The trial that was scheduled to begin today in Polk County District Court has been continued until July for the central Iowa man charged in the investigation into the Hot Lotto jackpot won in December 2010 in Des Moines only to see the claim later withdrawn.
At the lottery, we need to respect the trial process and allow the court to do its work, so we’re not in a position to discuss the facts that will be litigated in this case.
But as we’ve emphasized before, there are extensive security procedures involved in lottery drawings, and this case demonstrates why we have to continually sharpen our skills and oversight.
There will always be someone trying to beat the system. The lottery industry has and will continue to update its security procedures as we identify vulnerabilities to protect against them. We’ve introduced additional layers of security and even more separation of duties at our lottery because of what we’ve learned in this case, and that’s ultimately been a positive outcome.
We also urged that the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), the vendor organization for which Eddie Tipton worked, put additional security procedures in place and that has occurred, with more underway.
The equipment and software used in the Hot Lotto drawings today has been replaced since the time that Eddie Tipton was employed at MUSL. The new equipment and software has been tested and certified by an independent gaming laboratory and forensically examined for malicious software, with no concerns identified. The security cameras, other physical security restrictions and procedures at MUSL also have been replaced and updated.
We have confidence that the games we offer today are fair. Our lottery has strong layers of security in place to protect lottery players, lottery games and lottery prizes. Those procedures enabled us to seek information about the winning ticket in this case and not pay the prize until basic questions could be answered – and they never were.
We’ve repeatedly said that this is an ongoing investigation, and we have more information about this case today than we did in the past. We have worked side-by-side with law enforcement throughout this investigation and are eager for the outcome of the trial.
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