Lottery Post will host event at 8pm EST
By Todd Northrop
Lottery players from across the United States — and around the world — will have the chance Monday evening to ask questions about the Eddie Tipton computerized drawing rigging scandal to Terry Rich, Iowa Lottery CEO, who was instrumental in discovering the crime.
In December 2010 a Hot Lotto jackpot worth $16 million was won on a ticket purchased in Iowa. One year later, with just two hours to spare before the ticket was to expire, a lawyer representing an anonymous winner turned in the winning ticket at Iowa Lottery headquarters. And that's when the roller coaster of a mystery — and later discovery of a crime — began.
Although lottery players can claim a prize using a legal trust, the Iowa Lottery standard security process insists that before a prize is paid out, the actual winner must be identified by the Iowa Lottery. Over the next few weeks when the actual winner refused to identify themselves, the lawyer incredulously informed the Iowa Lottery that the claim of the $16 million jackpot was being withdrawn.
And that's where Rich and the Iowa Lottery security staff became heroes, because rather than just dropping the matter, they embarked on a dogged multi-year investigation that eventually unearthed the most devastating crime in United States lottery history.
It turned out that the "winner" of that $16 million Hot Lotto jackpot was actually Eddie Tipton, the former security chief for the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), located in Urbandale, Iowa.
Tipton had rigged the computer that generates the winning numbers for the Hot Lotto game to draw the same numbers that he had purchased on a lottery ticket earlier that day at a QuikTrip gas station in Des Moines.
The full history of Lottery Post news coverage of the investigation and eventual conviction of Tipton can be found below, but the story doesn't end there.
Rather than spiking the ball after Tipton's conviction, Rich continued the investigation to find out if any other damage was done. And what he found sent shockwaves through the lottery industry.
Using his brother and other accomplices to buy and redeem lottery tickets, Tipton had rigged major lottery prizes in several other states — states that used the same computerized drawing equipment that Tipton himself designed when he was the security chief for MUSL.
The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, and Tipton is currently scheduled to begin a second trial for additional crimes in July.
Having served as Iowa Lottery CEO since 2009, Terry Rich has been at the center of the ordeal for entirety of it. If not for his his insistence in sticking with the investigation over the years (as well as Tipton generally being a poor crook), lottery players might never have known that the winning numbers being generated with a computer in several states were hacked by a criminal.
Lottery players who value true lotto ball drawings, which may be somewhat more expensive than computers, but are infinitely more verifiable to auditors, also have Rich to thank for demonstrating to the world why computerized drawings should be eliminated or at least minimized.
Rich has now agreed to answer questions about the past and future of the computerized drawing scandal from lottery players themselves, live at Lottery Post tonight, Jan. 11, at 8:00 pm Easter Time (5:00 pm Pacific).
To ask a question, a person simply has to register a free account at Lottery Post. After a simple verification via e-mail, a person can post questions to Rich, and is also free to post on any of Lottery Post's forums.
The Question & Answer session will appear as a forum topic, which will be visible at the top of the Lottery Discussion forum at Lottery Post. To post a question, a person simply clicks the New Reply button when viewing the topic, and then types their question. Rich will respond to questions right in the same topic, with the original question "quoted" so that it is clear which question he is answering.
In addition to his role as CEO of the Iowa Lottery since February 2009, Rich also served as a past president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL). He is an enthusiastic supporter of the lottery industry in general and an engaging presenter, as any audience member can attest to when listening to one of his presentations.
One of the issues facing the lottery industry is an invisible wall of distrust that separates lottery players from the official government lottery organizations that run the state lotteries. Most communications with lottery players from the industry is all "marketing speak" designed to increase sales and gloss over anything negative. As a result lottery players can feel the state lotteries are hiding something with all the "happy talk".
While we don't expect Rich to throttle the industry with his answers, the fact that he is willing to directly respond to actual lottery player questions live reveals a level of transparency that is sorely lacking in the lottery industry — and hopefully something that be followed by other lottery leaders.
The Lottery Post website will feature a prominent banner at the top of every page leading visitors directly into the Rich's Q&A session at 8:00 pm EST.
Timeline of the biggest crime in US lottery history
The following is a compilation of Lottery Post news coverage chronicling the Hot Lotto mystery and subsequently discovered crime.
We start the timeline with a news story indicating that only 3 months remained for the $16 million Hot Lotto jackpot to be claimed.
