ialottery blog

Another Clean Report For Iowa’s Lottery

Here's something that's a big deal to us, and it’s a big deal for you as an Iowa Lottery player, too. The Iowa Lottery has gotten another clean report from the State Auditor's Office.

State law requires the Auditor's Office to review the Lottery’s operations each year. The auditor's checks are in addition to the security and integrity standards the Lottery uses throughout its operations to ensure the integrity of its games.

State Auditor David Vaudt has just released the results of his fiscal year 2008 audit of the Lottery. Click here to see his report.

The official language of the report states that: "In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Iowa Lottery Authority at June 30, 2008, and the changes in its financial position and its cash flows for the year then ended in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

The report also goes on to say: "The results of our tests disclosed no instances of non-compliance or other matters that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards."

Why is that a big deal to you? In plain language, it means that an auditor came in and looked at the Iowa Lottery – how we operate, what we do, and how we manage things – and gave us a clean report.

We use the auditor's report each year as a measuring stick of how we're doing. We’re proud of our record here at the lottery and know that fairness and integrity must be at the heart of everything we do. It's what players demand if they’re going to trust us enough to buy tickets in our games. It’s what the public demands of us if it's to trust in the reports and information we provide. We keep that in mind every day and appreciate the confidence you’ve shown in Iowa’s lottery.

We thank the auditor for the work of his office and staff and look forward to working with them again in their upcoming reviews.

Marshalltown Man Claims $1 Million Prize

Imagine carrying a Powerball ticket around in your wallet for a few days without realizing you’d won a $1 million prize. That’s what a Marshalltown man said he did!

Ricky Rushton of Marshalltown claimed his $1 million Powerball prize Tuesday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. Ricky works the overnight shift at the cafeteria at the Swift pork-packing plant in Marshalltown, and said he hadn’t heard that a $1 million-winning Powerball ticket had been sold at the local convenience store where he usually buys his tickets. So, after completing his shift Tuesday morning, he had his ticket checked.

The clerk calmly told Ricky that he couldn’t cash the ticket. Ricky thought he’d only won $10, and was confused. Then he looked more closely at the print-out from the lottery terminal and saw a lot more zeroes. Click here to hear Ricky talk about his big win, or here to see video of him claiming his prize!    

Ricky was the only player in the country to win a $1 million prize in Saturday’s Powerball drawing. His ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball in the $130.4 million jackpot drawing to win a $200,000 prize. But, Ricky also had added the Power Play® option to his winning ticket, which multiplied the prize to $1 million.

When the Powerball game was redesigned in January, one of the changes made was specifically for the prize players win if, like Ricky, they match the first five numbers and have added the Power Play to their tickets. The prize for that play is always $1 million, no matter what the Power Play number is for that drawing.      

And remember, no one won Saturday’s jackpot, so it’s up to an estimated $150 million for tomorrow night’s drawing! Happy playing and good luck!  

Iowa Has Its 2nd $1 Million Winner This Winter!

It's happened again – Iowa has its second $1 million-winning Powerball® ticket this winter!

In late December, a Marion couple claimed a $1 million prize they won with a Powerball ticket they'd purchased while out with friends enjoying holiday lights in nearby Swisher. And in Saturday night's drawing, a $1 million-winning Powerball ticket was sold in Marshalltown!

The big prize-winning ticket was sold at the Kwik Star at 810 S. Third Ave. in Marshalltown. It matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball in Saturday's $130.4 million jackpot drawing to win a $200,000 prize. But, the player who purchased the ticket also added the Power Play® option to it, which multiplied the prize to $1 million. It was the only ticket in the country to win that prize Saturday.

The folks who work at the Kwik Star say word is spreading quickly and there are all sorts of rumors, but so far, the big winner or winners haven't come forward.

The $1 million prize in Powerball was one of the changes made in the game when it was redesigned last month. If you add the Power Play to your ticket and it wins a $200,000 prize for matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball, your prize will always be multiplied to $1 million, no matter what the Power Play number is for that drawing.

