Jackpot: New Film Explores America’s Multimillion Dollar Lottery Fraud Mastermind

June 03, 2025

A fresh documentary that premiered on Tuesday, “Jackpot: America’s Biggest Lotto Scam,” explores the tale of Eddie Tipton, a seemingly ordinary, hotdog-loving Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast who orchestrated the largest lottery scam in US history. 

The exceptionally clever Tipton served as the security chief at the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) in Iowa, where he was said to be greatly admired by his coworkers. 

In 2015, he admitted to manipulating the Hot Lotto drawing five times in five different states from 2005 to 2011, although the actual count might be greater. 

Concealed Symbol 

Tipton contributed to the team that created the random number generator utilized by MUSL for drawing the numbers. Without his colleagues' awareness, he integrated harmful software that would erase itself while allowing him to forecast winning numbers on certain dates annually. Tipton obscured his activities by turning off the surveillance devices. 

The code enabled him to reduce the chances of winning the jackpot from 5 million to 1 down to 200 to 1. 

The initial verified case linked to the fraud took place in Colorado on Nov. 23, 2005, involving a $4.8 million prize. Three individuals asserted their claim to the prize, among them a person linked to Tipton’s sibling, Tommy Tipton. 

Tommy Tipton served as a magistrate judge in Fayette County, Texas, and was an avid bigfoot enthusiast. Fortuitously, he was in Colorado chasing his bigfoot passion at that moment and could have a friend collect the funds. 

The most crucial — and ultimately damning — jackpot took place in 2011 when multiple attempts to collect a $16.5 million prize via different law firms just days prior to the ticket's expiration alarmed lottery officials. 

Hidden Camera 

Detectives examined video recordings from the Des Moines gas station where the ticket was purchased almost a year prior. The footage captured a stout man in a dark hoodie that concealed his face buying two hot dogs and the winning lottery ticket. Tipton’s coworkers were shocked when they identified him as one of theirs. 

While being questioned, Tipton remarked that he felt overburdened and undervalued, stating that he had alerted MUSL about system weaknesses — alerts he asserted were disregarded. 

He received a maximum 25-year prison sentence and was required to pay millions in restitution, yet he was paroled after just five years. He presently resides in Texas and declined to participate in the documentary. 

Arch Adversary 

The movie was co-produced by Terry Rich, the ex-president of the Iowa Lottery, who has leveraged the Tipton story for his after-dinner talks since retiring. Rich holds a degree of respect for his arch rival, as does Ed Stefan, the former leader of MUSL.

"As far as the east is from the west, Eddie is one of the best freaking human beings out there. He is just a good guy. He really, really, truly is. He just made a bad choice,” Stefan said.

“Jackpot: America’s Biggest Lotto Scam” is available to watch for free on YouTube from today.