Criminal

Black and white illustration showing lottery tickets piling up at the bottom of the frame, with more tickets floating down to meet them.

Hot Lotto

Episode #282

2024-08-23 05:00:19

Download

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.

This episode was first published in 2021.