Page 2: Official gets 8 years at home for rigging lottery

Posted: March 3, 2008, 1:54 pm - IP Logged

Mr. Foreman's attorney was former Hoosier Lottery Director Jack Crawford.

Before we get off on the wrong track here, I should emphasize that our lottery had balls when Mr. Crawford was in charge (you can read that however you'd like), and the Hoosier Lottery was making all kinds of money before he left his post. He was the best lottery director we've ever had, and without a doubt the most honest man who has ever held that post.

I spoke with Mr. Crawford when the newspapers reported that he was challenging the constitutionality of the disclosure law under which Foreman was charged. You must understand that Indiana has TWO disclosure laws - one for Hoosier Lottery employees and officials and another for all other state employees. The "Disclosing Confidential Lottery Information" law is the one that keeps the Hoosier Lottery in business, and it guarantees that no one who has ever worked there can give evidence against anyone else who was or is currently employed there, including the Director. If you work for the Hoosier Lottery and you talk to the police or to the FBI about the crimes being committed by your superiors or colleagues, you'll face fifty years in prison and, given the way this law is written and phrased, your acquittal is highly unlikely.

Now, pay attention, because this is going to get complicated.

This case came about because Mr. Foreman had read a fax when everyone else involved, including the intended recipient, was out to lunch. I can only conclude that the fax originated at Scientific Games offices at the Indianapolis Airport, although I have no proof of this. Foreman, being alone in the office at the time, picked up the fax and read it. The fax contained very specific information concerning the location of a top prize-winning scratch-off ticket, and even included the batch number on the pack (the Hoosier Lottery doesn't have access to these batch numbers; they're used to help verify winning tickets, and are only provided by SciGames when a winner is claimed).

Foreman put the fax back in the tray. Later that day, he ran into someone he knew (either Foltz or Adkins, I can't remember which) and told him, "If you want a good chance at a winner, go play the twenty dollar scratch-offs in Crown Point." End quote. Notice, please, that he did not identify the name of the store, nor did he identify the game (we actually had three $20 games at that time).

Foltz and Adkins then drove to Crown Point. They stopped at a little Mom & Pop store there and bought every $20 scratch-off in the place, spending between seven and eight hundred dollars and, sure enough, they found a ticket worth a million dollars. The next day, one of the men went to Hoosier Lottery headquarters and claimed $25,000, which was half of the first installment. Hoosier Lottery Director Jack Ross paid the claim personally, but told him that his friend would have to come in to claim his share in person.

When the other guy showed up the next day to claim his $25k, he was recognized as an acquaintance of Foreman by William Holcraft, a Hoosier Lottery Internal Security Investigator. He went to the Indiana State Police and launched an investigation, and the next thing you know, reporters began to call Hoosier Lottery officials, asking some embarrassing questions. Holcraft was immediately "fired," but not before signing another "Confidential Agreement" saying that, in consideration of a $7,500 payoff, Holcraft will call the Hoosier Lottery Director and give him a heads-up if Holcraft is questioned about this matter by the police or by the FBI, either now or at any time in the future. Another condition the agreement stipulates is that Holcraft will have to pay back almost ten times that amount if he discloses or discusses any aspect of the case, or of the deal he accepted from the Hoosier Lottery, and that he agrees to plead guilty to any subsequent disclosure charges, whether he hires an attorney or not. I can speak with confidence about this agreement because I have a hard copy of it, thanks to an investigative reporter who sent it to LosingJeff and me.

When Mr. Crawford announced that he was going to challenge the constitutionality of the Hoosier Lottery Disclosure law, I thought that would be the last anyone ever heard of this case. I believed that it would be tied up in court until Foreman died, and then it would just fade away as so many issues do in this state. This plea bargain serves the same purpose; it guarantees that no evidence illustrating the crooked practices of this lottery will ever reach a courtroom.

Had Mr. Crawford been successful, the Hoosier Lottery would have fallen, and many, many public officials would have gone to jail.

As it stands, and knowing what I know about this case, I believe that fax was actually intended for Mr. Holcraft. There is a possibility that it was meant for Chief of Security Pete Byrne, who was also lightly implicated, but to go into that would mean much more typing on my part, and more reading on yours, and it eventually leads back to Holcraft, anyway. Most likely, though, it was Holcraft's fax but, since he had prematurely involved the state police (another infamously corrupt, state-sanctioned organization), they had to get rid of him as quietly as possible. I firmly believe that if the constitutional issue had gone to federal court, as it should have, Mr. Holcraft would not have made it to the courthouse alive; Hoosier Lottery officials would not have been able to defend themselves against his testimony, and I'm certain that a few elected state officials would have been implicated as well.

That's not the whole story, of course, but you now have something more substantive than what's in the article. If you want or need more, just read my posts about the Hoosier Lottery (if you do a search, I'm sure you'll find three or four comments on the subject).

I know now exactly what I'll do if I ever win a significant jackpot. I actually fantasize about saying this at the press conference when they ask me what I'm going to do with the money. "I'm going to do what any self-respecting millionaire does in this state. Since ours are the cheapest in the nation, I'm going to buy some Indiana politicians and judges."

I'll never get to say that, though. If I ever do win a jackpot of $50M or more, I won't attend a press conference; I'll set up a trust and claim my millions anonymously. I'll still make the payoffs to the crooks in public office, I just won't advertise it. If you want to win the game, you have to play by the same rules the other players follow.

Come, Pinky; we must prepare for tomorrow night...

Jim