DES MOINES, Iowa — It was one of those feel-good moments that lotteries love to promote when "Lucky Larry" Dawson smiled as he claimed a $9 million jackpot, surrounded by kids and grandkids. But five years later, the Iowa man could become a key player in a barrage of litigation that threatens to cost state lotteries tens of millions of dollars in damages in an insider jackpot-rigging scandal.
A Des Moines law firm filed a lawsuit Wednesday on Dawson's behalf seeking to declare that his Hot Lotto jackpot in May 2011 should have been nearly three times as big, had the previous one not been fixed. It's the first in what could be several lawsuits filed by players who claim they were ripped off in games allegedly rigged over several years by Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
Tipton has been convicted of rigging a $16.5 million jackpot in December 2010 by tampering with the random number generator that draws the Hot Lotto winning numbers at the association headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa, and then buying the six-number combination himself. He's awaiting trial on charges alleging that he fixed jackpots worth millions in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma between 2005 and 2011 and worked with associates to buy tickets and claim prizes.
Dawson's lawsuit claims the 2010 prize should have rolled over to the next jackpot, which he won. Instead, the jackpot reset to $1 million.
"If the lottery hadn't rigged their own game, our client would have had $10 million more in cash value. Obviously, he needs to be made whole. The entire integrity of the lottery run by this organization nationwide is at stake here," said his attorney, Jerry Crawford.
The case isn't a class action, but Crawford didn't rule out filing additional lawsuits.
The Iowa Lottery, named as a defendant along with the association, vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying Dawson "rightfully was paid the jackpot to which he was entitled."