Judges denies request for new trial
By Todd Northrop
DES MOINES, Iowa — Eddie Tipton, a former security official with the Multi-State Lottery Association, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars Wednesday morning.
Tipton was sentenced to five years for each of the two counts of fraud, to run consecutively. He did not make a statement during the sentencing hearing.
In July, a Polk County jury found him guilty of two counts of fraud. (See Former lottery security employee guilty of rigging $14.3M drawing, Lottery Post, July 20, 2015.)
Prosecutors said Tipton bought a Hot Lotto ticket in 2011 worth $14 million, which he could not claim as a lottery employee.
It was proved beyond a reasonable doubt at his trial that Tipton rigged the computerized drawing using a rootkit he installed on the drawing computer. He purchased the Hot Lotto ticket knowing that his rootkit would force the numbers on his lottery ticket to be drawn.
Tipton's defense team asked for and was denied a new trial.
Judge Jeffrey Farrell told Tipton during Wednesday's sentencing hearing that his violation of trust was the biggest factor in him receiving the maximum sentence on each count.
Farrell noted that Tipton's job was to ensure the lottery wasn't breached and that no one cheated the game.
"This is about as large an invasion of trust as I can possibly imagine. That is something the court considers to be significant in regard to the gravity of this offense," the judge said, adding that a prison sentence was necessary to deter others from considering such crimes.
Tipton, who immediately appealed and remains free on bond, declined to make a statement at the sentencing hearing. He also didn't testify during his trial.
Tipton's attorney, Dean Stowers, argued for probation. He said Tipton was working in Texas and had always been a productive member of society. He also argued that sentencing in financial crimes is often based on financial loss, and there was no economic loss in this case because the Iowa Lottery never paid the prize for the winning Hot Lotto ticket.
Stowers said he was confident the sentence would be overturned.
"We think there was insufficient evidence and that the prosecution was untimely based on the statute of limitations and we're confident the Iowa Supreme Court or the Iowa Court of Appeals will agree with that when they're presented with this whole case," Stowers said after Thursday's hearing.
Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand pushed for prison time, saying Tipton didn't cooperate in the investigation and hasn't taken responsibility for his actions.
Sand noted that Tipton would likely serve less than half the sentence if given time for good behavior and could likely be paroled years before that, even serving as little as 18 months in prison.
The sentencing ends a mysterious five-year search for the truth that started on December 29, 2010 when it was announced that one ticket won the $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot, and ended when it was unfortunately proved that computerized drawings can be rigged. And that a better thief might have gotten away with it.
Sucks to be you dude!!!.
gonna make all kinds of new friends jejeje
Congrat's Tipton UR trial proved RNG could B rigged 2B WON. WHy not write a book (auto-bio) about the
RNG Man. Be sure 2 explain how the chip guarnteed UR sucessful RNG programming of future numbers.
No. surprise here on the guilty verdict. Since they , get a warning in advance that computerized drawing can be rigged, no surprise here. The surprise is in the judgement. Mr Tipton rights to appeal , was denied. He make the perfect fall guy , Just like in the movies. So, It won't be a surprise , later down the line when history repeat it self.
Wow don,t mess with the lottery. LOL.
I told my haters that the lottery can be rigged, and they didn't like to have that thought entering their minds. Because of RNG can be rigged, it makes me wonder if the ball drawings can be messed with.
Tipton was only denied a new jury trial in Polk County, Iowa. He can still appeal his sentence to the Iowa Court of Appeals or the Iowa Supreme Court. He'll remain free on bond until his appeals are exhausted.
Ball drawings can be and have been rigged also, but IMHO RNG games present a bigger problem as far as fraud and should be banned. All draw games should have televised ball drawings.
They should of shown this on Court TV and CNN to warn all the other idiots that might try to rip players off.
I like this line: "unfortunately proved that computerized drawings can be rigged. And that a better thief might have gotten away with it." Maybe they already have!
What sucks about all this is...most of them do it too and get by with it.
Thank you.
Total BS....They never proved how he did it with all the checks they say they do before every drawing! Second If a system check is conducted before every drawing and must be done by a group of people who work there and there is no computer according to MSL. So again how did he do it when they never produced the video of him doing it,program which he used and why no one saw or reported a tampering to the system which is not hook up to an outside computer? APPEAL!!
Its nice to be elliot ness and crusade, but Did he really get 10 years yet? Its a great judgment, but Brady did not even get four games yet.
Spartan.
You seem and sound like a 300 minus one. You migt need mour MuScLe to prove your side.
Weren't computer drawings already rigged several years ago in Tennessee? They got away with it for a good while,
they being the Tennessee lottery. There is no telling how long or how many times, computerized drawings have been
rigged. We would only know about it when someone gets caught AND it's made public, because they are always saying
it can't be rigged due to the security measures blah, blah, blah. And the last thing they want is for it to become known
that they can be rigged, as it could destroy the integrity of the games. So if we never hear of anyone being caught
does that mean it isn't being done, or just that people are smart enough not to be caught? Or if they have, they don't
want to publicize it.
Computer systems are hacked into all the time, why can't it be done with the lottery?
i say let him out when he can win a jackpot. let him buy 1 mega and 1 powerball ea draw, and he gets out when he wins. ohhh the irony
Of course ball drawings can be rigged, explain how back to back number pairs show up in over 90% of drawings when it's a phenomena that should only happen about once in every 75 drawings at best.
ABOUT time!!! Nice to see him get time for what he did!
I've been leery of computer games since the late '90s!!! Even way back then, I was saying that "it's a computer. It can be programmed to do whatever the programmer wants it to do. If the programmer wants you to win, you will win; if the programmer wants you to lose, you will lose".
I absolutely hate RNGs, and say the same thing today when it comes to lotteries, casino slot machines, etc. They are computers!!!
I do still play anyway, because if I don't, I have ZERO chance of hitting a big jackpot. The lottery I play uses a RNG ... but I refuse to spend my money on the PB or MM games with their astronomically high odds!
Funny how 2 of our worst ice days in Tennessee they throw tripples each morning knowing we couldnt get out to play.If that dont tell those playing people to stop playing here nothing will.....Oh yea I fgound out that exit 2 in Kentucky has casino games,yea baby....40 minutes from my house....
AMEN !
I think the punishment fits the crime but, I still feel cheated! I played Hot Lotto with Sizzler, heavily! I never stood a chance! Apparently, no one did!
I invested a lot into that pot! Whatever happened to the Jackpot prize money? I never received a refund, an iou, an apology, or anything.
At any rate, thanks to Todd, I don't play Hot Lotto anymore. I refuse to play computerized lottery games.
Tennessee players live to chase a non winning dream.People wake up.
I understand why this man would be sentenced so harshly for rigging the lottery .I wonder why Joan Ginther was never questioned about her tactics winning the lottery.Joan Ginther is a former Math professor with a Phd on Statistics winning four times on scratch offs to the sums of $5.4 million,$2million,$3million and $10 million.They are speculations that she figured out the pattern of algorithm that determines the place a winning ticket is placed in a batch of scratch off tickets. once the pattern was discovered she would wait until the winning ticket was scheduled to show up in a sparsely populated region with less competition.
If the lottery can't make the locations of winning scratchers unpredictable, that's their problem. There's nothing illegal or unethical about looking for patterns in the system and finding them.
"It was proved beyond a reasonable doubt at his trial that Tipton rigged the computerized drawing using a rootkit he installed on the drawing computer."
If it's a fact at least one drawing was rigged, why aren't the people running the game being investigated?