- Deadline for claiming $16.5M Hot Lotto jackpot nears, Sep. 21, 2011
- Unclaimed Iowa lottery jackpot to expire Dec. 29, Dec. 1, 2011
- Iowa $16.5M Hot Lotto winner claims prize with two hours to spare, Dec. 29, 2011
- Iowa Lottery security chief bent on determining identity of jackpot winner, Jan. 10, 2012
- NY lawyer in lottery mystery travels to Iowa this week, Jan. 17, 2012
- Iowa Lottery security chief to grill NY lawyer over Hot Lotto ticket, Jan. 17, 2012
- Representative of Hot Lotto winner named in lawsuit, Jan. 20, 2012
- Hot Lotto trust representative won't name winner, Jan. 20, 2012
- Iowa Lottery threatens to deny jackpot payout if winner stays anonymous, Jan. 23, 2012
- Lawyer gives up $14 million Iowa lottery ticket claim, Jan. 26, 2012
- $14.3 million Hot Lotto prize claim withdrawn, Jan. 27, 2012
- Iowa Legislators satisfied with Lottery's handling of mystery jackpot winner, Feb. 1, 2012
- Iowa Lottery to give away millions from jackpot mystery, Feb. 26, 2012
- Iowa Lottery director: 50-50 that Hot Lotto mystery will be solved, Aug. 9, 2012
- Iowa officials trying to solve lotto mystery, may release surveillance video, Aug. 19, 2012
- 1 year later, Iowa Lottery still hunting for suspicious no-show winner, Jan. 30, 2013
- Inquiry in Iowa Lottery mystery touches Canada, Jul. 26, 2013
- Lottery jackpot probe heats up after immunity deal, Oct. 8, 2013
- Iowa Lottery still hunting mystery Hot Lotto winner [video], Oct. 10, 2014
- MUSL employee arrested in Hot Lotto jackpot mystery, Jan. 15, 2015
- BOMBSHELL: MUSL employee might have rigged Hot Lotto computerized drawing, Apr. 13, 2015
- Texas man charged in Iowa lottery case contests extradition, Apr. 20, 2015
- Extradition trial begins this week in $16.5M Hot Lotto fraud case, Jun. 7, 2015
- Inside the biggest lottery scam ever, Jul. 7, 2015
- Trial underway in world's biggest lottery fraud case, Jul. 14, 2015
- Lottery security chief: Rigging computerized game "sadly" possible, Jul. 15, 2015
- Prosecution rests in Hot Lotto trial, Jul. 16, 2015
- Defense quickly wraps up in Hot Lotto trial, Jul. 16, 2015
- Hot Lotto case moves to jury for deliberations, Jul. 17, 2015
- Former lottery security employee guilty of rigging $14.3M drawing, Jul. 20, 2015
- MUSL security worker who rigged drawing gets 10 years, Sep. 9, 2015
- HOT LOTTO DRAWING CHEAT CHARGED WITH RIGGING MORE JACKPOTS, Oct. 9, 2015
- Texas authorities had previously investigated brother of lottery cheat, Oct. 14, 2015
- Another $1.2M Hot Lotto jackpot rigged by Tipton, officials say, Nov. 21, 2015
- Jackpot-fixing investigation expands to more state lotteries, Dec. 18, 2015
- Prosecutors say Tipton rigged two jackpots he purchased tickets for in Kansas, Dec. 21, 2015
- Maine gives names of Hot Lotto winners to Iowa team looking into rigging scheme, Dec. 23, 2015
- S.C. Lottery assures public no computerized drawings used in state, Dec. 23, 2015
- Kansas lottery players questioning game's integrity, Dec. 23, 2015
- MUSL CHIEF OUSTED OVER JACKPOT-RIGGING SCANDAL, Dec. 23, 2015
- Lottery scandal unlikely to affect New Mexico, official says, Dec. 26, 2015
- Tipton granted delay in next trial until July, Dec. 29, 2015
Watching the Bachelor will be more interesting.
No matter what is said the lottery is fixed in their favor as any gambling is
C,mon, use your head. If these people amassed the amount of time and effort to catch Tipton, what in the world would make you think the Lottery is rigged everywhere. The focus on this would be to downsize computer drawings. Ask yourself this Question, what would you rather have , Ball drawings or Computerized drawings? It's that simple.
Actually, I would say the people on The Bachelor cheat a lot more than the lottery.
Looking forward to tonight's Q/A session with Terry. It's a rare event when any lottery official other than a public relations spokesperson will make themselves available for public questions and answers...
The Bachelor has nothing on the lottery!
Thanks again Todd, for setting this up!
Thanks Duckman. Looking forward to it.
t
Hi Terry!
Thanks for helping to make lottery look credible. My three questions are: (1) What are the odds of winning for a single ticket of two dollars? (2) How many winning combinations ever won again, if any? And, what would be the strongest argument to show the skeptics that lotto is not rigged? Stay blessed! KB
Hi Terry:
THIS, MY SECOND POST (on the same issues), IS TO MAKE MY QUESTIONS BECOME CLEARER.
For a POWERBALL drawings, what are the odds of hitting the jackpot, for a single ticket of two dollars?
How many jackpot winning combinations of the POWERBALL ever won again?
What is the most convincing argument(s), in your view, to help the skeptics believe that lottery is not fixed?
Your odds of winning are 1 in 292 million and a winning powerball number has never (and probably will never) hit twice.
As far as it being rigged? Don't know. I think it would be the least of your worries.
http://gawker.com/is-the-1-3-billion-powerball-rigged-1752171704
Wow! Thanks for the info. Appreciate.
No matter how much you spent on lottery they know before hand what state what store is going to win.
You tell me why is there a cut off time to buy tickets before any draw
It is all fixed.
Doesn't make a diff if balls come out or not as there is a weight on the balls .
Do you really think they are going to pay out thousands of winnets on any game ?
People need to get in real world of gambling !!!
Are they really going to go broke ?
Sure is weird why Illinois couldn't pay people out ???
As for the Bachelor we know they cheat but will be more entertaining !!!
S***
Here we go ....again.
Why are you even posting on a lottery forum anyway?
Think rationally. Balls are drawn. Not Computer generated.
You really think someone is gonna sift through millions of tickets sold to find a combination that wasn't sold so there won't be a winner?
No they won't go broke when there is a winner. Lotteries still make a profit, which they are supposed to do. Otherwise they would not, and could not exist.
Dang.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion no matter how ignorant the rest of us believe it is.
Let's just hope they don't waste Mr. Rich's time like a few years ago when a representative of the Ohio Lottery fielded questions on LP. One of our "top 25" posters asked them if lottery employees were allowed to play and when Ohio Rep answered "no", they asked if the lottery rigged the drawings. The Rep never answered the incredibly stupid question, but did say any more questions should be sent to the Ohio Lottery web site.
Hopefully they'll be watching Monday night RAW.
Be sure to ask your questions on the official Q&A thread that is started at 8:00 pm EST. That is where Terry will be answering questions.