Iowa Lottery officials received high marks on Tuesday for handling the mystery around a winning Hot Lotto jackpot that was claim by attorneys representing a trust, which in the end, withdrew the claim for the multimillion-dollar prize last week.

“That’s the damndest thing I’ve every heard of,” Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington, said after lottery officials told members of the Legislature’s Oversight Committee about the 13-month saga that began when a Hot Lotto ticket matched the grand-prize numbers drawn on Dec. 29, 2010, and was turned in a year later bearing the name of a New York attorney acting on behalf of an investment trust based in Belize. Lottery checker

Iowa Lottery chief Terry Rich said they met with attorney Crawford Shaw once, but he was unable to provide information to verify that the ticket was legally purchased, possessed and presented for validation. Eventually, the claim was withdrawn but the events triggered a criminal probe by the state Division of Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which is still ongoing and prevented Lottery officials from providing state legislators with all the answers they sought during Tuesday’s hearing.

“From our standpoint, this case is closed,” said Rich, who said his authority was as clear as possible with Iowans to protect the integrity of the lottery and that he believed the system worked as it should have. Lottery winning numbers

“I feel very comfortable with the rules you have set up,” the lottery chief told Oversight Committee members.

Lottery officials had set a 3 p.m. Friday deadline last week for attorneys representing Hexham to provide information about who bought the winning ticket and the circumstances surrounding the signed ticket to be turned in for validation so they could determine if was legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented. Yet, no one showed up and instead the claim was withdrawn.

”Like a lot of Iowans, we want to know what went on here, but it seems to me that the system works and it’s worked in this case so far, at least based on what we know,” said Rep. Chris Hagenow, an Oversight Committee co-chairman. “It seems to me that everything works. We’re talking about big dollars. I think based on what we heard that people should have high confidence in the integrity of the Iowa Lottery. I’m satisfied that they’re conducting themselves the way they need to on behalf of the people of Iowa.”

Courtney said lawmakers will “keep watching it ‘til the game’s over” and will expect lottery officials to find out as much as possible once the criminal probe is completed , that is if the truth can be uncovered and provided to the citizens of Iowa.

“I think they have the right to know what happened,” he said. “This is big money and every time there’s big money you’ve always got to wonder but I think it’s been handled properly.”

Iowa lottery officials say now that the state’s $1.3 million share of the unclaimed jackpot will be rolled into a promotion in which about $1.9 million in unclaimed money will be given away to Iowa Lottery players. All the details related to the promotion will be announced later this spring.