MUSL CHIEF OUSTED OVER JACKPOT-RIGGING SCANDAL

Dec 23, 2015, 2:39 pm (23 comments)

Insider Buzz

Key industry official has run Powerball from its inception

Bret Toyne appointed interim executive director

A prominent lottery official who has run the Powerball game since its inception was quietly removed from his 28-year post leading the Multi-State Lottery Association after a jackpot-fixing scandal inside his organization got bigger, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

Charles Strutt, executive director of the association since its 1987 founding, was stripped of his duties in October by the group's board, which includes directors of lotteries in 37 states and U.S. territories. The move came days after prosecutors said their investigation of jackpot-fixing by the association's former security director, Eddie Tipton, had expanded nationwide.

The association, which operates multi-state games such as Hot Lotto and Wild Card in addition to Powerball, has kept the leadership change quiet. It didn't announce its decision and its website lists Strutt as executive director. Idaho Lottery director Jeff Anderson, the board's chairman, said Monday he couldn't comment on a "personnel matter."

But in an Oct. 15 email obtained by the AP through an open records request, Anderson told board members that Strutt had been placed on indefinite administrative leave and that his longtime deputy, Bret Toyne, was appointed interim executive director.

"He accepted the decision of the MUSL Board and was helpful in sharing his thoughts on what was necessary for the future," Anderson wrote of Strutt. He said that Toyne "will be an effective leader who can guide the future of the MUSL."

Strutt declined comment, saying Anderson is the group's spokesman during "internal reviews." Investigators have said the evidence so far shows Tipton was the only lottery official involved in the scheme.

The Urbandale, Iowa-based association has been rocked by the case against Tipton, who was convicted in July of fraud for working with associates to attempt to claim a fixed $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot. Strutt testified for the prosecution, saying he believed a person shown on video buying the winning ticket in Des Moines was Tipton.

On Oct. 9, investigators announced they had uncovered new evidence showing Tipton worked with associates to fix jackpots and claim prizes worth millions of dollars in Colorado and Wisconsin. Since then, the case has expanded to include jackpots in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Investigators allege Tipton used his access to the association's random number generators to know winning combinations in advance, then he and his associates played those numbers and shared the prizes.

Tipton, who denies the allegations, is scheduled to face a second trial next month. The association fired the 11-year security employee after his January arrest, replaced machines he worked on and strengthened its security measures.

Strutt was its first employee when six states formed the association to offer the nation's first multi-state game, Lotto America. The group launched Powerball in 1992, and the game has since generated some of the world's largest jackpots and billions of dollars in revenue for 44 states that now participate. Strutt also helped establish the association's other games, which collectively surpass $5 billion in annual sales.

Check your state's drawing types

Lottery players in any state can determine the extent to which their state uses computerized drawings at Lottery Post's State Lottery Report Card. The report, which is exclusive to Lottery Post, displays all of the games in each state, color-coded to show whether the game uses real lotto ball drawings or computerized drawings, and grades the state based on the percentage of games that use real lotto ball drawings.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

AP, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

HoLeeKau's avatarHoLeeKau

Good!

DELotteryPlyr's avatarDELotteryPlyr

Quote: Originally posted by HoLeeKau on Dec 23, 2015

Good!

Agreed! Good to see heads roll over this. 

noise-gate

"Quietly Removed".. = Mischief was going on.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

                                                             Thinking of...ThudThinking of...

    "ANOTHER one BIT the DUST"

                White BounceWhite BounceWhite Bouncethere goes another SOBeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee>>>>>>>>>>>

eddessaknight's avatareddessaknight

Quote: Originally posted by psykomo on Dec 23, 2015

                                                             Thinking of...ThudThinking of...

    "ANOTHER one BIT the DUST"

                White BounceWhite BounceWhite Bouncethere goes another SOBeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee>>>>>>>>>>>

There is an ancient venerated saying from the East:

"When a fish ruts, it ruts from the heard down."

 

Happy Dayz Wishes w/FORTUNA

Eddessa_Knight Sun Smiley

travelintrucker's avatartravelintrucker

They have to keep the lottery honest and transparent.

MaximumMillions

Bye Felicia.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Dec 23, 2015

"Quietly Removed".. = Mischief was going on.

More likely it means, "Nothing to see here. Just an isolated incident that has nothing to do with how we manage things. We just had one bad employee apple who acted alone and didn't take advantage of a lack of oversight from the people who should have ensured that security procedures were adequate. Just forget it ever even happened."

I haven't seen anything in the press, but the important story here isn't what Tipton did, it's that the security policies made it possible, even if it had been just the Hot Lotto incident. It's not even about Tipton allegedly installing a root kit. It's about the failure, for at least 5 weeks, to even know the machines were compromised. That makes it clear that one of three failures occurred. Either they weren't checking at all, they weren't checking effectively, or Tipton was the only one checking.

BuyLow's avatarBuyLow

Quote: Originally posted by MaximumMillions on Dec 23, 2015

Bye Felicia.

Wink and LOL

LottoMetro's avatarLottoMetro

I'm pretty sure everyone expected someone up the ladder to take the fall for the biggest scandal since the Pennsylvania lottery rigging

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by LottoMetro on Dec 23, 2015

I'm pretty sure everyone expected someone up the ladder to take the fall for the biggest scandal since the Pennsylvania lottery rigging

That Pennsylvania thing years ago was nothing compared to this — or any of these nightmares caused by computerized drawings.

Thegreenpirate

I'm glad I knew they were cheating!!

noise-gate

Let's hope that this turns out to be a blessing in disguise-how so you ask? Well If more of these rigged payouts show  up in other State lottery investigations,this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back where the powers that be say " enough is enough, we scraping the rng method altogether in order to be as transparent as possible-we owe this to the players."

** One  can only hope.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by Thegreenpirate on Dec 23, 2015

I'm glad I knew they were cheating!!

They should have known cheating was possible when they bought their first RNG.

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