“Jackpot: America’s Biggest Lotto Scam” Recalls the Biggest US Lotto Fraud

“Jackpot: America’s Biggest Lotto Scam” is a new documentary film following the story of Eddie Tipton, who pulled off the biggest lottery fraud in US history, scamming Hot Lotto and several other lotteries in the late 2010s.

The Film Follows the Story of Eddie Tipton, the Biggest Lotto Fraudster

The Hot Lotto fraud scandal was a lottery-rigging scheme in the United States that came to public attention in 2017. It was uncovered after Eddie Raymond Tipton (born 1963), the former information security director at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), admitted to manipulating a random number generator. He used this tampering to carry out multiple fraudulent acts against various state lotteries in Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

Without his colleagues’ knowledge, he inserted malicious code into the system that deleted itself after execution and allowed him to predict winning numbers on certain predetermined dates each year. The altered code drastically improved his odds of winning, reducing the jackpot odds from one in five million to one in two hundred. The first verified instance linked to the scheme occurred in Colorado on November 23, 2005, with a $4.8 million jackpot. Three individuals claimed the prize, one of whom had ties to Tipton’s brother, Tommy Tipton, a magistrate judge in Fayette County, Texas.

It All Comes Crashing Down

While Eddie Tipton used his knowledge to gain the upper hand in lottery draws over the years from 2005 to 2010, this could not last forever. A $14.3 million Hot Lotto jackpot from the December 29, 2010, draw went unclaimed for nearly a year. When someone eventually tried to claim the prize on behalf of an anonymous offshore trust based in Belize, the Iowa Lottery rejected the claim due to its anonymous nature. 

A deeper investigation into the trust, along with surveillance footage from a convenience store showing the purchase of the winning ticket, ultimately led to the arrest of Eddie Tipton. He was charged with two counts of fraud: one for unlawfully participating in a lottery as a MUSL employee, and another for attempting to claim the prize through deceitful means.

Tipton was subsequently arrested, and his trial began on April 13, 2015. On July 20, 2015, Eddie Tipton was convicted on two counts of fraud. He was sentenced on September 9 to ten years in prison, but remained free on bond while his case was under appeal. His attorney contended that the conviction relied on “speculative” evidence.

Tipton Was Convicted for a Second Time

Despite the lotto fraud mastermind already serving a sentence, he was convicted for a second time in 2017. In 2017, Texas businessman Robert Rhodes, who had ties to Eddie Tipton’s fraudulent activities, pleaded guilty in Iowa to charges for assisting Tipton in the 2010 Hot Lotto scheme. As part of a plea agreement, Rhodes agreed to testify against both Eddie and Tommy Tipton.

This resulted in more time being added to Eddie Tipton’s sentence as he was ultimately convicted to 25 years in prison. However, the story doesn’t end there, as Tipton went out on parole in July of 2022. Since then, Tipton has been living in Texas. So far, he has refused to cooperate with the documentary film or comment on it. You can view the film for free on YouTube.