2026 April

Marantelli, an early investor in the company, says he had not known this at the time. According to a former senior manager, the company’s founders had toyed with the idea of building systems to allow a “pro-buyer” to purchase huge blocks of tickets as early as 2020. Marantelli says he reached out to Ade Repcenko,

In the 2000s, he worked in mortgage finance, going by the name Abe Adrian Camilleri (among other aliases listed in bankruptcy documents). Repcenko lived in Malta, a hub for online gambling businesses. They needed to find partners with licences to sell Texas lottery tickets who were willing to go all in. However, I didn’t know

“‘We have been operating a syndicated crime organisation in the Texas government,” the former air force captain says. Lawyers for the syndicate have moved to have the case dismissed. The syndicate chose to forgo the full $US95 million, which would be paid out over 30 years, instead taking a lump sum cash prize of $US57

The $US95 million ($141 million) jackpot was theirs to lose. His team had bought more than 25 million tickets, which now filled the cardboard boxes stacked high against the hotel room wall. It was just after 10pm on a Saturday, April 22, 2023, and the room was so packed that people could barely move, Marantelli