DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The former CEO of the Iowa Lottery has co-written a book about a former lottery computer programmer who is in prison for cheating lotteries in several states out of millions of dollars.
Terry Rich worked with Iowa journalist Perry Beeman to write “The $80 billion Gamble,” which was released Monday. It tells the story of how Eddie Tipton altered number-picking programs on lottery computers to win jackpots in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Tipton usually had others buy tickets and collect winnings since he was ineligible to play as a lottery vendor employee, but in 2010 Tipton bought an Iowa Hot Lotto ticket using numbers he knew would win. He urged a friend to collect the $16.5 million but his scheme all unraveled.
The book tells how a yearslong investigation uncovered the scheme.
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