‘Ironman’ promoter fined $2.8M for illegal lottery

WILMINGTON, Del. – The promoter of “Ironman” events will forfeit $2.8 million raised from an illegal lottery that gave athletes a chance to enter its annual championship in Hawaii.

World Triathlon Corp. charged athletes $50 each for a chance to compete in the event, which involves a 2.4-mile (3.9- kilometer) swim, a 112-mile bike race and a 26.2-mile marathon.

Thousands of athletes bought multiple entries, according to A. Lee Bentley III, the U.S. attorney in Tampa, Fla. The selected winners then got the right to pay the entrance fee and participate in the Hawaii event.

“Ironman would have been permitted to give away the opportunity to compete in the race, but violated the law when it charged athletes money for the chance to win,” Bentley said in a statement.

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Ironman, which organizes races around the world, said it “has operated in a substantially similar manner since 1983” and fully cooperated with officials in the probe.

“While we do not agree with U.S. Department of Justice’s interpretation of the relevant statutes or that there has been anything untoward or inappropriate,” the group said. Ironman said it “chose to settle so that we can focus on our priorities – our athletes and our events.”

The most recent study by USA Triathlon, the sport’s governing body in the U.S., said there were about 530,000 registered triathletes, more than four times the 122,000 when the sport made its Olympic debut in 2000.

U.S. races

There are 12 Ironman-branded full-distance (140.6 miles) races in the U.S. this year and 26 half-distance (70.3 miles) triathlons.

Ironman triathlons cost about $750 to enter and often sell out in fewer than 15 minutes.

USA Triathlon said the average income for a triathlete is $126,000.

“We are proud of the longstanding tradition” of the lottery, which “has changed lives and provided athletes of all abilities the opportunity to participate,” Ironman said in a statement.

World Triathlon is a unit of Providence Equity Partners.

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