of that actually happening is somewhere between nowhere and absolute zero.

Well, that is unless you're Stefan Mandel, who has won the lottery over a dozen times in his life.

However, while most people who play base their numbers on sentiment or pure luck, the Romanian mathematician came up with a genius method that made him and many others an absolute fortune.

Teaming up with a group of investors to form a syndicate called he International Lotto Fund, Mandel targeted a series of lotteries around the world.

In a resurfaced interview on YouTube, the economist explained his theory, which he called 'combinatorial condensation'.

CBS

"Theoretically, anybody can buy all the possible combinations," he said. "Any high school boy or girl can calculate those combinations.

"Nobody has ever developed a logistical system to lodge such a large amount of play slips.

"We were the only winners and that was it."

So take the lottery in Virginia in the US, for example, Mandel calculated that with players picking six numbers from one to 44, there were 7,059,052 combinations to choose from.

And to make matters even more favourable with this particular game, players were allowed to print their play slips/coupons at home, meaning Mandel and his gang could do so without alerting suspicion - even though what they were doing was totally legal.

In February 1992, on top of the $27 million jackpot, they took home $900,0000 in additional prizes for the tickets that placed second, third, fourth and so on.

CBS

This plan alerted the suspicions of the authorities, with investigator in Australia contacting the Virginia Lottery to tell them not to pay out.

They claimed Mandel and his syndicate were involved in money laundering, mafia.

However, they found that the team had done nothing wrong.

Mandel, who is now 82 years old, is said to live in Vanuatu, having 'retired from the lottery'.

Speaking to Romanian newspaper Bursa back in 2012, he said: "I’m a man who takes risks, but in a calculated way.

"Trimming my beard is a lottery: There is always the possibility that I’ll cut myself, get an infection in my blood and die — but I do it anyway. The chances are in my favour."