Hot Lotto

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.7 • 38.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2010, a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket was sold at a gas station in Des Moines, Iowa. At first, no one showed up to claim the prize. And then, a series of lawyers tried to claim the money on behalf of a client they would not name. Things got stranger, and eventually investigators uncovered what has been called the biggest lottery fraud in U.S. history. We speak with Iowa’s state Auditor, Rob Sand, and with Ed Stefan, who spent years working at the Multi State Lottery Association. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Krakan.
0:03.0	Krypto is like the financial system, but different.
0:07.0	It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,
0:11.0	or your outrageous food delivery habits.
0:13.7	crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time.
0:18.4	Krakhan, see what crypto can be.
0:21.3	Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.
0:25.0	This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Well, some very exciting news happened here in Iowa last night. A 16.5 million dollar winning hot lotto ticket was sold here in the Des Moines area.
0:47.0	On December 23rd 2010, a 16.5 million dollar hot Lotto ticket was sold at a quick trip gas station on the northeast
0:56.9	side of Des Moines, Iowa.
0:59.7	The buyer of the ticket had matched all five numbers plus the hot lotto number. The ticket read
1:06.4	3 12, 16, 26, 33 and Hotball 11.
1:14.6	The news made local headlines all throughout the state after the numbers were drawn six days
1:20.1	later.
1:21.9	The Muscotine Journal's headline read,
1:24.0	Someone is suddenly a millionaire. But then, no one showed up with the winning ticket.
1:30.0	The Iowa lottery was out there saying on a regular basis, hey folks, check your ticket, somebody's got 16 million bucks, and it was sort of this mystery.
1:38.0	Why hasn't anyone come forward?
1:40.0	This is Rob Sand, Iowa State Auditor.
1:43.1	So every few months, Terry Rich, the head of the Iowa lottery,
1:47.7	would have a press conference and remind people,
1:50.4	hey, we owe somebody $16 million, check your tickets, you know, we want to pay this
	...

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