Results Of Latest Security Checks In Iowa

There’s good news from another round of security checks at lottery retail locations in Iowa.

Lottery investigators posing as customers visited 66 randomly-selected retail locations last week, presenting tickets for cashing that each had won prizes of up to $100. In every instance, the location paid the correct prize amount.

We’re varying the approach we use in our checks, and this time, our investigators made many of their stops at night, while their previous checks had been during the day. And, we purposefully timed this month’s checks to hit during the current big Powerball jackpot run that’s creating high sales. The jackpot has climbed to an estimated $170 million for tonight’s drawing.

We think it’s important to try out different scenarios during our security checks to try to cover as many situations as possible. In February, lottery security investigators, all of whom were men, posed as the customers. In April, investigators oversaw the process, but women who work at the lottery posed as customers and presented the tickets for cashing. Now this month, we did many of our stops at night. In all of our checks, the locations paid the correct prize amount for the tickets presented to them.

I’ve blogged before about the problems with lottery ticket redemption in areas outside Iowa, and all the actions we’ve taken are designed to guard against even the possibility of that here in our state. Click here and here to read those earlier blogs.    

If you ever have a concern about the Iowa Lottery, our products or operations, please contact us at our main number in Des Moines at 515-725-7900 or by e-mail at Wmaster@ialottery.com. If you have a security-related concern about the lottery, please call the Lottery Security Department directly at 515-725-7900.

Comments

[Mike Byrne]

Maybe you should pretend to have a bigger winning ticket...such as a $5,000 ticket.I'll bet the thieves will come out of the woodwork for that kind of money.