Deposition of Lottery Fraudster Eddie Tipton Sought in Hot Lotto Lawsuit

Posted on: January 23, 2019, 07:54h. 

Last updated on: January 23, 2019, 07:54h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Attorneys representing lottery players across America in a class-action lawsuit against the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) have asked a judge in Iowa to grant them the right to interview lottery fraud mastermind Eddie Tipton in prison.

Eddie Tipton
Lottery scammer Eddie Tipton installed a hack program into the MUSL random number generator, allowing him to win the lottery on at least six occasions between 2005 and 2013. (Image: Associated Press)

On Friday, Judge Michael Huppert granted class-action status to the case, which involves lottery customers who believe they lost out due to Tipton’s tampering with MUSL’s Hot Lotto draws between 2005 and 2013.

Tipton was sentenced to a decade in prison in 2015 for rigging at least six draws in five different states for the benefit of himself and a close network of friends and family. The former director of information security at MUSL, he was able to install a self-destructing hack program into the random number generator so that it chose a set of numbers known to Tipton on three days of the year.

Tipton: MUSL Still Vulnerable

He was ultimately caught after authorities became suspicious when the winner of a 2013 $16.5 million jackpot made several attempts to claim the prize via a third-party. When police released surveillance footage of a man purchasing the winning ticket from a Des Moines convenience store, he was identified by MUSL colleagues.

Tipton reportedly told authorities he had tried to warn his superiors at MUSL that there were exploitable flaws in the system but says he was ignored. According to The Des Moines Register, he continues to claim that the system contains vulnerabilities.

Now, lawyers want to sound him out as they seek to argue MUSL was neglectful of its duty to ensure games were fair.

“The Multi-State Lottery Association suggests they only conducted the internal investigation [into their own security protocols] because we sued them,” Gary Dickey, a Des Moines attorney involved in the lawsuit, said last year. “And that should be very concerning to anybody who plays the lottery.”

Lucky Larry Won’t Roll Over

MUSL is collectively owned and managed by 36 member lotteries and operates some America’s most popular draws, including Powerball.

This is not the first lawsuit it has faced over the Tipton affair. In 2016, it was sued by the man who won a $9 million jackpot the week after Tipton’s rigged $16.5 million draw of 2013.

“Lucky” Larry Dawson argues that without Tipton’s tampering that $16.5 million would have rolled over into his jackpot. Instead MUSL redistributed it to its member lottery commissions.

That case is pending, although MUSL recently applied to have it dismissed.