New Arrest Made In Major Lottery Scam With Oklahoma Ties

Another suspect was arrested in a multi-state lottery scam with Oklahoma ties.

Two brothers are accused of conspiring to the win the lottery several times in different states and they were successful to a point.

One of the brothers was convicted last year. Police say the other purchased winning tickets in both Oklahoma and Colorado and was arrested Wednesday. Investigators believe Eddie and Tommy Tipton tried to collect $19 million in winning “Hot Lotto” tickets in five states.

Unlike Powerball and Mega Millions, which use ball machines, Hot Lotto numbers are selected by a computer.

Eddie Tipton, a former security director at the Multi-State Lottery Association, was convicted in July 2015. Investigators say he had access to lottery computers and designed a algorithm so numbers could be predicted on certain dates.

When he unsuccessfully tried to use an associate to collect on a winning ticket in Iowa in 2011, worth more than $10 million, the investigation started.

Around that same time, the Oklahoma Lottery tipped off investigators that it had just paid out $1.2 million to a person with a winning ticket claiming to represent a man in Texas.

“All those things raised questions,” says OK. Lottery Executive Director Rollo Redburn,

Redburn says information provided by the OK. Lottery helped lead to the arrest of Tommy Tipton Wednesday. He's out on bond right now.

“It was a wake-up call for everybody,” says Redburn. He tells News 9 security measures for all effected state lotteries has been improved since the breach.