Yes, We’re Wearing Cowboy Hats!

If you’ve been to our booth at the Iowa State Fair, or if you’ve just seen us out and about at lottery retail locations over the past several days, you may have noticed that Iowa Lottery employees are wearing cowboy hats. What’s the deal, you ask? Well, we’re trying to channel some good luck from South Dakota, one of our neighbors to the west! 

It all started in June, when Neal Wanless, a South Dakota rancher, won a $232.1 million Powerball jackpot. You may remember Neal’s story because of the name of the town where he bought his winning ticket: Winner, S.D. What are the odds of that?

Neal attended his news conference looking every bit like a rancher, right down to the black cowboy hat he wore with a big grin.  So we started thinking about it, and decided that if he became a Powerball jackpot winner while wearing a cowboy hat, maybe some of that good luck would rub off here if we wore cowboy hats, too! Who knows if it will really work, but we’re having fun trying!

The jackpots in Powerball and Hot Lotto continue to roll, hitting an estimated $245 million and $16.4 million, respectively, for Wednesday’s drawings. And if an Iowa Lottery player wins either of those big prizes, you can bet we’re going to give credit for the stroke of luck to our “winning” cowboy hats!