If you have a ticket that you bought in Marshalltown for Saturday's Powerball drawing, you're probably wondering what the winning numbers were, so, without further adieu, here they are: 13-31-41-45-46 and Powerball 21. The Power Play multiplier was 4. No one won Saturday's jackpot, so it increases to an estimated $150 million for Wednesday’s drawing.

The $1 million prize has to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. If you have the winning ticket and you have questions before you come in to claim the prize, please give us a call here at the lottery at 515-725-7900. We’re excited to meet you!

A True Run Of Luck

Every once in a while, a really special winner's story comes along, and I've got one of the best to share today! It's a story of love, luck and maybe some help from the great beyond.

Keith Selix is a retired Deere & Co. machinist who lives in Waterloo. And to say that the 83-year-old has had good luck playing the lottery would be an understatement.

In late January, Keith won his fourth top prize in a lottery instant-scratch game. This time, he won $30,000 in the "Crossword" game. In 2005, he'd also won $30,000 in Crossword along with a $21,000 prize in “Double Blackjack.” And he followed that with another $30,000 Crossword prize in 2006.

Keith's string of lottery luck began four months after his wife's death in February 2005. He says sometimes he thinks she's watching over him, helping out his winning streak. But he also uses a couple small screwdrivers to scratch off his tickets, so maybe they're his good-luck charms. Whatever the reason, we have fun catching up with Keith whenever he comes in to claim a prize. He says he's still shocked every time he wins, and we have fun giving him an oversized, ceremonial check and taking his photo so he’ll have a keepsake from his latest special day.

After all his wins, Keith is still making down-to-earth choices with his winnings. His latest round of prize money went straight into his savings account, and the time before that, he used his winnings to renovate his house.

Word of Keith's luck is definitely spreading. Click here, here and here to see some of the media coverage about the Iowa Lottery player whose legend is growing

So, have fun playing Keith! We have a feeling we'll see you again soon!

Twitter/Facebook Contest Winners

It's time to find out the winners in our Twitter/Facebook contest today! This time around, we used a presidents theme, since it's Presidents Day and all. And, because this year would have been the 200th birthday of Abe Lincoln, we decided to give away $200 in "Lottery Buck" coupons for free lottery tix.

Four of our fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter each won $50 in coupons that they can use to buy tickets in their favorite lottery games. Check out video of the contest results here.

Congrats to:

@taravanb from Twitter
@abkadefgee from Twitter
@DawnKuehn from Twitter
@schippers from Twitter

You'll need to contact Pam Brocker, the lottery's promotions manager, at 515.725.7929 so she can take down your information and send out your coupons! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks for following and friending us! Be sure to watch for another contest next month!

Promotions Online Or By Mail?

It’s time for us to go over again the types of promotions we offer and the different ways you can enter them.
 
Late last month, I blogged about how you can quickly find information for our current promotions as well as the results of recent promotions that have ended. After I posted that, our Hot Lotto Sizzler $100,000 Cash Blast promotion began, which you can enter online at the lottery’s Web site. 
 
The Cash Blast promotion has an online entry, but we do vary our promotions between those that allow you to enter online and those that require you to send in tickets to the lottery. We also rotate our promotions between our lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games to offer additional chances to win to all the players who buy our products.
 
Some folks are now complaining that they don’t have a computer and therefore, can’t enter the Cash Blast promotion. You don’t have to own a computer to enter it. If a friend or family member has a computer, you can ask to use it to enter the promotion. And there are public-access computers at local libraries you also can use.
 
For every concern voiced about promotions with online entries, we’ll get an opposing comment from folks who say they don’t want to have to use a stamp to mail in an entry. We know we can't please all of the people all of the time, but we do our best to accommodate different preferences with the varying promotions we offer.

Beware Of Lottery Scams

We've been warning about lottery scams for a few years now, but every once in a while, we still get inquiries from folks who worry us because it appears they're about to fall for a scam.

I recently got an e-mail from a man in India who said he’d gotten an e-mail informing him he'd won $500,000 in Powerball. The man was ready to provide me with all of his personal information, and that's exactly what scammers are hoping for so they can separate victims from their hard-earned money.

