As far as hair-brained schemes go, Beat The Lotto has this down pat. The story of how a syndicate in Ireland tried to rig the lotto, this documentary is an absolutely thrilling spectacle that will leave you guessing right up until the very end.
Ross Whitaker does an excellent job of telling this stranger than fiction story, describing how Ireland was a country that was battling recession and high unemployment rates in the late 1980s. Amidst this depressed economy was one small glimmer of hope: the launch of a National Lottery where the promise of winning millions of pounds through sheer luck had vast appeal.
In 1992, a mathematician of Polish decent, Stefan Klincewicz hit upon a novel idea. He discovered that there were two million combinations involved in securing a lotto win. With a syndicate of around 100 gambling men lovingly referred to as a “Crowd of Reprobates” they raised the £974,000 needed to secure a win…or did they?
There are no individuals from the Irish National Lottery who are interviewed here. While this makes the proceedings rather one-sided, Whitaker does spin a thrilling tale. The interviewees include twinkle-eyed syndicate members and some level-headed journalists. At the time, the court of public opinion was divided between painting the group as greedy thieves and as loveable rogues who were using their moxie in an attempt to game the system.
The syndicate today are painted as underdogs trying to take on a powerful institution. The members are all affable scoundrels. A few of them laugh at the Irish craic and the thrill of being involved in such hijinks. What they were doing was not technically illegal and many of them knew it would make for an excellent story at the pub someday.
Beat the Lotto is a film that builds to a rousing crescendo. It’s a pity we don’t learn what happened to these characters next, though one thing’s for certain – the film is an absolutely cracking yarn that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the end.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Beat the Lotto is screening as part of this year’s Sydney Film Festival, running between June 4th and 15th, 2025. For more information head to the official SFF page.
