US officials file charges over lottery fixing

A former lottery computer administrator from Iowa and a friend from Texas have been charged in Wisconsin with racketeering and theft by fraud.

Eddie Tipton and Robert Rhodes were charged by the state's attorney general and also face four counts of computer crime.

The documents allege Tipton, who worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa, modified computer data so he could pick a winning number for the December 29 2007 Wisconsin Megabucks game.

A state investigator says Rhodes confessed the scheme, explaining that Tipton recruited him to help win jackpots and gave him a series of numbers to play, one of which won the $783 257 jackpot that Rhodes said they split.