DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has made an arrest in the four-year-old case involving a winning Hot Lotto ticket worth more than $16 million which the winner mysteriously decided not to claim.
Eddie Raymond Tipton, 51, of Norwalk, was arrested on Thursday. He has been charged with two counts of fraud, which are class D felonies.
Tipton is Director of Information Security for the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which is a vendor of the Iowa Lottery. His job prohibits him from playing the lottery. Assistant Director of the DCI Dave Jobes says Tipton attempted to claim the prize with the assistance of others.
"The allegations for these charges stem from his statutory prohibition on playing or winning the lottery. That prohibition was due to the nature of his employment with the Multi-State Lottery Association where he currently works as the Director of Information Securities," says Jobes.
The complaint against Tipton says he lied to investigators about buying the ticket and told them he was in Texas at the time. Cell phone records proved that was a false statement. The complaint also details the complicated maneuvering Tipton did in an attempt to claim the prize. He allegedly used friends in Texas, one of which was a lawyer, to contact a Canadian man about claiming the prize because the winner wanted to remain anonymous. The Canadian man, Philip Johnston, contacted the lottery about claiming the prize but the lottery says his account of how the ticket was bought was not consistent with the facts of the case.
Another attorney, Crawford Shaw, contacted the Iowa Lottery the day the ticket was to expire and said he represented Hexam Investments Ltd., the holder of the ticket. Johnston was listed as the Trustor/President of the company.
The lottery continued to question the validity of the claim because it could not determine who purchased the ticket and refused to pay the jackpot.
"We have strong security procedures in place to protect and ensure the integrity of our games and we absolutely believe this case indicates those processes worked to protect lottery players , lottery games and lottery prizes," says Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich.
The Hot Lotto ticket was bought at a Des Moines Quick Trip in 2010. It went unclaimed until just hours before the ticket expired. An attorney who claimed to represent the winner came forward with the ticket. He refused to identify the winner or answer questions about the transaction then withdrew the claim.
"We all know there will always be people who will try and beat the system. We have and will continue to update our security procedures to identify vulnerabilities to protect against them," says Rich.
The DCI has been investigating ever since, trying to determine what happened. They say despite Tipton's arrest, they are continuing to investigate the case.
Read the complaint in the Related Links section below.
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The Irony of it all. Should of just gave the ticket to a friend and split the profit!
Not very smart of Mr. Tipton. He knew he wasn't legally allowed to play in the first place and he still bought tickets anyways and then tried to claim the prize.
He did just that,but you are as they say retarded and need to re read article !
The ticket was INVALID since it was bought by person WORKING FOR THE LOTTERY and that is ILLEGAL.
The security guy for 16million bucks took a chance to try and outsmart the syztem.I may have done the same.
At least he got lucky with the winning ticket but could not cash it...that's so crazy
I bet it was not a quick pick and maybe somehow since was security chef knew the combos /algorithm at play for that game ??That raises a lot of questions !!
what are the chances a person in that position hits that kind of jackpot ?? Very small....
Eddie Tipton threw his career away. "Stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump
Yep. No cant split with the friend because IRS would know where the windfall come from and etc. there are a lot of "he should" and "shouldnt". The multi-state lottery gets to keep the money that went unclaimed. He actually created bad karma for himself. Had he not play...someone who can legally play could have won that jackpot. 16mil can change many lives for the better. If you were going to play the game, quit the job to be removed from restrictions and then play.!i believe he regretted not getting the 16mil more than orrying about the charges. Greed can do lots of unimaginable damages...on a large scale!!!
So the dude in Iowa called the guy in Texas who got in contact with the man in Canada
What the heck!?!
This one always stunk to high heaven; who gives up $16 million? And that screwball attorney with his idiotic claims & refusal to follow lottery procedure was a huge red flag. Now it all makes sense. Too bad @ Mr. Tipton; he not only didn't collect on a millions to one lottery win, but will be fired (if he hasn't been already) from his place of employment. Sad, sad, sad...
