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Best friend to testify against Tipton at July lottery rigging trialNews Story
It took Texas businessman Robert Rhodes more than a year to turn against his good old boy best friend after he realized that Eddie Tipton would not do a deal and tell prosecutors about how he had created an elaborate system to rig lotteries in five states. But despite fear for his safety, Rhodes is poised to give testimony at a trial scheduled for July 10 in Des Moines that prosecutors hope will finally put Tipton behind bars a decade after launching a scheme that netted $2 million in jackpot
Mar 31, 2017, 7:48 am - Lottery News

Kansas lawmakers considering lottery vending machinesNews Story
Kansas Lottery players soon might be able to buy tickets from vending machines. The House voted this week in support of the move, which the state lottery has sought for three years. Lottery spokeswoman Sally Lunsford said the measure would increase lottery revenue and cut labor costs for retailers, where ticket buyers could bypass clerks and use the self-service machines. She said 37 other states, including Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma, use the machines. Vending machines have increas
Mar 25, 2017, 3:30 pm - Lottery News

Kansas files lawsuit against accused lottery riggerNews Story
A lawsuit by the state of Kansas accuses the man at the center of a multi-state lottery number-fixing scam of working with two others to redeem two rigged lottery tickets for $44,000. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday he filed the Shawnee County lawsuit against Eddie Tipton and two others who Schmidt says turned in the tickets to the Kansas Lottery. Schmidt alleges Tipton used software manipulation to rig the tickets. Tipton, 54, of Flatonia, Texas, once worked as the
Mar 16, 2017, 6:26 am - Lottery News

One ticket sold in Indiana wins $435 million Powerball jackpotNews Story
By Todd Northrop One ticket sold in the Hoosier State won Wednesday's $435.3 million Powerball lottery jackpot, which had been accumulating for 18 consecutive draws without a winner. The winning ticket was purchased at the Super Test at 1609 Sagamore Parkway South, in Lafayette. Lafayette is about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The cash value lump sum is $263.4 million. The ticket holder should ensure their ticket is in a secure place, consider meeting with a financial advisor a
Feb 23, 2017, 9:35 am - Lottery News

Woman sentenced for stealing more than $400,000 from Missouri lottery winnerNews Story
A former Kansas City woman who stole more than $400,000 from a Missouri Lottery winner was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison. Freya Pearson, 44, of Conyers, Ga., was ordered to repay $441,830 to the victim, a female 61-year-old former hospital housekeeper who won $2.4 million in the Missouri Lottery in 2008. But because of Pearson's scheme, the lottery winner is now financially insolvent and had to take a reverse mortgage in order to keep her home, according to federal pr
Feb 22, 2017, 8:35 pm - Lottery News

$403 MILLION: Red hot Powerball jackpot rolls againNews Story
12th-largest cash value in US history By Todd Northrop This week Powerball is the hot ticket, featuring a lump-sum cash payout of nearly a quarter billion dollars. The new high-water mark of $403 million for the current Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was achieved after no winning tickets were sold for Saturday night's $361 million grand prize. The lump-sum cash payout value of Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is $243.9 million the 12th-largest ever recorded in United States lottery
Feb 19, 2017, 9:47 am - Lottery News

$349 MILLION: Huge Powerball jackpot set for SaturdayNews Story
By Todd Northrop There's nothing like a red-hot Powerball jackpot to distract from the Winter cold. For the first time in 2017, a Powerball jackpot has exceeded $300 million and has entered into the top 25 US jackpots of all time. The new high-water mark of $349 million for the current Powerball jackpot was achieved after no winning tickets were sold for Wednesday night's $317 million grand prize. The lump-sum cash payout value of Saturday's Powerball jackpot is $213.1 million, maki
Feb 16, 2017, 2:19 pm - Lottery News

Iowa Supreme Court hears lottery rigging caseNews Story
The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether purely circumstantial evidence was enough to convict a former lottery employee of rigging Iowa's Hot Lotto game to win a $16.5 million jackpot. Eddie Tipton was convicted of tampering with Iowa's Hot Lotto game and attempting to cash a ticket in early 2015, but an appeals court reversed his conviction on the charge of attempting to redeem the lottery ticket, finding it was barred by the three-year statute of limitations. The Iowa Sup
Feb 14, 2017, 4:47 pm - Lottery News

Texas man pleads guilty to fraud in lottery scandal caseNews Story
A Texas businessman has pleaded guilty to fraud and admitted to helping lottery computer technician Eddie Tipton cash jackpots in a multi-state number-fixing scheme that netted $2 million. Robert Rhodes pleaded guilty in a Des Moines courtroom Monday. Iowa prosecutors will seek two years of probation. Rhodes says he helped Tipton try to cash a $16.5 million 2010 Iowa Hot Lotto ticket but suspicious officials never paid. Rhodes agreed to testify against Tipton and his brother, Tommy Tipt
Jan 11, 2017, 4:18 pm - Lottery News

Former MUSL official received severance amid lottery jackpot scandalNews Story
A prominent lottery official who was stripped of power after a subordinate allegedly carried out a prolonged jackpot-rigging scheme received a $284,000 severance payment, a recent tax filing shows. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) made the payment to its longtime executive director Chuck Strutt as part of a voluntary termination agreement signed March 31, according to its 2016 tax return. The filing, released by the group in response to a request by The AP, also reveals that its leg
Jan 10, 2017, 10:04 pm - Lottery News