Documentary examines Iowa’s Hot Lotto scam
June 3rd, 2025 by Ric Hanson
(Radio Iowa) – A documentary is now available about the 2011 Hot Lotto scam in Iowa that led to the uncovering of other rigged games across the country. Former Iowa Lottery C-E-O Terry Rich wrote a book about the scam, as did former Assistant Attorney General Rob Sand, and Rich says there were a lot of requests to do a movie. “So we decided to offer it free and it’ll be 50 minutes with a lot of things that no one has ever heard or knew about the big lottery caper that happened right here in Iowa,” Rich says. The documentary was made by A-M-S pictures of Dallas, Texas and is available today (Tuesday).
“You’ll actually hear from some of the people who were directly involved that haven’t spoken before, including the boss of the person who did it. We also have some of the D-C-I folks who were involved, and of course the prosecutors who really knew all the things that happened behind the scenes that have unveiled what’s going on,” he says. The investigation led to Eddie Tipton, the former security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, who set up the rigged drawings.
“You’ll actually find out how long the perpetrator actually spent in prison in the state of Iowa, along with his accomplices, and hear a little bit about from the individuals who were involved why this was such a unique case, and why it garnered international attention,” Rich says. The investigation went on to find others who had won jackpots in Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma from tickets rigged by Eddie Tipton. Rich says he still gets questions about the rigged jackpots.”It seems to continue to be covered all across the United States. So there’s still a lot of interest in people remembered as one classic. The case where the guy did something he shouldn’t have done and he got busted,” Rich says.
The documentary is called “Jackpot America’s biggest lotto scam”, and it’s available on YouTube, or lottodoc.com.