The really sad thing is that he denied the next legitimate winner the opportunity to collect that extra $16M. You think the greedy boneheads at the lottery will seek out the next legitimate winner and hand them the $16M they lost because of Tipton's illegal participation? Yep, dream on. Greed and the lure of easy money has been the downfall of many.
Don't forget the NY lawyer that tried to validate the ticket hours before the deadline for Hexam Investments Ltd. Nobody could make up story like this no matter how hard they tried.
Oh wow I remember this! I always wanted to know what happened!
There has to be so much more to this story. There's a much bigger reason than him working for the Lottery that he didn't have a friend or relative claim this prize and go through all this nonsense.
Maybe you should reread the article, too. It took most of 4 years for the lottery to determine that the ticket was invalid because the purchaser worked for the lottery. The correct approach is for the lottery to assume there's a problem and use security procedures to establish the ticket's validity, but as far as they actually knew when the Canadian guy contacted them it was valid. If the Canadian guy had been able to give them the right answers it's entirely possible that they would have made the payment, making the real buyers plan to give it to somebody else to make the claim successful. It might have been as simple as accurately describing how the buyer was dressed, assuming he had a similar appearance to the real buyer.
I'd guess that the real buyer figured any prize he won would be modest and that he'd be able to just walk into a retailer and claim the modest cash. He may well have just walked away if it had been just a bit more than the amount that can be claimed from a retailer. OTOH, I expect everybody can understand why he found it too hard to walk away when he had a ticket that would potentially put several million bucks in his pocket.
The complaint is interesting (and brief) reading. It's different than typical criminal work, but I'm a bit surprised that a guy who was Director of Information Security made the same stupid mistakes that so many other criminals do. He had easily established connections with the Texas lawyer, used his own cell phone to call him, and then claimed he was in Texas at the time of purchase despite using that phone in the general vicinity of the store.
Ok states do something more. Director of Information Security, sounds like a big position or is it? He played the lottery
and wasn't supposed to play, he must've known taking the job that was one of the no-no's. Anyway the things he did
to hide the identity of who actually won and to collect the winnings are worse than playing. Someone said 'insider info'
....quite possible and yes, it does raise flags, doesn't it? What actually do the inside people know? I'd like to know how
long he was employed there.
Soooo, why not crack down on the little scum? The retailers and clerks who can't wait to watch players playing and swoop
in with their own 'insider info' and take the next ticket in a string of 10 losers? I've seen references on the instants forum
about many people witnessing clerks/owners playing themselves...read complaints about the clerk/owner buying up the
next ticket after a player has played quite a few and lost. I've seen clerks awfully interested in whether you 'won
anything or not'. Their insider info is knowing who is playing what, what they cashed, what the person won or lost and
which ticket to stay away from...I've seen employees on shift visit the IVM and play during working hours...they also
run the terminal and payout the winners AND in some cases, stock the machine.
MAKE THIS PRACTICE ILLEGAL WHILE ON SHIFT. IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH PAYING, RESTOCKING,
CHECKING OR IS IN A POSITION TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE BUYING DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO PLAY
WHILE ON SHIFT.
Their job might be counter clerk or cashier or office person BUT IF THEY TOUCH THE TICKETS THEY SHOULD NOT
BE ALLOWED TO PLAY THE TICKETS WHILE ON SHIFT. The tickets are there for the uninformed general public who
do not have a job in the store where they are purchasing lottery. I've been told by the lottery commission that an
employee playing during shift, handling winners and losers and stocking the machine has a right to play too.
Where is the justice in that train of thought? When you fill in a claim form there is a box - a couple of them - that
specifically ask: ARE YOU A RETAILER OR IS A FAMILY MEMBER A RETAILER?? Or DO YOU OR A FAMILY MEMBER WORK
FOR A LOTTERY RETAILER??
The answer for anyone behind the counter is YES. So as far as claims go, they shouldn't be allowed to be made by
employees and as far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't even be allowed to play or collect while on shift..whether it's
$50 or $50k.
