ialottery blog

The Latest On The Withdrawn Jackpot Claim

With the crush of media calls today, I am just now having a chance to blog about the latest unusual twist in the claim – and now withdrawal of the claim – for the multi-million-dollar Hot Lotto jackpot won in December 2010 in Des Moines.

We received confirmation a little after 6 p.m. last night that the claim for the ticket was being withdrawn. It’s definitely the real winning ticket and it was worth millions of dollars. We wanted to pay the prize and have said repeatedly that we were ready to pay the prize, but we needed just some basic information before we could do so.

Ultimately, the folks representing Hexham Investments Trust said they wouldn’t provide the information, so they were walking away.

I’ve been asked several different times by reporters today what we think/how we feel/what our reaction is. We’re disappointed that this prize won’t be paid. But at the same time, we focused throughout the process of doing the right thing and wanted to be thoughtful, methodical and careful in our approach. I would hope that’s what everyone would want us to do when there are millions of dollars on the line. And there definitely were in this instance!

So, now what happens to the money? The total involved is the $10.75 million in cash that was on hand from the sale of tickets for that particular Hot Lotto jackpot drawing. The money will be returned to the 15 lotteries that sell the Hot Lotto game in proportion to the percentage of sales that came from each state.

Here in Iowa, the money will ultimately go into the Iowa Lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions. We’re talking about having a promotion in the spring to give away the money, maybe something with the theme that “everyone deserves a second chance”! We can have some fun with it. We haven’t had a chance yet to work through those details, but we will do so as soon as we can.

Here is the statement we issued last night: 

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Lottery officials met Thursday evening with local counsel from the Davis Brown Law Firm representing Hexham Investments Trust. Following that meeting, Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich released the following statement:

“This has been and continues to be the strangest situation that we can recall in the 26-year history of our lottery.

We were excited when the Hot Lotto jackpot-winning ticket was presented in December and we were hopeful that we’d soon be paying out the big prize to the lucky winner. That has not happened. And in fact, late this afternoon, the jackpot claim from Hexham Investments Trust of Bedford, N.Y., was withdrawn. We received confirmation of the claim withdrawal shortly after 6 p.m. today from the Davis Brown Law Firm here in Des Moines.    

As you likely know, the winning ticket for the Hot Lotto jackpot won in December 2010 in Des Moines was turned in here at the lottery with less than two hours to go before the prize would have expired. The winning ticket was signed by a trustee on behalf of Hexham Investments Trust, but no member of the trust was present when the ticket was brought to the lottery by two lawyers on Dec. 29.

That day, and since that time, we have been requesting basic information so we could confirm that the winning ticket was legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented. This standard information is routinely requested of jackpot winners here in Iowa as part of our security processes to comply with both Iowa law and our lottery’s game rules. Those details usually are received within minutes at the time a winning ticket is presented, not in weeks or months. It has been 13 months since the purchase of this ticket and the drawing in which it won the jackpot.   

Those specifics in this instance were not shared with us when the ticket was brought to the lottery, and have still not been shared with us nearly a month later. We established 3 p.m. CST tomorrow as the deadline for that information to be provided so we could bring closure to the situation and move forward.

On Monday, we had informed the trust’s local counsel at the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines of today’s deadline and specified in a letter the information we were requesting. Throughout this week, we remained in contact with lawyers at Davis Brown about our request. We received a letter from the law firm on Wednesday, specifying that if jackpot were to be paid to the trust, all of the winnings would be donated to charity. However, the specifics we sought were not provided.

The Lottery sent a reply to Davis Brown on Thursday, declining to pay the prize because of our concerns about the legality of the purchase, possession, and presentation of this ticket. A copy of that correspondence has been provided today.
 
During conversations with the lottery, Mr. Shaw specified that he is not the beneficiary of Hexham Investments Trust, only its lawyer and trustee. He also specified that he is not the person who purchased the winning ticket in Des Moines, and stated that the recipient of Hexham Investments Trust was a corporation in the country of Belize. He stated that he ultimately did not know the identity of the winner(s).

