I thought about it, and I now know why the person that won the JP played those numbers 5 times. He defeated the pari-mutual division of a first place prize.
The NY Lottery's website shows 7 first place winners of $11,493.50 each. But in actuality there were only 3 winners. (Assuming it was only one person who played the same set of 5 numbers 5 times.)
Had the 5 time winner bought only one set of five, he'd have collected $26,818.17 $11,493.50 X 7 = $80,454.50, which is the total JP amount that had to be divided equally. $80,454.50 divided by 3 winners is $26,818.17
But since the winner played 5 sets of 5 numbers he won 5 times $11,493.50 or $57,467.50. The guy more than doubled his share than if he had only played one set of 5. (He picked up an extra $30,649.33)
This strategy gives a larger share of the pari-mutual winnings to one person. Smart move considering these days most Take5 JP's are usually split among multiple winners, and they are not as big as they once were. He basically took an extra 15 grand from the other two winners. If they figure it out, I bet they're PO'd. I know I'd be mad as hell that some smart SOB legally robbeb me of 15 grand.