Let's go states....keep the laws applicable to everyone, not just the bigger claims.
There is no law against buying a scratch off after someone bought 20 losers. As long as the employee is the legal age.
This thug worked as the Director of Information Security for MUSL and happened to buy the jackpot winning ticket for a computerized draw game Hot Lotto
As a lottery employee of the state lottery he is prohibited from participating in the lottery. However, why didn't he subscribe to another state lottery.
Wow I remb this story. I was thinking someone got scammed or maybe even got murdered over the winning ticket and the murder was like trying to claim it somehow....
Nope! It's a darn cheating lottery employee!
I have been whining for years about the state lotteries winning it's own jackpots! All thanks to a ignoramus not claiming in time the jackpot with there winning ticket!
I have to say on the crux of the matter, the lotteries should have to put ever single dollar back into the hot lotto jackpot, even after all these years have gone bye.. This is just so many levels of wrong.....
Lottery does not have right to (win) it's own jackpot, even more so if it's thanks to a lottery employee playing and costing us the players the rightful shot at winning a jackpot we built with our money by playing there game!
This now means in future if any employee wins, they can claim : Will sense it was a lottery employee, sorry folks, no winner, we keep all jackpot money!
Just like they can't have any lottery employees playing and winning there own jackpot lottery game, We can't we then have the lotteries saying Will, sense the employee can't win and he has the winning ticket, that means we the states lotteries won our own jackpot! We keeping all money, no player will ever get this money.
I think it's a stupid rule to have all unclaimed jackpot's go back to states as it is, 99% of the time it's thanks to idiot player not claiming in time, HOWEVER a lottery employees costing rest the players the jackpot prize is a immoral outrage of all outrages.
This unclaimed jackpot prize pool money should go back into the next jackpot run for this game, even if it's been a lot of years!
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This is what ethical issue looks like if I ever seen one, for instant. What's stopping more lottery employees playing and then having lotteries win there own jackpot ever again, all thanks to a employee winning, this is a issue of honorable principles to how you run a lottery. The players have a righteous claim to that jackpot!
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I don't think lottery ceo's will correct this unjust and unethical lost of a jackpot sadly..... The players will be forever wronged by the lottery insane rules of lotteries winning there own jackpot by default that a lottery employee played and won.
He should look on the bright side, as he is now no longer an. employee of the Iowa Lottery, he will be free to play.
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
LOL!
My freakin question is why is no one on this forum questioning what did he know to make him be able to win? If he works in security what da shell do they know that can produce a jackpot win? Are they telling me they know the winning numbers before they win?? Wtf? If so they need to be shutdown for fraud!!!!!
RNGs aka computerized drawings just cannot be trusted
If I were the winner of the next jackpot, I would be seeking a lawyer. Better Call Saul!
The next winner was Larry Dawson, also of Iowa. He must be aware of the outcome.
Thanks for the updates.
If the lottery is going to watchdog employees and family members by requiring a box be checked stating the
claimant is not one of those described, then they need to extend the watchful eye and include employees that
handle or are privy - in the know - to information that gives them an ADVANTAGE. It's the same game, no?
Just because it's a reportable amount doesn't make the rule null and void if it's less than that. An employee
or family member remains the same no matter what the amount. My BEEF is with workers PLAYING WHILE
AT WORK. I don't give a rats behind what they do when they're off.
Wow...That really says a lot about the lottery. Maybe it isn't so random after all.
What if he knew where and around what time the winning ticket would be produced by the lottery machine? What if this is one of the reasons they are not allowed to play? Food for thought...
If he was that psychic then he could make more money elsewhere.
The numbers aren't selected by the lottery until all terminals are closed. So how on earth could he possibly know which numbers to choose BEFORE the drawing?
This is just a case of luck hitting the wrong person. He has probably bought tickets unbeknown to MUSL for years.
The guy must have bought a quick pick or selected his own numbers THEN went to work and rigged the RNG to put out his numbers. Or he rigged the RNG machine to put out a specific combo for the upcoming draw THEN went out and bought that combo.