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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

Trials for Tipton brothers charged in lottery scandal delayedNews Story
Trials for brothers charged with ongoing criminal conduct in Iowa for allegedly fixing lottery games to collect jackpots have been delayed. District Court Judge Bradley McCall entered an order Wednesday moving the trial for Eddie Tipton to July 10. His trial had been scheduled to begin Feb. 13. His brother, Tommy Tipton, a former Texas justice of the peace, was facing trial Jan. 23. His trial date was moved to Sept. 11. Attorneys for both sides agreed to the rescheduling. Eddie Tipto
Jan 8, 2017, 10:58 am - Lottery News

Man files lawsuit over rigged lottery jackpotsNews Story
Hopes to achieve class action certification Hundreds of thousands of lottery players who were allegedly cheated by an insider's long-running scheme to rig jackpots should be reimbursed for their losing tickets, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday that seeks class action certification. Lawyers filed the consumer fraud case against the Multi-State Lottery Association, the Iowa-based nonprofit that helps administer games that are offered by state lotteries. It alleges the association faile
Jan 4, 2017, 8:56 pm - Lottery News

Chicago mayor toyed with idea of city-only lotteryNews Story
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has toyed with the concept of establishing a city lottery to help ease the city's financial woes and, while the idea has not progressed, it could get backing from at least one key Democrat in Springfield. That's one of the better nuggets buried in the trove of private emails that Emanuel was forced to release just before Christmas under pressure from a Better Government Association lawsuit. The May 5, 2015, email came from former Illinois Lottery Director Michael
Dec 28, 2016, 11:49 am - Lottery News

Accused lottery rigger Eddie Tipton facing new Wisconsin chargesNews Story
A former Iowa lottery security official accused of rigging drawings to win prize money in several states is facing new felony charges in Wisconsin. A prosecutor in the Wisconsin Department of Justice filed a total of six charges against Eddie Tipton on Thursday, including one count of racketeering, a theft by fraud charge and four computers crimes charges. The charges stem from a suspect December 2007 Megabucks drawing in Wisconsin that allegedly won Tipton and a business associate a prize wo
Dec 22, 2016, 9:41 pm - Lottery News

Alleged lottery scandal conspirator to enter new pleaNews Story
A Texas businessman charged in Iowa's lottery rigging investigation is scheduled to enter a new plea often a signal that a plea agreement has been reached with prosecutors. Robert Clark Rhodes pleaded not guilty in May to a felony charge of ongoing criminal conduct stemming from his alleged participation in a 2011 scheme to cash in on a Hot Lotto ticket worth more than $14 million. Rhodes, 48, reportedly is a close friend to Eddie Tipton, a former security official at the Urbandale-based Mult
Nov 14, 2016, 8:35 pm - Lottery News

Judge: winner's lawsuit in lottery-fixing case can continueNews Story
The winner of a $9 million state lottery jackpot can continue a lawsuit that contends he would have won millions more if the prior drawing had not been rigged by a rogue insider, an Iowa judge has ruled. District Court Judge Karen Romano rejected requests Wednesday to dismiss the case, which is the first filed against the Multi-State Lottery Association over a major jackpot-rigging scandal inside the organization. She ruled that the association and the Iowa Lottery are not immune from the
Oct 13, 2016, 7:01 pm - Lottery News

Prosecutors say 2 more men may be linked to lottery riggingsNews Story
Prosecutors in the case of a former lottery insider convicted last year in a national Hot Lotto jackpot-rigging scandal are seeking to subpoena records from two attorneys they believe could be tied to the plot. Documents filed on Tuesday by the lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand, seek to subpoena records from Texas attorneys J. Thad Whisenant and Luis Vallejo. Authorities assert that immediately after investigators attempted to interview Whisenant about t
Aug 24, 2016, 6:21 pm - Lottery News

Internal investigation concludes Tipton acted alone to rig lottery drawingsNews Story
An internal investigation into a national jackpot-fixing scandal has concluded that a single former lottery employee was responsible for any drawings that were manipulated, but it failed to uncover proof of his guilt. The report for the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) found that the group's former security director, Eddie Tipton, worked independently to commit any fraud without help from current or former employees. But investigators also said they failed to determine how he pulled it
Aug 10, 2016, 9:40 pm - Lottery News

Iowa court reverses part of Tipton's lottery fraud convictionNews Story
An Iowa appeals court on Wednesday upheld a former lottery employee's conviction for rigging the computer system to generate the winning ticket in a $16 million jackpot, but reversed a conviction for attempting to cash in on the ticket. The conviction stems from Eddie Tipton's work for the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, or MSLA, which produces computers that generate random numbers for lotteries in multiple states. As an employee of the association, Tipton was barred from playing
Jul 28, 2016, 8:23 am - Lottery News