This program originally aired on August 6, 2019
$16.5 million. That's how much was in the jackpot in 2010, when Eddie Tipton won the lottery after buying the ticket in a Des Moines convenience store. As the security chief at the Multi-State Lottery Association at the time, Tipton was unable to claim the money. He hired a law firm to deliver the winning ticket and keep his name anonymous -- but by then the Iowa Lottery had already suspected something fishy was going on. Tipton had masterminded the biggest lottery fraud in US history.
On this hour of River to River, host Ben Kieffer talks with Terry Rich and Perry Beeman, authors of the new book "The $80 Billion Dollar Gamble: The Inside Story of How a Suspicious Ticket, Hot Dogs, and Bigfoot Foiled the Biggest Lottery Fraud in US History." Their book details this twisting and bizarre tale.
Guests include:
- Perry Beeman, Managing Editor at the Business Record and co-author of "The $80 Billion Dollar Gamble"
- Terry Rich, former CEO of the Iowa Lottery and co-author of "The $80 Billion Dollar Gamble"
- Rob Sand, Iowa State Auditor and prosecutor of the Hot Lotto fraud scandal
