The 5 lottery jackpots Tipton and his friends stole

Jun 20, 2017, 8:01 am (10 comments)

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Eddie Tipton, the now-infamous former security chief at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), is accused of installing software on Random Number Generators that allowed him to predict winning combinations for drawings that occurred on three dates every non-leap year — Nov. 23, Dec. 29 and May 27.

So far, Tipton and his associates have been linked to winning tickets in five states between 2005 and 2011. Here are the details:

  • Colorado, Nov. 23, 2005: Tipton's brother Tommy Tipton, a Texas magistrate, buys the winning ticket for a $4.5 million Colorado Lotto jackpot. Two other winning tickets are sold, and investigators suspect one of them also is tied to the scheme. Tommy Tipton recruits a friend to claim his $568,900 cash payout, saying he wants to hide the winnings from his wife. The friend gets 10 percent.
  • Wisconsin, Dec. 29, 2007: Tipton's friend Robert Rhodes, of Sugar Land, Texas, wins a $2 million Megabucks drawing in Wisconsin. He opts to take the $783,000 cash payout, which he splits with Eddie Tipton by delivering him briefcases full of cash when they visit each other in the coming months. Rhodes had a limited liability corporation claim the prize, which required him to sue the Wisconsin Lottery and get a court order. Rhodes later tells investigators that Eddie Tipton supplied him with note cards of the potential combinations to purchase.
  • Kansas, Dec. 29, 2010: Tipton buys two winning tickets at convenience stores in Overland Park and Emporia for the Kansas 2by2 game. Each is worth $22,000. Tipton asks two friends to claim one ticket each, and they each give him back a portion of the payout. He tells one friend that her proceeds can be considered a gift for her recent engagement.
  • Iowa, Dec. 29, 2010: Tipton buys the winning ticket for a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot at a Des Moines gas station. Investigators say he passes the winning ticket to Rhodes in Texas, who then works with others in Canada and New York in an unsuccessful attempt to claim the prize in 2011. The Iowa Lottery refuses to pay after a trust formed to claim the prize refuses to reveal who bought the ticket. Tipton is identified as the buyer after investigators release gas station surveillance video in 2014.
  • Oklahoma, Nov. 23, 2011: Tommy Tipton buys the winning ticket for a $1.2 million Hot Lotto jackpot in Oklahoma. Investigators say he recruited Texas construction company owner Kyle Conn to claim the prize.

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.

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

AP, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

noise-gate

Oh what a tangled Web we weave...when first, we practice to deceive "- Walter Scott.

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Add all the hours of work and effort that all investigators, justice system, lottery employees, and LP Staff have put into this case.  Eddie Tipton and his co-conspirators were only thinking of themselves. Selfish greed.

Redd55

With so many people involved they were eventually going to be found out and caught.

Sunglasses

With this story they will start to think about security.

Putting a security agent isn't all you need. Sometimes you must shut a lock with a key. :)

ckrakowski

Tipton's brother Tommy Tipton, a Texas magistrate, buys the winning ticket for a $4.5 million Colorado Lotto jackpot. Two other winning tickets are sold, and investigators suspect one of them also is tied to the scheme.

 

 

So that means that there is 1 ticket not tied to the fraud. Will this true winner of the colorado lottery get the rest of their rightful winnings. I can say that there are going to be people who will  continue to play but there are also people who will no longer play anymore because they will think that the lottery will not be completely random and fair and secured against tampering. All of these lotteries have just taken a massive PR hit.

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

Noisegates signature line seems befitting for this topic. Tipton thought the same way!

Actually this is great PR for states to say how they now invest more in security and authentication of draws...So they now will have to up the odds and cost to cover the upgraded systems. The customer pays for all this mind you...

FULLYBLESS

My numbers couldve been a winner a long time ago,u have these <snip>s rigging machines , its a crooked person in every job field though...

This post has been automatically changed by the Lottery Post computer system to remove inappropriate content and/or spam.

tg636

Good question - that person was defrauded of $3 million.  I would think the next real jackpot winner after the fraud jackpots would also feel pretty cheated.  That $16 million wasn't paid out but was it returned to its rightful place in the jackpot sequence and given to the next winner(s)?

msharkey2001's avatarmsharkey2001

He is without honor.

NoCompLotto!

No, it was not. The Iowa lottery held a special giveaway for its portion of the prize, but the other states that participated were free to do what they wantes with it, be it return it to the prize pool or go to where unclaines prizes go. I know of only iowa that did something with thier share.

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