It’s a case we were involved in for more than seven years, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I share some good news to come out of that situation.
The Iowa Lottery is a finalist for an international gaming-compliance award for its work in the long-running lottery jackpot investigation that uncovered fraud against U.S. lotteries and resulted in guilty pleas from three men.
The Iowa Lottery is one of five finalists for the 2018 award for outstanding achievement in compliance from GamblingCompliance, which provides independent legal, regulatory, and business intelligence to the global gambling industry. GamblingCompliance presents annual awards to recognize excellence in 11 categories focused on regulatory compliance and responsible gaming. Its 2018 Global Regulatory Awards will be presented April 18 in London.
The jackpot investigation culminated last year with guilty pleas from three men who admitted they illegally claimed prizes by rigging lottery drawings in five states. Eddie Tipton, the man at the center of the investigation, installed malicious computer code that allowed him to predict winning numbers in some lottery drawings.
Tipton pleaded guilty to three felony charges in Iowa and Wisconsin and was sentenced in August to up to 25 years in prison. He had conspired with friends and family to claim lottery prizes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin and attempt to claim a lottery jackpot here in Iowa, which ultimately was not paid.
Tipton’s younger brother, Tommy Tipton, also pleaded guilty in the case, as did Tipton’s long-time friend, Robert Rhodes.
Hi, Pam. I appreciate that you took time to read this blog and to comment. If you ever have a concern about the Iowa Lottery and its operations, you are welcome to call our Security Division, where one of our security investigators can talk with you. Or, if you aren't comfortable calling the lottery, you can always call your local law-enforcement agency to visit with them. We take our work and the security of the lottery seriously and will visit with anyone about it.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | March 08, 2018 at 01:03 PM
Nice trip paid by Iowa lottery players.
Posted by: Pam | March 07, 2018 at 08:12 PM
I agree with Bradley. Can the Lottery be trusted to be honest?
Posted by: Pam | March 07, 2018 at 07:27 PM
Hi, Bradley. I'm sorry that you were given incorrect information about what happened to the jackpot money in this case. The money from the jackpot went back to the states in proportion to the sales that had come from each state. Here in Iowa, we gave away our portion of that money back in 2012 in the "Mystery Millionaire" promotion. The finale event was held live at the Iowa State Fair, and a retired police officer won the promotion's top prize of $1 million that day. Dozens of other prizes also were given away in the promotion, so the money did indeed go to pay prizes to players.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | March 05, 2018 at 11:24 AM
Yes and the lottery made out like a bandit on this deal. They kept the jackpot and never paid it out. As Soon as they refused to pay it the jackpot should have jumped right back as if it had not been won at all. Go back to drawing balls out of the hopper and show it live and this would have never happened.
Posted by: bradley askeland | March 03, 2018 at 11:46 PM