Through this process, we have tried our best to remain open and transparent, while protecting the integrity of the Iowa Lottery and its games.”

This Just In! We’ve Announced the Winners in ‘Super Tech’

Our holiday promotion has set records again this year, and we’ve got the “Super Tech” winners to announce today! 

You’ll likely remember that way back in September (when all of us were groaning about the upcoming cold weather), we launched our third technology-based holiday promotion. It was called “Super Tech” this time around and it came with a few new twists.

Your response just blew us away! Iowa Lottery players entered more than 2.1 million non-winning holiday tickets into the Super Tech promotion! That’s the most entries we’ve ever received in a web-based promotion, and it’s all thanks to you!

Yesterday we held the drawing to determine the 250 winners of the cool techie prizes that were offered in Super Tech and also selected the winners of the promotion’s six Super Prize packages.

Congrats to the Super Prize package winners:
•    Rob Dahlgaard, Waterloo
•    Chris Derrickson, Ruthven
•    Anne Erickson, Fort Dodge
•    Darell Failor, Marion
•    William James, Saint Charles
•    Brad Seward, Clinton

Each of them will receive a Sony® BRAVIA® 46-inch HDTV, Sony® NEX-C3 digital camera, Sony® Tablet™ S (16GB), Sony® PlayStation® 3 (160GB), Sony® 3D Blu-ray Disc™ home theater system and $2,000 cash. State taxes for the prize package also will be paid.

You can check out the complete list of all the Super Tech prize winners on our website.

We’d better get to work now to see what we can come up with for the 2012 holiday season. Two million entries will be hard to beat!

Facebook Contests Are Back!

Fun news for our friends in the social media world! We’re bringing back our monthly Facebook contests! Can I get a “Woo Hoo”?

Very similar to our monthly Twitter contests, we’ll be asking you a lottery-related question on our “Lottery Contest” tab on our Facebook page.

What’s the prize? Glad you asked. We’ll be giving away three prize packs that will each contain $10 in Powerball coupons and some sweet lottery swag!





A while back, we polled our Facebook fans to see what day of the week and what time they would like to see the contests held. The majority picked Mondays at 11 a.m. So with that said, our January Facebook contest will start at (you guessed it) 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 30.

To be eligible to enter, just “Like” us on Facebook – it’s free to create an account. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the prize packages.   

At 11 a.m. on Monday, we’ll pose our question on Facebook. Just click on the “Lottery Contest” tab, read the question, fill in the entry form and your answer and click “submit” during the 15-minute window and you’ll be entered. It’s just that easy!

We’ll print the list of eligible entries and use a random-number generator to select our winners and then post those winners under the “Lottery Contest” tab on our Facebook page. We’ll notify the winners by phone and/or email to claim their prize. We’ll also post a list of the winners’ names here on our blog.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your prize pack. Winners will have until 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize. We’ll also select alternate names in case any of the winners don’t contact us within the specified amount of time.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Facebook contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

New Twist In Jackpot Claim Story

The situation involving the Hot Lotto jackpot that was claimed just before it expired last month took another turn this week with court documentation from New York and Delaware about a person named Crawford Shaw. As you likely know, a man named Crawford Shaw is the trustee for Hexam Investments Trust, the owner of the jackpot-winning ticket that was purchased here in Des Moines in December 2010.  

A person named Crawford Shaw is associated with criminal proceedings and bankruptcy filings in New York and Delaware. What does that have to do with the jackpot-winning ticket? We don’t know. It could be nothing. But the fact that the information exists means it is something that the Iowa Lottery will look into as the situation progresses.

We’ve said from the beginning that there are three thresholds that must be met: We need information to ensure that the jackpot-winning ticket was legally presented, legally possessed and legally purchased. That information has not been shared with us here at the lottery and we therefore have not paid the prize and do not plan to do so until we have that information.
               