I e-mailed the man back to warn him that it appeared he was about to fall for a scam. Neither Powerball nor the Iowa Lottery send out e-mails like he'd referenced. We only know you're a winner when you present us with your winning ticket, so there's no reason for us to contact you in advance.

And remember, the only way you can win a prize in Powerball is if you've bought a ticket at a licensed retailer in Iowa or one of the other states where the game is sold.

We keep a lot of security reminders and warnings on our Web site. Click here to go to our Player Security page. The Federal Trade Commission also provides important warnings about lottery scams. Click here to visit the FTC's site.

If you get suspicious letters, telephone calls or e-mails about a lottery game, or if you're ever in doubt about information that supposedly came from a legitimate lottery, call the Iowa Lottery at 515.725.7900 and ask for our Security Department.

Join Us On Livechat Today!

Got something you’ve always wanted to ask about the Iowa Lottery? Is there a burning question you’d like us to answer right away? Then today’s your day.

Terry Rich, the Iowa Lottery’s new CEO, and I will be guests on Livechat today at noon on www.dmregister.com. We’ll answer questions from staff at the Des Moines Register and you can pose your own questions as well while you watch the live stream of video from the newspaper’s Web site.

Just visit the Register’s Web site and click on the “Live chats” link at the top of the home page to go to the live chats site. Hope you’ll join us at noon today!

Next Twitter/Facebook Contest

We're gearing up for our next contest on Facebook and Twitter, so put it in your planner!

It's set for 2 p.m. Monday (Feb. 16). That's Presidents Day, so we're going with a presidents theme this time around. Abe Lincoln would have been 200 this year, so in our contest, we'll give away 200 coupons for free lottery tickets. We'll divide them up into four sets of $50 in "Lottery Buck" coupons that the winners can use for free plays.

Just follow us on Twitter or join our fan page on Facebook, give the correct answer to an EASY question during the contest, and you'll be entered for a chance to win one of the sets of coupons. It all kicks off at 2 p.m. on Monday, and the contest will only last for 15 minutes! (Hint about the question we‘ll ask: Watch the Powerball jackpot.)

At 2 p.m. Monday, we'll pose our question on Twitter and Facebook. If you don't know the answer off the top of your head, you'll be able to find it on our Web site!

Reply with the right answer within the next 15 minutes and you’ll be entered into our contest for a chance to win one of the four sets of coupons for free plays! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter or write your answer on the lottery’s wall on our Facebook fan page. (Don't direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren't eligible for entry.)
 
We'll assign a number to your name based upon the order in which the correct answers are received. Then we'll flip a giant quarter (face of quarter = George Washington, presidents theme continues). If it lands on heads, we’ll draw for the winners from amongst all of the even-numbered entries in the contest. If it lands on tails, we'll draw for the winners from the odd-numbered entries.

We'll videotape the contest results, then post the video on our Web site and YouTube. We'll also provide a link to the video from Twitter and we'll post an announcement with the winners' names on Twitter and Facebook. If you win, you'll need to contact us with your name and mailing address so we can send out your coupons!

A few requirements:

• You've got to be at least 21 years old to enter, and you must live in Iowa.
• No purchase necessary to enter or to win!

$1.4 Million For Iowa Veterans So Far This Year

Those of us at the Iowa Lottery owe our players a huge thank you for helping us achieve success in our new initiative that helps Iowa veterans and their families.

In July, the lottery began to sell games that raise money for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. We just made our latest transfer to the Veterans Trust Fund, and I'm incredibly pleased to tell you that we've provided more than $1.4 million to directly benefit veterans so far this fiscal year.
  
Last month, I blogged about the lottery’s newest games to benefit the cause. Next time you're in a store that sells lottery tickets, look for the $1 "Freedom Rings" instant-scratch game and the $1 "Land of Liberty" pull-tab game. And in each fiscal year going forward, we’ll have another four games to benefit veterans.
 
We are right on track to meet our original estimates, which were that we'll raise between $2 million and $3 million for veterans this year. Thank you for all you have done to help the lottery ensure a stable, ongoing source of revenue to help our veterans!

The Iowa Veterans Trust Fund was created to assist qualified veterans in paying for some of their expenses. To learn more about the Veterans Trust Fund, visit www.iowava.org.