Former lottery programmer gets 25 years for rigging random number generators in jackpots

William Gayde

William Gayde

Posts: 382   +5
Staff

Those multi-million dollar lottery winnings are only as random as the computer programs that generate the winning numbers. And who creates the programs? Humans do. Despite strict security protocols, one lottery worker was able to rig the system for his benefit. Eddie Tipton, a former security director of the Multistate Lottery Association, received a sentence of 25 years for his actions beginning in 2010.

Tipton pleaded guilty to rigging computer codes to give him seven winning lottery tickets across five state lotteries. This net him and his accomplices millions of dollars at the expense of legitimate lottery players. Since he designed and maintained the random number generation software, he was able to manipulate it to output winning numbers that he knew in advance. In an attempt to avoid suspicion, Tipton would give friends the winning ticket to redeem and then split the cash.

He was ordered to pay back roughly $2.2 million in restitution which will likely come from the sale of assets seized by the prosecutor. Both the prosecution and Tipton's defense lawyer don't expect him to serve the full sentence though. If he behaves and makes parole, he will likely be out after five years.

Mr. Tipton's brother Tommy is currently serving a 75-day sentence on theft charges. The group was caught when a family friend attempted to redeem a $14.3 million jackpot in Iowa. Officials recognized the claim as suspicious and refused to pay the winnings. The friend, Robert Rhodes, will be sentenced this Friday.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70696-former-lottery-programmer-gets-25-years-rigging-random.html

 
likedamaster said:
This is what I thought and can be sure that at least Powerball does it this way. So we're safe for the current one.
Click to expand...

Unless they rig the balls to somehow come out the order the program deems them too.... Aha! The balls are all actually blue! Just like what the meteorologist do with the weather, and they superimpose the numbers on the balls!

EDIT:

I'm a deadman now, I have figured out how the lottery works.
 
  • Like
Reactions: likedamaster and TheBigT42
Godel said:
While a significant jail sentence is warranted, 25 years seems way excessive.
Click to expand...

"Tipton pleaded guilty to rigging computer codes to give him seven winning lottery tickets across five state lotteries. "

He did this more than once with obvious intent. According to the article though, he can be out after 5 years with parole. This seems fine to me, although I'd rather he be forced to provide assistance with making the number generation process better in addition to parole after the first 5 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lionvibez
Damn man!!! That shady character is one helluva fat slob. It's easy to see what he spent his ill gotten gains on but thankfully the judiciary saw the sense of putting him on a maximum 25 year diet but 10 years should be the minimum. By the time his sentence up, they won't have to unlock his cell to let him out, he could probably slip between the bars by then. He may not realise it now but the judiciary are doing him a favour and saving him from dying from morbid obesity at an early age.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stewi0001 and namesrejected
Skidmarksdeluxe said:
Damn man!!! That shady character is one helluva fat slob. It's easy to see what he spent his ill gotten gains on but thankfully the judiciary saw the sense of putting him on a maximum 25 year diet but 10 years should be the minimum. By the time his sentence up, they won't have to unlock his cell to let him out, he could probably slip between the bars by then. He may not realise it now but the judiciary are doing him a favour and saving him from dying from morbid obesity at an early age.
Click to expand...

Dang, how I wanted to go " there " but just didn't have the balls...

Well, maybe I will a little bit later but first I'm going to sit back and see if you make national news as your post may be seen as "hate" :confused:
 
They need to go back to having a physical random drawing with balls or anything that maintains the randomness of the actual drawing. In the progressive states this is done with balls that are counter weighted to account for ink weight on balls like "8" & "6" against ones like "1" to insure their is no weight advantage. They also need to go back to restricting any and every Lottery Commission employee or their families from participating. And lastly the crooks should join the Wall Street crowd with mandatory minimum sentences to insure the convicted criminals will never see a dime of their money or the opportunity to spend it.

While that may sound excessive, just think of all the poor widows and widowers that have had their money stolen by these kinds of unscrupulous crooks and how many of them have died early because they could not pay for medicine, etc. because of the greedy crooks.

Nope, I would have sentenced him to 50 years at hard labor and a restrictive diet so he paid every day of his sentence!
 
namesrejected said:
Dang, how I wanted to go " there " but just didn't have the balls...

