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Lottery winner can seek bigger prize at trial, judge rulesNews Story
Lucky Larry may have a shot to win millions more this time from a jury. A judge has ordered a trial in a lawsuit filed by Iowa lottery winner Larry Dawson, who contends a $9 million jackpot that he won in 2011 should have been nearly three times as big. Dawson filed his lawsuit in 2016 after an investigation revealed that lottery contractor Eddie Tipton rigged the previous $16.5 million jackpot, bought the winning ticket himself and unsuccessfully worked with associates to claim it. Da
May 17, 2019, 12:01 pm - Lottery News

Lottery-scamming brothers avoid asset seizures by transferring property to their motherNews Story
By Jason Clayworth Two brothers who were behind the largest lottery scam in U.S. history and owe more than $2.3 million in unpaid restitution and court fees recently transferred several properties they owned to their mother. The transfers from Eddie and Tommy Tipton have raised further questions about why four states Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin and Colorado have yet to seize their properties. It has been about two years since the brothers admitted their role in a scam that hijacked lott
Apr 29, 2019, 9:50 pm - Lottery News

Arizona becomes latest state to shield lottery winners' namesNews Story
Arizona joined a growing number of states allowing winners of big lottery jackpots to stay anonymous Wednesday after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation letting winners of jackpots of $100,000 or more request that their names not be made public. The move comes as privacy concerns are increasingly trumping lottery groups' wishes to publicize winners to boost sales and show that the games are fair. Four years ago, just five states allowed anonymous winners, but the number has now g
Apr 18, 2019, 8:51 am - Lottery News

Colorado man who unwittingly split a $4.8M jackpot with scammer is fighting the Colorado LotteryNews Story
In 2005, three people won a Colorado Lotto jackpot worth $4.8 million, and Boulder's Amir Massihzadeh held one set of winning numbers. He accepted his prize of $568,990 after splitting the pot and paying taxes and moved on with life. Ten years later, Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents visited Massihzadeh to interview him about his winning number because they were investigating a criminal scheme to rig lotteries. They suspected the other two ticket-holders who split the prize with Mass
Apr 15, 2019, 10:14 am - Lottery News

Growing number of states move to shield lottery winnersNews Story
A growing number of states are moving to allow the winners of big lottery jackpots to stay anonymous as privacy concerns are increasingly trumping lottery groups' wishes to publicize winners to boost sales and show that the games are fair. Arizona could be the next state to join at least nine others with laws that let winners keep their names secret under a proposal headed to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. Four years ago, just five states allowed anonymous winners, and a handful of others allowe
Apr 14, 2019, 8:26 am - Lottery News

Iowa lottery lawsuit granted class action, affecting 7.2 million tickets in 19 statesNews Story
By Jason Clayworth A judge has granted class-action status in a lawsuit that claims people who purchased at least 7.2 million lottery tickets in 19 states were scammed by a former national lottery IT director who worked in Iowa. Eddie Tipton, the former IT director for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Urbandale, added a secret code to random number-generating computer software in 2005 that allowed him to narrow the drawing's winning odds from as great as 5 million to 1 down to 200 to
Jan 28, 2019, 10:24 am - Lottery News

Lawyers seek to depose lottery fraud mastermind in prisonNews Story
Lawyers pursuing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of lottery customers nationwide are seeking to interview the jailed insider who allegedly rigged jackpots for himself and others for years. The lawyers said in a court filing Friday they want to take the deposition of Eddie Tipton at the prison in Clarinda, Iowa, to gather information for their case against the Multi-State Lottery Association. Judge Michael Huppert recently granted class-action status to the case, which involves customers w
Jan 21, 2019, 8:50 pm - Lottery News

Investigation finds lottery scamming Tipton brothers have repaid virtually nothingNews Story
By Jason Clayworth and Rachel Denny Clow Two brothers who spearheaded the biggest lottery scam in U.S. history have repaid less than $1,400 in restitution despite owning property worth nearly $2 million, a Des Moines Register and Corpus Christi Caller Times investigation has found. Between them, Eddie and Tommy Tipton have admitted rigging winning drawings in at least five states, including Iowa, worth a combined $24 million. But they have barely made a dent in the more than $2.4 millio
Dec 27, 2018, 8:52 am - Lottery News

8 years after buying $10.8 million ticket, lottery winner says life is 'marvelous'News Story
A Pennsylvania couple who took home more than $10 million in Delaware's first Hot Lotto jackpot eight years ago traded in their mobile home for a four-bedroom house but say their good fortune hasn't changed them. In August 2009, Robert Crowther already had retired from the Chrysler Assembly Plant in Newark, Delaware, where he had worked for more than 30 years. Since the Crowthers opted to take the jackpot as a lump sum of $10,774,362 rather than as a deferred annuity, life has been marvelous,
Nov 12, 2018, 4:09 pm - Lottery News

Memo: Iowa Lottery kept selling games after security warningNews Story
A newly unsealed memo shows the Iowa Lottery kept marketing four popular games despite an August 2015 warning from its security chief that their integrity was compromised. The memo was written following the trial of Eddie Tipton, who was convicted of rigging a Hot Lotto jackpot worth $16 million. Steve Bogle, its vice president of security, recommended that the lottery immediately suspend sales of Hot Lotto, Pick 3, Pick 4, and All or Nothing. He told CEO Terry Rich, we cannot allow the ci
Aug 1, 2018, 2:27 pm - Lottery News