Viktor Gjonaj noticed that some lottery numbers were drawn more often than others. Then an idea came to him
By Jeff Maysh
On a June morning in 2017, real estate agent Viktor Gjonaj parked his SUV in front of a small shopping mall in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights. Gjonaj walked past a halal butcher shop and hurried into the Michigan Lottery office. He was 1.96m tall, wore Italian designer shoes and his dark, slicked-back hair glistened in the neon lights as he said he’d won the Daily 4 lottery.
The draws have been held twice a day since 1981. Around 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., several table tennis balls numbered from zero to nine are twirled in a large, clear plastic container, from which four are drawn. The Michigan Lottery pays out up to $5,000 for four correct numbers.
But Gjonaj didn’t just have one winning ticket. He had 500 with him the morning he walked into the branch.