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 Welcome to
the News desk.
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| Man hacked random-number generator to rig lotteries,
investigators say |
10/04/2016 |
|
 Samuel Gibbs and
agencies |
• New evidence
shows lottery machines were rigged to produce predictable jackpot numbers on
specific days of the year netting millions in winnings
A lottery security director who was convicted of fixing a
$16.5m lottery jackpot also allegedly rigged several other lottery
random-number generators to be able to predict the winning numbers, according
to Iowa investigators.
For several years, Eddie Tipton, the former
security director of the US Multi-State Lottery Association, installed software
code that allowed him to predict winning numbers on specific days of the year,
investigators allege. The random-number generators had been erased, but new
forensic evidence has revealed how the hack was apparently done.
Tipton
was convicted last year of rigging the $16.5m jackpot in Iowa, and is now
awaiting trial on charges linking him to prizes in Colorado, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma and Kansas.
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Tipton was charged after
authorities released surveillance footage of a person buying the winning ticket
for a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot and hot dogs at a Des Moines gas station
in 2010. Colleagues identified the buyer as Tipton, a so-called computer whiz
who had unparalleled access to lottery software.
Now forensic evidence,
described as a “breakthrough” by investigators, have led to charges
being filed against Tipton’s younger brother, Tommy Tipton, a former
justice of the peace and reserve police officer in Texas for his role in
securing the Colorado and Oklahoma jackpots, which allegedly netted him $1.2m
in cash. He surrendered to authorities and was released on bail.
Documents filed on Wednesday show Wisconsin authorities recovered the
random-number generator used for a $2m Megabucks jackpot claimed in 2008 by
Eddie Tipton’s friend, Robert Rhodes. He is fighting extradition from
Texas to Iowa, where he faces charges.
Two ‘lucky’ days a
year
The number generator had apparently been hacked to produce
predictable numbers on three days of the year, after the machine had gone
through a security audit.
All six prizes linked to Tipton were drawn
between 2005 and 2011 on either 23 November or 29 December.
Investigators were able to recreate the draws and produce “the
very same ‘winning numbers’ from the program that was supposed to
produce random numbers,” said the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
agent Don Smith.
Tommy Tipton first came under scrutiny in 2006 when he
was discovered with $500,000 in cash in consecutively marked bills. He claimed
to have won a share of a $4.5m Colorado Lotto jackpot and that he had recruited
a friend to collect the winnings to avoid his wife finding out during divorce
considerations.
Randy Schaffer, representing Tommy Tipton, said his
client “took the high road” by surrendering rather than fighting
extradition.
Schaffer said: “This is a guy who, until a few months
ago, was a judge. He’s going to hopefully … be professional and
responsible in his dealings.”
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