were determined by a modified parimutuel system; except under special circumstances, only the jackpot was shared among multiple winners. A jackpot won on or before May 11, 2013 entitled a winner of the choice of cash or receiving 25 equal yearly payments. These winners had 25 percent withheld towards Federal taxes (and additional withholding in most cases.) The minimum jackpot was $1,000,000; rollovers were at least $50,000 per drawing. A jackpot winner receives cash (although not necessarily in one payment); however, the "pre-withholding" amount must be declared for income tax purposes. Depending on where a Hot Lotto ticket was purchased, winners (jackpot or otherwise) have from 90 days to 1 year in which to claim their prize. The final Hot Lotto drawing did not produce a jackpot winner; its 13 members agreed to use the funds to augment the initial jackpot for Lotto America. The first jackpot for the game will be $15 million (annuity with cash option); Lotto America's regular starting jackpot will be $2 million. Final members † Charter member § All Hot Lotto members (when game ended in October 2017) offered Lotto America when it began in November 2017, with the exception of New Hampshire which plans to join in June 2018. Previous members District of Columbia (April 2004–December 24, 2016) Vermont (July 2009–May 17, 2014) Fraud scandal On July 20, 2015, Eddie Raymond Tipton, MUSL's director of information security, was found guilty of two counts of fraud for rigging a Hot Lotto drawing in December 2010, and then fraudulently attempting to claim the prize anonymously. Prosecutors believed that Tipton had used his privileged access to the secured room housing the Hot Lotto computer for servicing, in order to install a rootkit that rigged the $16.5 million drawing held on December 29, 2010. He then purchased a ticket containing the rigged numbers from a convenience store in Des Moines. Nearly a year later, the "winning" ticket of the draw was routed through several accomplices, including a Belize-based investment trust that was said to represent its owner, in an attempt to claim it anonymously, but the prize claims were rejected per Iowa Lottery policy forbidding anonymous claims. By means of a person from Quebec City identified as the trust's president, the trust was found to be connected to two people from Sugar Land, Texas, including Robert Rhodes, with whom Tipton has professional relations and had contact with and