When the national Powerball Lottery reached $365 million, the biggest jackpot in American history, Alan took the opportunity to dust off one of his most successful hoaxes. He hired his friend and long-time co-conspirator, Bob Pagani, to pose as the winner and the two traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska where the winning ticket was purchased.

With a photocopy of a doctored ticket in hand, Alan and Bob walked into a local diner where they gave the manager $2000 to pay for the meals of everyone there. Within fifteen minutes, the restaurant was packed with enthusiastic reporters. Pagani told the press that he had randomly picked the winning numbers out of a book called The Attractor Factor by self-help guru Joe Vitale.

Despite blatant discrepancies in Bob's story, their hijinks made national headlines.