Iowa Computer Programmer Gets 25 Years for Lottery Scam

Andy Marlin/Getty Images
Andy Marlin/Getty Images

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — 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.

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