Well, maybe I will a little bit later but first I'm going to sit back and see if you make national news as your post may be seen as "hate" :confused:
Click to expand...
Unlikely. If I'd posted it on social sites for the entire world to see, some low IQ types might see it as hate although it's not. It's more like contempt for his kind.
 
But then again ball lottery as been tempered with so many times in the past.

doing it by software is the best way BUT you need an audit team, that way no one person can tamper.

the "Multistate Lottery Association" should get slammed by auditor for letting something like this happen. You think bank software isint check all the time for stuff like this... its not like they dont have the money to setup a proper process.

On another tough , if he had done this in any other type of organization the sentence would have probably been less. Dont mess with lottery.

oh and this is hilarious "at the expense of legitimate lottery players. " like the players where actually going to win.... cmon jackpot get that big because nobody won the last 1000
 
I read about this yesterday on a news site - He was facing UP TO 25 years. He was actually sentenced to the full amount?! That's kind of crazy, if so. This is obviously a case of "I regret my choices because I was caught" but I mean, there are child molesters doing less time. He's not a threat to society.
 
gusticles41 said:
I read about this yesterday on a news site - He was facing UP TO 25 years. He was actually sentenced to the full amount?! That's kind of crazy, if so. This is obviously a case of "I regret my choices because I was caught" but I mean, there are child molesters doing less time. He's not a threat to society.
Click to expand...
He probably won't, specially if he pleaded guilty they must have offered him a deal to reduce it.
Skidmarksdeluxe said:
Unlikely. If I'd posted it on social sites for the entire world to see, some low IQ types might see it as hate although it's not. It's more like contempt for his kind.
Click to expand...
This looks to be another of the "I don't care I'll forget about them" posts. It's funny how you make fun of low IQ though.
 
I just googled life in prison, it is 30 years, this guy almost is almost serving as much time as a murderer crazy.
 
@William Gayde Couple of small things. This: "This net him and his accomplices millions of dollars at the expense of legitimate lottery players", needs to be this: " This netted him and his accomplices millions of dollars at the expense of legitimate lottery players"..

I looked and looked, but couldn't find the jurisdiction in which he was tried. Since the fraud was perpetrated across states lines, one would imagine it to be a federal case.

That impacts the sentence, as amount of money stolen, would enhance the sentence upward. In other words, the more you steal, the more time you do. Just ask Berni Madoff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoff_investment_scandal#Charges_and_sentencing Who got 150 years for his Ponzi scheme.
 
Last edited:
treetops said:
I just googled life in prison, it is 30 years, this guy almost is almost serving as much time as a murderer crazy.
Click to expand...
Not crazy at all, "Allegedly", only God can sentence an individual to 'eternal damnation'. Ostensibly, this is what would happen to a violent psychopath, after he or she dies in prison.

But he fact of the matter is, other types of crimes can negatively impact more extensive, perhaps even vast segments of the population. Consider the infants with birth defects, 'quality of life", caused by exposure to the drug, 'Thalidomide'. Many times, the gravest crimes aren't punished at all.

IMHO, this person got exactly what he deserved. In fact, considering that oftentimes, each and every one of us is faced with allowing even very low level public servants access to our most private data. Data which is easily adequate to 'steal our identities'. I say, make an example of this fat (*) mutt, and give it as much exposure in the media as possible. Send a message, loud and clear, none of our government employees financial 'escapades', will be tolerated.

(*) Yeah, I know that's a 'fattist' pejorative. But it serves to illustrate that overeating, is very often, a manifest symptom of a person's insatiable greed.

More simply put, 'guess who'?
kimdot.jpg
 
Last edited:
gusticles41 said:
I read about this yesterday on a news site - He was facing UP TO 25 years. He was actually sentenced to the full amount?! That's kind of crazy, if so. This is obviously a case of "I regret my choices because I was caught" but I mean, there are child molesters doing less time. He's not a threat to society.
Click to expand...
For every dollar he pocketed, a citizen's pockets were picked for his winnings. If you made your living as a pickpocket, how many crimes would have to commit to earn millions of dollars?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

midian182
  • Locked
Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison
2
Replies
33
Views
514
Squid Surprise
Squid Surprise
midian182
Apple files lawsuit against former engineer for leaking details of projects he wanted to kill
Replies
1
Views
114
RandomWAN
R
A
Former Sony Interactive chairman says exclusivity is bad for the video game industry
Replies
15
Views
294
poshflamingos
poshflamingos

Latest posts

Back