The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) has revealed it paid $1.5 million to resolve a case brought by a Hot Lotto jackpot winner who claimed his earnings should have been much more.
In 2011, Larry Dawson, a financial adviser of Des Moines, Iowa, won a $9 million Hot Lotto jackpot, and took a $6 million pre-tax cash lump payout. MUSL Head of Security Eddie Lipton was arrested four years later on charges of meddling with codes which let him to know the exact winning numbers on three potential days each year.
In 2017, Tipton pleaded guilty to scheming with friends, and friends of friends, to win six jackpots between 2005 and 2011. The jackpots were won in Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Lawson’s home state of Iowa.
The last Hot Lotto Tipton confessed to rigging was in December 2010, when a $16.5 million jackpot was hit in Iowa. Lawson contended his lawful win the following year would have been subsequently higher without Tipton’s criminality – perhaps as much as $27 million.
As reported by Casino.org, though MUSL said it is a private body last month and so not obliged to abide to open records law, the Iowa Lottery is required to do so. The lottery disclosed to the Associated Press the settlement with Lawson was $1.5 million.
MUSL is owned by 38 member lotteries, and is the operator of Powerball.
Pennsylvania Audit
Recently Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale (D) announced his office would be inaugurating an audit of the state’s Department of Revenue which would include a review of the number of frequent same-person lottery winners. The examination’s aim is to find out whether the Pennsylvania Lottery is doing enough to stop fraud by both winners and retailers.
DePasquale said, “My goal is to protect older adults who rely on Lottery-funded programs. If players or retailers are committing fraud, the Pennsylvania Lottery has an obligation to catch them and take action to protect the integrity of the Lottery Fund.”
DePasquale will run against incumbent US Rep. Scott Perry (R) next year, for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. Since 1961, The seat has been held by a Democrat for just four years.
The Pennsylvania Lottery is ranked as one of the richest in the country. Players purchased $4.5 billion worth of tickets, and claimed more than $2.9 billion in prizes in its last fiscal year.
DePasquale stated, “Seniors, lottery players and the general public deserve to know if every dollar of those prizes was claimed in accordance with the law.”
National Lottery Scam
Pennsylvania isn’t the only one in inspecting its lottery’s operations following a multi-state media investigation of frequent high-volume lottery winner claimants.
Though one may question Tipton’s reliability, he says lotteries across the country remain faulty and their honesty is at risk. In his confession Tipton claimed that he had warned his former employer about security limitations.
