Episode 25 - Rigged: The Hot Lotto Scandal
Eddie Tipton was a formal security director at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL)- the organization responsible for administrating various lotteries, including the Hot Lotto game.
Starting around 2005, Tipton installed code into the lottery's random number generator, which allowed him to predict the winning numbers on certain days. He shared those numbers with family and friends, who would then buy the winning tickets and try to claim the prizes-trying to avoid suspicion by spreading out the claims across different states and people.
The scheme started to unravel in 2010, when a $16.5 million winning Hot Lotto ticket bought in Iowa sat unclaimed for almost a year. Just before the deadline, a couple of different lawyers reached out to claim the ticket, but failed to give the specific details to claim the winning amount.
Investigators eventually asked the public to assist by releasing the convince store surveillance video, which then led the investigators to Eddie Tipton as the man who purchased the ticket.
Tipton was arrested and convicted. He and his accomplices collected over $2 million in fraudulent winnings. In 2017, Tipton was sentenced to 25 years in prison, though he later reached a plea deal.
The information presented in this episode is from sources from the most reliable accounts available on the web, including information on AE TV:
https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/hot-lotto-scandal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerball#:~:text=In%20each%20drawing%2C%20winning%20numbers,ball%20from%20the%20second%20machine.
An article from The NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/03/magazine/money-issue-iowa-lottery-fraud-mystery.html
An article on Colorado News Line:
https://coloradonewsline.com/2022/01/27/lottery-scams-alleged-mastermind-paroled/
An article from the Des Moines Register:
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/videos/news/crime-and-courts/2018/03/15/surveillance-video-captures-sale-rigged-hot-lotto-ticket/16982253/ (this one has the surveillance video)
Photos include: A photo of Eddie on surveillance, a photo of Eddie Tipton (left) and his brother Tommy Tipton (right.)
