Playing the lottery is definitely exciting! Even if it is the slightest one, there is
a possibility that a series of numbers will change your life forever. However, this possibility
is so slim that some people cannot leave it up to chance or pure luck.
In Today's video, we will look at the fascinating story of a Man who Tricked The Lottery 5 Times
And Made Millions Before He Got Caught. You won't believe all the hoops he had to
go through to cash out his "fake winnings." So make sure to stick around because this
story is going to get pretty crazy.
Now, let's begin.
On January 15, 2015, Eddie Raymond Tipton was arrested on two accounts of fraud. The
ensuing trial would lead to his first conviction on July 20 of the same year and a sentence
to ten years of imprisonment - a second conviction issued in June of 2017 extended this sentence
to 25 years. But before his house of cards came tumbling down around him, Tipton managed
to manipulate the lottery in his favor an astounding five times. How did he manage this?
And how did he avoid detection for so long?
Well, to understand how Tipton pulled this off, it's essential to know what he was doing
at the time of these occurrences. As the information security director of the Multi-State Lottery
Association at the time, he was in the perfect position to pull this off. At least, theoretically.
In practice, rigging the lottery is nearly impossible unless you can alter the random
number generator program to determine the winning numbers. But Tipton didn't just possess
the necessary credentials and positioning to change the game in his favor; he also wrote
software, handled network firewalls, and reviewed security for games in nearly three dozen states.
What's more, he virtually lived at the office, often working until or past 11 pm. So this
man not only had an opportunity to manipulate the lottery. He also had the skills and the
time to work on his scheme.
While it wasn't his first conviction, Tipton's initial success with arranging a winning lottery
occurred on November 23, 2005, when his brother Tommy won a Colorado Lottery jackpot prize
drawing of $568,990. The event would later be determined to Eddie Tipton's doing. He
then admitted saying, "I wrote software that included code that allowed me to technically
predict winning numbers, and I gave those numbers to other individuals who then won
the lottery and shared those winnings with me."
This was just the first instance, however, and it went without any speculation. Intent
to never be caught, Tipton was inherently paranoid about both his identity and his money.
He rarely paid with credit cards and mentioned being concerned about people tracing his identity.
And he would enlist more help in future endeavors. Beyond simply greed, Eddie had told friends
of his loneliness and wanting a family more than anything. We can only speculate if this
sense of loneliness was genuine and a hole he was trying to fill with the money. It could
also, however, have been a front for why this man built a 4,800-square-foot, $540,000 house
in the cornfields south of Des Moines, complete with five bedrooms and a stadium-style home
theater. Of course, that didn't explain how he paid for it; friends wondered not just
why a single man needed such a big house but also how he could afford it in the first place,
given his salary would never have paid for it. Eddie told them he'd poured his life savings
into the house, hoping to someday fill it with a wife and children. But the right partner
never came along.
Tipton waited for a few years before arranging his next payday. That would come on December
29, 2007, when a Wisconsin Lottery prize drawing of $783,257 was paid to a limited liability
corporation controlled by Robert Rhodes - a friend of Tipton. Rhodes, after that, transferred
funds to Tipton as part of what would later be known as the Megabucks Incident, related
to the lottery he won his money through. Rhodes didn't testify to this incident until he had
already been charged in assisting Tipton in the 2010 incident that ultimately led investigators
down this rabbit hole. Upon further forensic investigation of the random number generator
used to pick the lottery numbers in the 2007 Megabucks drawing, prosecutors found its programming
had been altered. If the drawing occurred on three dates of the year - May 27, November
22, or December 29 - and these dates were Wednesdays or Saturdays with drawings after
8 pm, the program would produce knowable outcomes. Amazing, isn't it? Well, it is just about
to get super crazy.
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Let's continue with this craziness. Before I mention the incident which ultimately
led to Tipton's arrest, how did he actually go about altering the winning drawings? Well,
while his methods may have differed slightly, in the 2010 incident, evidence suggests Eddie
gained access to one of the two computers tasked with selecting the winning numbers.
He then used a thumb drive containing a string of coded instructions. The software on the
thumb drive, called a "rootkit," allowed Eddie to restrict the pool of numbers that could
hit-and then it deleted itself.
Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg for the "Hot Lotto Fraud Scandal" that finally
led to Eddie Tipton, his brother Tommy, and Robert Rhodes' arrest. This Hot Lotto drawing-
a multi-state lottery game -occurred on December 29, 2010. With a top prize of US$16.5 million,
the lottery jackpot went almost an entire year without being claimed, which approached
the year-long deadline after which the claim would be forfeited. On November 9, 2011, a
Quebec City resident named Philip Johnston called the Iowa Lottery to claim a winning
jackpot ticket. He stated that he was too sick to claim the prize in person but provided
a 15-digit code to verify the winning ticket. However, Johnson's prize claim was turned
down when he could not answer verification questions to prove he was the ticket's valid
owner. Johnston called again on December 6, stating the ticket was actually owned by an
anonymous individual and that they were being represented by a Belize-based shell company,
Hexham Investments Trust. However elaborate the excuse, it failed to move the Iowa Lottery,
as its rules forbid anonymous prize claims, so the claim was turned down again.
Although the firm made further attempts at claiming the prize, they all proved fruitless.
And it later came to light that Rober Sonfield and Eddie's pal Robert Rhodes, with whom Johnston
had professional relations, had asked him to assist in anonymously claiming the prize.
However, what ultimately led to Tipton being outed was evidence that he had personally
purchased the winning ticket. In October 2014, investigators released surveillance footage
from a Des Moines convenience store, which they believed showed the purchaser of the
ticket. And ironically, it would be one of Eddie's own coworkers that would do him in.
When colleague Jason Maher saw the Hot Lotto video purportedly showing the winner, Maher
immediately recognized the familiar, low-pitched voice. But not wanting to believe it, he tried
proving that it couldn't be his friend knowingly violating the well-known policy of not participating
in the lottery while an employee of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
He analyzed the file in audio software, removing any white noise, and compared it with footage
of Eddie from his own security cameras. "It was a complete and utter match," Maher said.
He even took measurements of the floor tiles, shelving unit heights, and the distance between
the door and the cash counter at the QuikTrip convenience shop where the ticket was purchased.
He used the results to compare the man's hand and foot size and height in the video with
his friend's. Unfortunately, it again came up a match for his buddy Eddie, who was later
arrested at his office by state investigators.
Tipton's trial began on April 13, 2015. And despite having until July to examine new evidence,
the defense was unable to muster a convincing argument given everything brought to bear.
On July 20, Tipton was convicted of 2 accounts of fraud; attempting to participate in the
lottery illegally and attempting to use fraudulent means to claim prizes.
Of course, these are only three of Tipton's rigged payouts. The fourth was a simultaneous
case of two winning Kansas Lottery tickets. Purchased the same day Eddie bought the Iowa
ticket involved in the Hot Lotto Scandal, their payouts were much smaller at $15,402.
His cell phone records revealed he'd been driving through Kansas on the way to Texas
for the holidays. And when later claimed, both individuals, a Texan named Christopher
McCoulskey and an Iowan named Amy Warrick, were a friend of Eddie's.
The final trick Eddie had pulled off was with November 23, 2011, Hot Lotto jackpot of $1.2
million, which was paid to Kyle Conn, a Texas construction company owner. Conn bought the
ticket from the Oklahoma Lottery. Still, Oklahoma investigators were suspicious because Conn
didn't frequently play, came from out of state, and had manually specified the winning numbers
instead of relying on a random pick. At the time, however, there was no way to tie it
back to Tipton. Only in the ensuing investigations following his first conviction was a connection
made.
Why did Tipton really rig the lottery? Was it purely out of greed? Boredom from his safe
but unfulfilling regular job? Or was he also truly lonely and trying to fill that emotional
void with the thrill and payout of a con? Honestly, it's hard to say. What do you think?
Let us know in the comment section below. One thing's for sure - when you try to get
away with fraud this many times, no matter how convenient your positioning is, that check
won't cash. So make sure you're building your wealth the
right way, millionaires. Continue watching amazing stories like the
Top 10 Lottery Winners Who Lost It ALL; you won't believe how a man burned through more
than $315 Million. Do that by clicking here. If you liked this video, remember to like
and subscribe if you haven't already done so. Stay wealthy, and I'll see you in the
next video!