The Latest Update About That Hot Lotto Jackpot Claim

Here’s the latest about that Hot Lotto jackpot claim:

Iowa Lottery officials and representatives of the trust that claimed the Hot Lotto jackpot from December 2010 have met in person to discuss the claim. Crawford Shaw of Bedford, N.Y., the trustee for Hexam Investments Trust, attended the meeting late yesterday afternoon at lottery headquarters in Des Moines along with local attorneys who also represent the trust. They met with lottery security investigators and the lottery’s legal counsel for about 1½ hours, and the lottery’s investigation into the matter continues.

We think it was a good initial discussion. We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here now: We’re glad that the winning ticket has been turned in and we look forward to learning more details about the situation. The jackpot prize hasn’t been paid out -- and it won’t be paid -- until the lottery has been able to complete the security process for the jackpot win.

The biggest question we’re hearing now is: How much longer? I don’t think anyone knows. This is the first time we’ve seen a situation like this here at the lottery and we’ll continue our work to ensure the security and integrity of the lottery and its games.

It all comes down to this: We know you want to know when you buy a ticket that you have the same fair chance of winning as everybody else. That’s what we concentrate on every day, in this situation and any other.

Latest Update Regarding Hot Lotto Jackpot Claim

We know it’s the topic generating all the buzz, and we know everyone (including us) wants answers, so we held a news conference today to give the latest updates about the on-going claim process for that jackpot-winning Hot Lotto ticket presented just before it would have expired in late December.

Here’s the latest:

•    The winning ticket has been validated, but the prize-claim process as a whole continues.
•    Lottery Security reviewed the ticket at the time it was presented on Dec. 29 and confirmed that it is the valid jackpot-winning ticket that someone bought in Des Moines back in December 2010.    
•    The jackpot winner has 60 days to decide whether to claim the prize as cash or annuity. But, if that decision isn’t made by 4 p.m. Feb. 27, the prize will automatically become an annuity and will be paid out in 25 equal installments.
•    Only one person signed the back of the winning ticket: Crawford Shaw as the trustee for Hexam Investments Trust.
•    Hexam Investments Trust owns the ticket. But the members of the trust haven’t been identified yet and we don’t know what information we will learn about them. Crawford Shaw has stated that he is the trustee, but is not a prize winner.
•    We’re continuing to look into the reports we’ve received from people who each allege that the jackpot-winning ticket was stolen from them. This case serves as an important reminder to sign your lottery tickets so they are identified as belonging to you. Here’s our suggestion for a new catch phrase: Buy the ticket, sign the ticket!
•    Crawford Shaw has been quoted in the media as saying he’d provide further details this week here in Iowa, but as of today, we don’t have a specific meeting time set with him. He has said he will come to Iowa soon.
•    The prize hasn’t been paid yet, but we do anticipate we will be able to pay it once the determination has been made that the ticket was legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented.
•    We’ve never had a situation like this in our lottery’s 26-year history, so we don’t know how long it’s going to take to resolve it. We’re just as curious as everyone else to learn the details so the prize can be paid!
      

Tiny Town Becomes Iowa’s Newest “Lucky Town”

Perhaps these people have held magical fairies captive and are sprinkling fairy dust on themselves before they go shopping. Or maybe they’ve got horse shoes hanging above their beds.

We’ve written before about towns that have a run of lottery luck, producing a few winners in a short period of time.

Well, the newest “lucky town” is the southwest Iowa burg of Tabor. Population just 993, Tabor has seen two big lottery winners in a span of just three days!

The first big winner was Myra Mullins of Tabor, who won $15,000 playing our “Betty Boop™” scratch game. Myra’s win was an early birthday gift, as she celebrates her birthday in a few days.

Myra purchased her winning ticket at Casey’s, 1211 Washington St. in Hamburg.

Our second big winner is Alan Achenbach, who is also from Tabor. Alan won the very first top prize playing our new “Minute To Win It™” scratch game!

He purchased his winning ticket at Tabor Market & Deli, 706 Main St. in Tabor.

If you’re over in the Tabor area, you may want to stop and soak in some lottery luck before moving on!

