There’s a very obvious reason why lottery employees aren’t allowed to play for prizes like the rest of the country in many states, as they could have an obvious advantage when it comes to figuring out how to reap big rewards. As such, one ex-lottery worker from Iowa (where it’s illegal for lotto employees to play) has been convicted of rigging the system, fixing it so he could buy the right numbers and win a $14 million jackpot.

Those ill-gotten gains were never actually gotten, reports the Associated Press, as prosecutors said the man tried and failed to have others collect his winnings to avoid detection in the scheme.

After an April trial, former lottery security official with the Des Moines-based Multi-State Lottery Association was found guilty of rigging a computerized Hot Lotto game, after prosecutors said he installed a program into the computer in 2010 that randomly chooses winning numbers and then deleted it to cover his tracks.

Prosecutors alleged that he then bought the same numbers that he’d programmed into the lottery computer a month before, and gave the ticket to a friend in Texas. That friend got in touch with attorneys in Canada and Texas in an attempt to cash the ticket without revealing the identity of the original ticket buyer, but because Iowa law requires jackpot winners to be identified, he never got the money.

He was charged with two counts of fraud, and was found guilty today after a jury deliberated for five hours. He’s now facing a maximum of five years in prison on each count, but his lawyer says he will appeal, based on a lack of sufficient evidence.

This is the same guy everyone was asked to keep an eye out for in the case of the missing lottery winner we highlighted last fall.

Ex-lottery worker convicted of rigging system to win $14M [Associated Press]

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