Prosecutors said Eddie Tipton was the person in this surveilance video who bought the Hot Lotto ticket.
The Iowa Supreme Court has weighed in on the convoluted case of the unclaimed Hot Lotto ticket.
The Supreme Court ruled the charge of tampering with equipment to rig a lottery drawing against Eddie Tipton — the former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association based in Urbandale — should be dismissed because of the statute of limitations.
The Supreme Court ruled that Tipton should be given a new trial on a the charge that he tried to illegally claim the $16.5 million Hot Lotto prize drawn in December of 2010 that resulted from the rigged drawing because of an improper jury instruction.
The Supreme Court’s ruling however won’t result in a new trial. Tipton recently pleaded guilty to rigging lottery jackpots in Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma and agreed to pay more than two million dollars in restitution to lotteries in those states. The state of Colorado has agreed to drop its charges against Tipton.
A spokesman with the Iowa Attorney General’s office says under the plea agreement, the fraud charge would be dismissed from his record, so they will ask that it be dismissed when the case goes back to district court.
Here’s the ruling: Tipton Ruling 6-23-2017 PDF
Related stories:
Attorney argues there’s no proof Tipton rigged Hot Lotto game
Fraud charge thrown out in Hot Lotto rigging case
