Lottery Rigger Tipton Released from Jail

Eddie Tipton who was jailed for rigging lottery jackpots has been released from jail. His time in prison ended on February 1 but his legal problems seem to be far from over.

Tipton was given a 25-year prison sentence and began life behind bars in 2017. He served five years before being released on parole.  That was granted because of good behaviour while in prison. He will now be allowed to live in Texas.

He had worked for an organization that provided random number drawing computers to a number of US states. This involved the installation of codes that allowed him to predict the winning lottery numbers. The lottery rigging led to his conviction and jail sentence.

Back to jail?

However, a return to jail cannot be ruled out in future for Eddie Tipton. That’s because he has an estimated $1.6 million to pay back to four states where lottery rigging took place. However, that doesn’t seem likely to take place. Court documents that were filed in January 2020 said that Tipton was unable to make the required payments.

Some money had been paid back but a 2019 court document said they were less than $2,000. It was two years before that when Tipton was found guilty in court. He was ordered to repay $2.2 million gained illegally from lottery rigging.

Huge amounts owed

This took place in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In Wisconsin, he was ordered to repay $409,600 to the state but so far has only paid $463. Not repaying the amount owed by September 2026 will be bad news for Tipton.  A judge could then order that he returns to jail.

Tipton has even more debts. He also owes Colorado over $568,300, Oklahoma $643,700 and Kansas $30,700. Rob Sand works as an assistant attorney general in Iowa. He said that Tipton “may be done with his term, but under his needs to get restitution paid to avoid serving more time in Wisconsin.” Whether failure to pay the other states would also see him jailed isn’t clear.

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