Crime & Courts

Computer programmer gets 25 years for lottery scam

Associated Press
Eddie Tipton admitted to masterminding a scheme to rig lottery games that paid him and others $2 million from seven fixed jackpots in five states. He is the former information security director for the former Multi-State Lottery Association. Tipton was sentenced Tuesday.
Eddie Tipton admitted to masterminding a scheme to rig lottery games that paid him and others $2 million from seven fixed jackpots in five states. He is the former information security director for the former Multi-State Lottery Association. Tipton was sentenced Tuesday. Associated Press File photo
DES MOINES, Iowa

A judge has sentenced a lottery computer programmer to up to 25 years in prison for rigging a computer program to enable him to pick winning numbers in several lottery games over six years.

Eddie Tipton pleaded guilty earlier this summer to ongoing criminal conduct, and on Tuesday he received the prison sentence.

Judge Brad McCall also ordered Tipton to repay more than $2 million that the scheme paid Tipton and others.

Tipton’s brother, Tommy Tipton, is serving a 75-day jail sentence on a theft charge. A friend of Eddie Tipton’s, Robert Rhodes, of Sugar Land, Texas, will be sentenced Aug. 25 on a computer crime charge.

Tipton worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa. He fixed lottery games in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma between 2005 and 2011.

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Computer programmer gets 25 years for lottery scam."

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