Meet Eddie Tipton now former head of Cyber Security for the Multi State Lottery Association which runs Powerball, Mega Millions as well as several smaller games (several of which use an RNG to produce winning numbers/tickets)
Tipton was formerly a programmer with the Multistate Lottery Association, the agency that administers state lotteries. He designed and maintained software "for computerized random number generators used to select winning lottery numbers in many states across the country," according to the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. Tipton, who lives in Texas, is accused of buying lottery tickets in various states, including Iowa, and selecting numbers that he knew would win, since he designed the program that generated the winning numbers. Tipton then gave these tickets to third parties who agreed to cash them and split the money with him. One of these accomplices was his brother, Tommy Tipton, authorities said. The investigation against the Tipton brothers began in 2010, with a suspicious claim for a $14.3 million Hot Lotto jackpot in Iowa that lottery officials refused to pay. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation traced Tipton's scheme to other states as well.
Eddie Tipton made a deal with prosecutors in June, in which he pleaded guilty to the Iowa charge of ongoing criminal conduct. Prosecutors dropped a charge of money laundering. He will be allowed to serve the Iowa sentence concurrently with a sentence of up to five-and-a-half years in Wisconsin, where he pleaded guilty to theft by fraud and computer crime. His brother Tommy Tipton, a former judge in Texas, is currently serving a 75-day sentence in Texas for a misdemeanor theft charge and deferred judgment on a felony charge of conspiracy to commit theft. The Tiptons' friend Robert Rhodes, who also lives in Texas, was the one who attempted to redeem the $14.3 million jackpot. He has pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced on Friday.
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