Q: I read in the paper where some people had cheated on the lottery because they knew which numbers were going to fall. How could they possibly know the numbers before they were drawn?
—Loring Gabriel, Carrollton
A: Eddie Tipton, a former security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, installed software that helped him manipulate the winning numbers in several states, prosecutors say.
Tipton was sentenced to 10 years last July after he was convicted on two fraud charges for tampering with an Iowa jackpot, but officials are now investigating him for drawings in Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wisconsin.
Maine also has passed the names of lottery winners to Iowa officials.
The Multi-State Lottery Association, which is based in Iowa, oversees games in 37 states.
“If you find one cockroach, you have to assume there are 100 more you haven’t found,” lead investigator Thomas H. Miller told the AP.
Tipton is connected to what are called “manual play” games, the Des Moines Register reported. Lottery players must pick their own numbers in those games.
The software, called a rootkit, is what the Register described as a “self-deleting computer program.”
Authorities say Tipton was recorded on video buying lottery tickets from a Des Moines convenience store in 2010. He also used accomplices to redeem winning tickets, investigators say.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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