Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich issued the following statement today after the jury's verdict in the long-running Hot Lotto case:
“There is no doubt this has been a fascinating case. We respect the court’s work and the jury’s verdict. The facts in this case have enabled us to further enhance our layers of security to protect the integrity of lottery games, and that ultimately has been a positive.
This case is an important reminder that lotteries have to keep monitoring and making improvements to stay ahead of those who would try to beat the system. As a society, we may never be able to stop people from trying to commit crime, but we need to have strong procedures in place to catch and prevent them when they do.
I have confidence that the games we offer today are fair. Our lottery has strong layers of security 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.
There was no prize paid in this instance. The money from this jackpot, which totaled nearly $10.8 million in cash, was returned to the lotteries in the Hot Lotto game in proportion to the sales from each jurisdiction. The Iowa Lottery received about $1.4 million back and gave the money away in a special summer promotion called ‘Mystery Millionaire’ back in 2012. Fifteen players ended up winning prizes in that promotion.
The details in this case are important for anyone who has ever played a lottery game, the good causes benefitted by lotteries, and the billions of dollars at stake. There obviously were indications that something was amiss with this particular prize claim. This case has provided our lottery with an opportunity to better pinpoint potential security risks and update our procedures to protect against them.”
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