As ever, greed is the downfall of the ill-prepared criminal. He could probably have won a ~$2 million prize once, left it at that, and got away with it.

He didn't, though. From another article about this:

> Tipton recruited the friend to claim the prize on his behalf by telling the person that he believed his marriage was failing and he wanted to keep the money secret from his wife in case of a divorce, according to the criminal complaint.

> [In another] instance, Tipton bought the ticket while on a trip to Oklahoma with another man who isn't named in the complaint, authorities allege. The justice of the peace asked the other man to recruit a third person to claim the ticket, once again using a story about a looming divorce. Oklahoma lottery records show that prize was paid out to Kyle Conn, the owner of a Texas construction company. The criminal complaint claims Tipton later collected a share of the money.