RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It was one of those feel-good moments that lotteries love to promote when “Lucky Larry” Dawson claimed a $9 million jackpot, surrounded by his kids and grandkids.

But five years later, the Iowa man could become a key player in litigation that threatens to cost state lotteries tens of millions of dollars in damages in an insider jackpot-rigging scandal.

A Des Moines law firm filed a lawsuit Wednesday on Dawson’s behalf seeking to declare that his Hot Lotto jackpot in May 2011 should have been nearly three times as big, had the previous one not been fixed.

It’s the first in what could be several lawsuits filed by players who claim they were ripped off by games allegedly rigged by Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

Prosecutors allege that Tipton used his access to random number generators to fix jackpots in Kansas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and worked with associates to play winning numbers and collect prizes.