Brother of Eddie Tipton arrested in multistate lottery scheme investigation

DES MOINES - The brother of Eddie Tipton has been arrested in connection with a conspiracy that sought to fix lottery jackpots in five states.

According to the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Tommy Tipton turned himself in at the Polk County Jail Wednesday on one count of ongoing criminal conduct. He was released Wednesday morning on a $25,000 bond.

Tommy Tipton, 51, of Flatonia, Tex., is the younger brother of Eddie Tipton, a former Multistate Lottery Assocation employee convicted in July 2015 of tampering with lottery equipment to win a $16.5 million jackpot ticket in Iowa.

The complaint against Tommy Tipton details how his brother allegedly rigged the outcome of lottery games in several states. Court documents state that code found in the random number generator for the Wisconsin lottery - where one of the rigged jackpots occurred - contained two additional segments of code.

The first portion of code 'redirected” the random number generator for draws that occurred when three conditions were met: those that occurred on three specific days of the year, on two particular days of the week and after a certain time of day, according to the complaint. When those conditions were met, the random number generator produced numbers that were 'predictable” for anyone familiar with the operation of the generator, authorities said.

'The defendant's brother would be familiar with all those items due to his employment” with the Multistate Lottery Assocation, the complaint reads.

Forensic examiners were able to recreate these conditions and produce the same winning numbers from the so-called random number generator.

The criminal complaint against his brother indicates Eddie Tipton used the altered number generator code to allow his brother to win jackpots in Colorado and Oklahoma.

According to the complaint:

Following Eddie Tipton's conviction in July 2015, authorities received a tip that Tommy Tipton - a justice of the peace in Texas - had won the lottery in Colorado. An investigation showed that Tommy Tipton won $568,990 on a Colorado Lotto ticket he bought in November 2005. Tipton had a friend claim the ticket, telling authorities he did not want his wife to know about the winnings since they might be divorcing. The friend claimed the ticket and was given a portion of the winnings, authorities said.

Authorities at the time were unaware that Tipton's brother worked for the Multistate Lottery Association, wrote the program for the random number generator and built the computer used in Colorado to pick the winning numbers.

Authorities said they have a witness who will testify to claiming a winning Hot Lotto ticket in Oklahoma at the request of a Tipton family member. In turn, that family member will testify the ticket belonged to Tommy Tipton.

A third man, Robert Rhodes, was also allegedly involved in the scheme and won a jackpot in Wisconsin in 2007.

Ongoing criminal conduct is a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.