The story of Eddie Tipton, the man who rigged the lottery: He go caught because of his Facebook contacts
From 2005 until his arrest in 2015, he carried out an extensive scam that came to light with his arrest for fraud and money laundering.
Eddie Tipton, former director of information security at the United States Multi-State Lottery Association until his arrest in 2015, orchestrated an extensive fraud scheme that came to light with his detention on fraud charges. The origins of the plot date back to 2005, when a friend jokingly suggested that Tipton could hack the system to ensure his numbers would win. The remark planted the seed for what became a deliberate challenge: to carry out a large-scale lottery fraud while keeping it hidden.
To do so, Tipton installed malicious software on the lottery’s random number generators, enabling him to predict winning numbers in selected draws. He also enlisted several accomplices, including his brother Tommy, to purchase lottery tickets using those predetermined numbers.
The scheme began to unravel when FBI agent Jon Rennison visited a man in hospital and later arranged an interview following his discharge. The man, a member of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, had won the lottery in Colorado while on a Bigfoot-hunting expedition. He had attempted to conceal the winnings from his wife, so a fellow Bigfoot enthusiast claimed the prize on his behalf in exchange for 10 per cent of the money.
That man was Tommy Tipton, Eddie’s brother. During questioning, Tommy produced a plaster cast of a supposed Bigfoot footprint. Although Agent Rennison pointed out that it bore little resemblance to any known evidence, Tommy insisted on its authenticity. This encounter prompted investigators to look for other fraudulently claimed lottery tickets.
Further enquiries uncovered links between Tommy Tipton and additional winning tickets, including one claimed in the name of a deceased friend, Alexander Hicks, who had died of cancer. The investigation then widened to examine data from around 45,000 winning tickets associated with the Multi-State Lottery Association. Investigators discovered that a payout of $783,257.72 had been claimed by Robert Rhodes, Eddie Tipton’s best friend, on the same day the winning numbers were drawn for the $16.5 million Iowa ticket claimed by Tipton. Other winning tickets were also traced back to Eddie Tipton, exposing the true scale of the fraud.
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At trial, it emerged that Eddie Tipton had exploited his technical expertise to manipulate lottery systems in several states over a number of years. In 2017, he was convicted of fraud and money laundering, sentenced to 25 years in prison, and fined $3 million. He was also ordered to repay the $2.2 million he had obtained illegally. His brother Tommy Tipton was likewise convicted for his role in the scheme and received a 75-day jail sentence.
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