Update About That Last-Minute Jackpot Claim

It’s been a week now since that jackpot-winning ticket was turned in just in the nick of time here at the Lottery. We’re still sorting through all the details, but here’s the latest on this end:

Our security investigators have had an initial conversation with Crawford Shaw, the trustee for Hexam Investments Trust, the group that claimed the winning ticket. We’re in the process of arranging an in-person meeting with him so we can begin to follow the trail of the ticket, from the time it was presented here at the lottery last Thursday back to the person who bought it at the Quik Trip on Des Moines’ north side.

With each passing day, we’re hearing from more people who claim the winning ticket was stolen from them. We’re looking into all of that. We don’t yet know the credibility of any of those claims, but we’re checking.

A lot of folks have asked how long it will take for us to complete the investigation. I wish I had a quick answer, but I don’t. The fact is that we’ve never seen this situation before in the 26-year history of the Iowa Lottery, so we don’t have any previous example to use.

Bottomline, we will make sure that the ticket was legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented to the lottery.

That’s what we know, here at prize-claim central! And now, back to your regular programming…

The Latest On The Hot Lotto Jackpot Claim

Here’s video of our news conference when the winning ticket for that Hot Lotto jackpot was turned in with less than two hours to spare before the prize-claim period was set to expire.

Yesterday was a crazy day, but if it’s possible, I think today has been even busier. We here at the lottery have now been contacted by multiple people, each of whom individually claims that the winning ticket was stolen from them. We don’t yet know the credibility of any of those claims, but those are just some of the details we’ll be looking for as we continue to investigate this prize claim.

You know, in any high-profile situation like this, there will be rumors. Our job is to separate fact from fiction. Over the past 12 months, we’ve heard hundreds of stories from people who wondered if they’d bought the winning ticket. But the fact is, only one of those stories can be true. And the high-tech security behind a lottery ticket gives us a lot of valuable tools to use in our security process.

This is the first time the lottery has been through a situation like this in our 26-year history. We’ll continue our work, understanding that the security and integrity of the Iowa Lottery and its games cannot be compromised.

Jackpot-Winning Ticket Turned in With Two Hours To Spare

The lottery released this statement earlier today:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich issued the following statement Thursday regarding the claim of the Hot Lotto jackpot after nearly a year:

“The winning ticket for the multi-million-dollar Hot Lotto jackpot won on Dec. 29, 2010, here in Iowa has been presented today to the Iowa Lottery, coming in just under the wire before the prize was set to expire. It appears that the repeated reminders we’ve issued over the past year – and the information that the media helped us distribute to the public – worked as we had hoped, and brought in the winner just in the nick of time. 

We worried for months that the jackpot would not be claimed, so we’re glad that the winning ticket has been turned in. We emphasize, however, that the money has not been paid out -- and will not be paid out -- until the lottery has been able to complete the security process for a jackpot win.

This security process is a standard part of a jackpot claim, but additional security scrutiny is required in this particular instance by the rules of the Hot Lotto game because more than half the prize-claim period for the jackpot had expired.

The jackpot-winning ticket was presented to the lottery today by a representative of a Des Moines law firm on behalf of a trust. We have not yet had the opportunity to meet with the actual winners and ask the security questions we need to have answered regarding the ticket and its purchase.

The jackpot-winning ticket was presented by Julie Johnson McLean of the Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts law firm in Des Moines on behalf of Hexam Investments Trust, with Crawford Shaw of Bedford, N.Y., as the trustee. Ms. Johnson McLean had the winning ticket validated today at lottery headquarters in Des Moines, but no representative of the trust was present.

The Davis-Brown firm contacted the lottery on Tuesday (Dec. 27), indicating that it had been asked to provide legal services to a trust in connection with the jackpot claim. This was not the first inquiry we had received from a lawyer on behalf of a client about this jackpot, and in none of the other instances did those involved have the winning ticket. We did not want to comment specifically about any of the inquiries until and unless someone actually brought the winning ticket here to the lottery, and that just happened this afternoon. The name of the trust was shared with us here at the Iowa Lottery when the ticket was presented today.