Aug. 23 (UPI) — A man who admitting to rigging the Iowa lottery was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison in a Des Moines courtroom.
Eddie Tipton, 54, apologized for the scam before District County Judge Brad McCall on Tuesday, the Des Moines Register reported.
“I certainly regret [it]. It’s difficult even saying that with all the people I know behind me that I hurt, and I regret it. I’m sorry,” he told the court.
His lawyer asked McCall to order a sentence that would run concurrently with the term Tipton will receive in Wisconsin in September, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported. Tipton pleaded guilty there to to felony charges that he similarly rigged a 2007 lottery draw.
Tipton was a computer programmer of the Multi-State Lottery Association’s Iowa office. He installed software allowing him to influence winning numbers in lotteries in Iowa and other states. The plan fell apart after he unsuccessfully tried to anonymously collect a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket purchased in a Des Moines convenience store in 2010. He was arrested in 2015 and pleaded guilty to three felony charges in June.
Tipton also admitted to fixing lottery results in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma. He and his brother Tommy, a former Texas judge who collaborated in the crime, must also return $3 million in restitution.
The sentence comes as the 44-state Powerball jackpot, to be announced Wednesday night, has surpassed $700 million.
