
Includes video report
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Education Lottery is cooperating with investigators as they look into one of the most elaborate lottery scams in U.S. history.
The scam was the work of Eddie Tipton, a former security director with the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Tipton has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to ten years in prison.
But his brother and his old college roommate were recently arrested as the jackpot fixing investigation expanded.
Prosecutors in Iowa say surveillance video from an Iowa convenience store shows Eddie Tipton buying a winning ticket worth $14 million back in 2010.
The Assistant Director of Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) said the scam sounds like something you would see in a movie.
"This new to me in my career. I have not seen anything like this," David Jobes said.
Investigators say Tipton used his security clearance to install software on lottery computers.
The software enabled him to manipulate winning lottery numbers in at least six states.
"We continue to work on this case. The agents keep looking at jackpots in different locations," Jobe said.
That includes Tennessee.
The President and CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery, Rebecca Hargrove, confirmed they provided the names of those who won certain lottery games to investigators.
They are reviewing those names to see if winners have ties to Tipton.
"We feel as confident as we possibly can that Tennessee was not impacted," Hargrove said.
But Tennessee lottery officials confirmed to Newschannel 5 Investigates that Tipton visited the offices of the Tennessee Lottery back in 2004 while he worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association.
"He had no access what-so-ever to our facilities since we started using random number generated drawings," Hargrove said.
Investigators are not focused on games like Mega-millions or Powerball because they use ball drops to pick winning numbers.
They are focused on games like Hot Lotto which use computers — called random number generators — to pick winners.
Tipton's brother actually won jackpots in Oklahoma and Colorado. An investigator was asked could anyone be that lucky?
David Jobe responded, "I wouldn't think so. I know I'm not."
Hargrove said the timing is critical — the state didn't start offering Hot Lotto until 2013 — after Tipton had been caught buying that ticket in Iowa and his scheme began to unravel.
She doubts Tennessee will be impacted by the lottery scam.
"We didn't use any random number generators from the gentleman who provided them," Hargrove said. "Our random number generators have never come from that source."
VIDEO: Watch the report
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
- Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich to answer lottery player questions live Monday evening, Jan. 11, 2016
- First lawsuit in state lottery-fixing scandal seeks millions, Feb. 4, 2016
- MUSL seeks to dismiss lawsuit over rigged jackpot, Apr. 1, 2016
- Lottery scammer's brother facing criminal charges, Apr. 6, 2016
- Investigators find Tipton's software code to rig computerized lottery drawings, Apr. 7, 2016
- Lottery rigging scandal prompts security audit in South Dakota, Apr. 13, 2016
- Preliminary hearing rescheduled for Tommy Tipton in lottery rigging case, Apr. 22, 2016
- Third suspect surrenders in national lottery rigging scandal, Apr. 28, 2016
Boy, this stuff is turning into a virus and the Dragon Lady thinks she is immune.
The GOOD THING about this Nationwide RNG Investigation, is that it EXPOSES the Obvious Security Vulnerabilities and FRAUD that can happen in the game of Lottery using RNG drawings rather than Mechanical Ball Drawings.
FRAUD is EASIER for Hackers with Computer Generated RNG lottery games.
So it seems we are just scratching the surface, hopefully this is the beginning of the end for RNG !
I'm with you: I wish this was the beginning of the end for RNG. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that the states are getting it.
Did you watch the video and notice Ms. Hargrove laughingly dismiss the possibility that the Tennessee Lottery's RNG was affected? Rather than taking a serious tone and assuring people that the lottery is carefully investigating everything, she nearly does an eyeroll as she blows off the reporter's question.
For the life of me I can't understand the lotteries' need to cling to computerized drawings as if they are the lifeblood of the games, when in fact the opposite is true. I can see how people could conclude that vendors of these drawing machines are "somehow" persuading lotteries to stick with them.
The Texas Lottery demonstrates on a daily basis what I consider to be some of the best, most transparent, lottery drawings, and they are done with modern robotic camera technology that minimizes the costs involved. I can tell you that if I ran a lottery, I would absolutely adopt their approach. Too bad the computerized states refuse.
You got to love Priscilla's answer: "We did not get our rng from that guy."
Yeah, as if that is the only computerized drawing system on Earth that could have been hacked.
My thought exactly Todd.
It's mystifying, especially given the national news coverage the Hot Lotto RNG hacking scandal has received. And yet Hot Lotto is still associated with MUSL, still uses computer RNG, and many are still buying! Crazy.
Personally, I'd never buy any MUSL associated RNG game, such as 2x2, Hot Lotto, etc. Heck, I'm leery of even buying a Powerball or Mega Millions ticket these days, despite being ball drawn, unless the jackpot is record breaking high.
Unless numbers sales drop sharply, it's likely many lotteries, such as Tennessee Lottery, will downplay the hacking issues, and continue / expand the use of RNG.
I couldn't find past sales data on the Hot Lotto page. Be interested in knowing whether Hot Lotto ticket sales dropped much / overall sales history ... that data would likely shed much light on the lack of concern regarding RNG / hacking by most lotteries. If Hot Lotto sales, long-term, weren't affected much, that could explain it.
Hargrove said the timing is critical — the state didn't start offering Hot Lotto until 2013 — after Tipton had been caught buying that ticket in Iowa and his scheme began to unravel.
Then why is MUSL wasting time investigating Tennessee Hot Lotto winners?
Tipton's brother actually won jackpots in Oklahoma and Colorado.
But can they prove Eddie Tipton rigged those drawings?
Sounds like anyone who wins a jackpot of a MUSL game is a suspect because they have accomplished the impossible.
Lottery directors are seen as financial wizards who don't make mistakes.
Switching back to ball machines would require funds that the political class is not about to give up without a fight.
A recommendation that players stop buying tickets is ludicrous. There is no way on earth or Hell that such an effort be seriously organized and put into effect.
Like it or not, the RNG computers that are now in place are here to stay.
I just wish people were sharp enough to fall back from playing in cases where these scams come out. You can get the results you want simply by NOT funding it by playing. Don't play and they will make changes. People's greed and addictions to the hope of winning have a grip on their logical thinking.