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Iowa Computer Programmer Gets 25 Years For Lottery Scam (desmoinesregister.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the lesson-learned dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Des Moines Register: Eddie Tipton, the Iowa brainpower behind a case of multi-state lottery fraud, will spend up to 25 years in prison for rigging "random" drawing jackpots. It's unknown how many years Tipton will actually spend in prison. He could be paroled within three or four years, his attorneys noted. Tipton, 54, was a longtime computer programmer in the Iowa offices of the Multi-State Lottery Association who installed software that allowed him to pick winning numbers in some of the nation's most popular lottery drawings. His scam began to unravel following unsuccessful attempts to anonymously collect a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket that was purchased at a Des Moines convenience store in 2010. "I certainly regret," Tipton said. "It's difficult even saying that. With all the people I know behind me that I hurt and I regret it. I'm sorry."

2 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. His big mistake by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    (Outside of deciding the break the law in the first place, of course)

    ... was going back for more. If you're going to rig a lottery, rig just one lottery, one whose prize will be big enough so you don't have to go back for more later. Then delete all traces of your hackery and never do anything illegal again. Otherwise a pattern starts to develop, leading to you getting caught.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  2. Re:What a jerk! by slew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Historically, whenever I've wanted to call someone stupid and embarrass them publicly, I ask them "What's your lotto numbers" and when they respond, I say "I don't know what's worse... that you're the type of person that plays lotto or that you think that by choosing your numbers it will increase your odds"

    Although choosing your numbers won't increase your odds, it can improve the expectation value of your winnings (if you win a shared prize). For example, since many people choose numbers that have to do with dates, by picking random numbers that cannot be dates will decrease your expected loss value of playing the lottery. Doing this exercise once making them your "lotto number" is an efficient way to get this small improvement...

    Anyhow, you can now return to your standard mocking program...