Ticket was sold in Oklahoma
A $1.2 million jackpot-winning Hot Lotto ticket sold in Oklahoma in 2011 has been connected to a former security official of a multi-state lottery vendor accused of rigging lotteries in four different states, a lottery official said Friday.
Oklahoma Lottery Director Rollo Redburn said a criminal investigation in Iowa has been expanded to include the winning ticket sold at the Miki Mart in Idabel in November 2011.
Eddie Tipton, a former security director of the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the attempted claim of a 2010 lottery jackpot in Iowa. Tipton is appealing that conviction.
Since then, Iowa prosecutors have filed new criminal charges against Tipton connected to jackpots claimed in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Iowa prosecutors say Tipton helped build the random-number generator equipment used in the jackpot drawings. In the Iowa jackpot case, prosecutors allege he used specially designed, self-deleting stealth software to fix the numbers in a Hot Lotto drawing, then bought a ticket with those numbers to win the jackpot. The jackpot was never paid, because Tipton, as an employee of a lottery vendor, was prohibited by Iowa rules from playing, and others who tried to cash the ticket for him were unsuccessful because they refused to identify who purchased the ticket.
After the Iowa case surfaced, lottery officials notified other state lotteries to review previous jackpot winners that fit certain criteria, such as pre-selected numbers and out-of-state winners, Redburn said.
"People knew that he (Tipton) had connections in Texas," Redburn said. "At the time we sent them this information and we reviewed it, this person that won that $1.2 million prize was from Texas. We told them they should probably check that out since he's an out-of-state winner."
The winning Oklahoma jackpot was claimed by Kyle Conn, a construction company owner from Hemphill, Texas. Neither Redburn nor Iowa Assistant Attorney General Rob Sand would elaborate on a potential connection between Conn and Tipton.
Telephone and email messages left Friday with Conn seeking comment were not returned.
In a press release issued by Oklahoma lottery officials in December 2011, Conn said he was traveling through Oklahoma on business and decided to purchase a Hot Lotto ticket on a whim.
"I'm not a regular player," Conn said in the release. "But now I suggest everyone play the Oklahoma Lottery — I know I will play more often!"
Conn told lottery officials he planned to celebrate his win with a New Year's Eve party and invest his winnings, according to the release.
Conn took the lump-sum payout and, after taxes and withholdings, received a check for $644,478, Redburn said.
A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said his office is aware of the allegations and is communicating with the Iowa attorney general's office as their investigation continues.
"The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office will continue to closely monitor the situation to determine any steps that would necessary to address any unlawful activity that may have occurred within this state," Pruitt spokesman Aaron Cooper said in a statement.
Since the allegations surfaced in Iowa, Redburn said any equipment connected to Tipton has been removed and extra security measures put in place.
"All the programming has been redone and recertified by international gaming lab certification companies," Redburn said. "All that's been cleaned up."
Man, this guy is a dud.
This is why random number generators for lotteries should be outlawed. There is too much of a chance for fraud reguardless of the state it is played in
A greedy dud. Sounds like the maroon would have gotten away with it if he had been happy with stealing just a million or two. But he needed that last 12 mil and got caught.
I thought someone had won the $3.9 million jackpot. I still have a chance at it. It sucks that people try to cheat the system.
From what I recall the reason he got caught is because someone squealed, not because what he did was discovered. That is the very reason certain organizations "wiped out" all evidence of a crime. Of course this wasn't as organized and the till got tipped. Obviously RNG's are very prone to sabotage, so why do the lotteries continue with them????
I thought he got caught because he tried to get an attorney to collect the last jackpot for him and the attorney refused to reveal who the owner of the ticket was. It wasn't until that happened that the lottery got suspicious and looked into things.
My guess is with the other JPs he only got half of the net as his cut and that wasn't enough for him so he tried to get an attorney to collect the last one for a much smaller cut, maybe just 25%.
I hadn't heard that someone squealed. Who was that? IIRC someone said something after the lottery had already refused to pay and was looking into it, but I don't think that's why he got caught.
I guess I should have reworded it. He got caught through another person, not through the actual action of manipulation. It was through the action of the attorney, thus inquiries, and people involved in the investigation that got him busted. In my opinion someone still had to squeal to direct the attention. Of course that just my opinion and not worth a whole lot.
I see what you're saying. Nobody discovered a problem with the computer drawings until suspicions were raised by the method used to try to collect the 12 mil JP.
But I still think his greed was his main downfall. If he had been satisfied with his cut from the first 3, I don't think he'd have ever gotten caught. I don't remember what the other 2 jackpots were worth (has that been reported?), but the one in Texas paid out $600K which is about minimum for HL, so my guess is his cuts added up to a minimum of a million dollars for the first 3 rigged drawings and maybe more.
I agree on the greed part, HoLeeKau, that's for sure. Not that what he did was right by any means, but as my signatures surmises, it's okay to be a pig, just don't be a hog. That also plays back to people saying "Money is the root of all evil", when actually it is "The love of money is the root of all evil". Money in itself is not evil, and I will certainly take it. I just don't need, or want, it all.
Now I see that one rigged drawing benefited Tipton's brother to the tune of less than $600K and it was NOT Hot Lotto, but was a Colorado Lotto game. He may not have gotten anything from that since it was his brother. His mistake on that one was not making sure there was only 1 winning ticket sold, so Bro had to share the JP with a couple other winners.
And the other one was worth less than a million too, I don't think this was a Hot Lotto ticket either. So I guess he probably didn't have a million in stolen proceeds.
when will you people wake up abolish money abolish government abolish religion
I Think the VA Lottery is rigged too. you cant see the balls when their drawn and funny how the same number comes out maye 1 or 2 days later. our roads are not fixed and why do they say they give so much to the schools.....lmao....if that were true. then why teacher always sending notes home for #supplies.....
Absolutely, similar occurrences are on the increase, remove people & programmable RNG machinery that can possibly contribute to thievery & give players a break - aren't the odds enough to contend with?
Where ever big money is at stake in speculation, the predictable greed factor plays an important hand.
Eddessa_Knight
"People knew that he (Tipton) had connections in Texas," Redburn said. "At the time we sent them this information and we reviewed it, this person that won that $1.2 million prize was from Texas. We told them they should probably check that out since he's an out-of-state winner."
That doesn't mean every Texan that purchases Hot Lotto tickets in Oklahoma knows Tipton, but it looks like that's what they are trying to prove. They better be extra careful because those multi-million jackpot winners won't like them insinuating they cheated and can afford the best lawyers.