Eddie Tipton of Iowa was the security director for the US Multi State Lottery Association for many years. He was, finally, tracked down and convicted of fixing jackpot winnings in several states including Iowa. Apparently Tipton, being the security director, has access to the lottery software and his computer skills allowed him to hack into the system.
Investigations have since revealed that many lottery machines were tampered with so that they would generate actual winning numbers that ended up producing millions for anyone who had the winning number. Tipton had installed random number genertor computer code on the machines so that he could confidently predict certain numbers would turn up on certain days. He, then, simply went and bought lottery tickets with those specific numbers on those specific days.
Tipton was eventually caught and convicted of stealing $16.5 million in the fixed ticket scheme. He was convicted in 2015 in Iowa and awaits trial for fixing schemes in Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. In his 2015 conviction, Tipton was observed on the security cameras at a Des Moines convenient store and gas station actually purchasing the number that won the jackpot for that particular drawing.
The software had been erased but forensic investigators have been able to figure out how the hack was accomplished by Tipton. From the investigation, authorities have arrested Tipton’s brother who had purchased a wining ticket in Colorado and Oklahoma worth $1.2 million. The random number generator has since been discovered and examined. It has been determined that the software and number generator could correctly predict the winning lottery numbers on three days during a particular year.
Tipton won a total of six lottery jackpots over a period of six years from 2005-2011. Tipton was initially suspected when he was found to be carrying $500,000 in cash in marked bills that had been consecutively numbered. He said it was a portion of his winnings on a Colorado jackpot and that the cash was so that he wouldn’t have to present it during divorce proceedings he was going through at the time.
PHOTO SOURCES: telegraph.co.uk, businessinsider.com, parade.com