Tampa Ironman organizer fined $2.8M for lottery

TAMPA -- The World Triathlon Corp., the organizer and owner of “Ironman” triathlon events around the world, has paid $2.8 million to the U.S. government after feds accused it of conducting an illegal lottery.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, World Triathlon had charged athletes $50 for a chance to win a competition spot in the Ironman World Championship held each October in Hawaii. Thousands of athletes purchased multiple entries, which U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III says violated Florida's lottery law.

The $2.8 million represents all the company's proceeds from those lotteries since October 2012, federal officials say. If World Triathlon had given away chances rather than charge for them, there would be no violation, they add.