ialottery blog

Join Us for Facebook AND Twitter Contests

Now that our Facebook contests are back, we’ve gotten questions from some of our long-time friends about whether it’s OK to enter both. The short answer is: YES, absolutely!

A few years back, we held joint contests at the same time on Facebook and Twitter. You were only allowed to enter once, using one site or the other. But, we’ve split them up now! I guess you can call it twice as much fun. ☺

Some of you who remembered entering the joint contests have asked if you can enter both now. YES, you can! The contests are held on separate days, we ask separate questions and give away separate prizes. So please, feel free to enter either or both!

Our next Twitter contest is set for noon on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Then you can join us at 11 a.m. the following Monday, Feb. 20, on Facebook. All you have to do is follow us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook.

We’ll see you for the contests! 

Sweet! A Twitter Contest!

Give your sweetie a hug on Valentine’s Day – and then get to the computer for our Twitter contest!

We’re celebrating “heart day” this year by giving away three prize packs of $20 in our new “Lucky Hearts” scratch game. It’s a $1 game with a top prize of $1,000. Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise for you and your valentine!

The contest is set for noon on Tuesday, Feb. 14. To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account if you don’t already have one. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the ticket prize packages.   

At noon next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

We’ll select the three winners in our contest, then we’ll blog about the results and link to that blog entry on Twitter and Facebook.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

And Our BIG Twitter Contest Winners Are…

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! For our question this time we asked you to tell us if you won Wednesday night’s estimated $120 million Powerball jackpot, what’s the first thing you would buy?
We had a ton of great answers to, “I’d buy my mom a house,” to “A new car!” to “Build a new wrestling room for the team I coach.” They were all great answers and fun to read. Thanks for sharing your dreams with us.
This time around we played Powerball Pong. We drew semi-finalist names from all the entries and wrote their name and answer on the bottom of cups and partially filled them with red water and then tossed ping-pong balls into the cups. The first three cups we hit were our three winners.

Congratulations to:
Round 1 Winner: @CMcTweet23
Round 2 Winner: @Danadashoop
Round 3 Winner:  @katanyagdav

Our three winners today will each get $20 in Powerball coupons to play the new $2 Powerball game where there are MORE millionaires, BIGGER prizes and BETTER odds of winning. The winners have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, to contact us to claim their prizes. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Facebook Contests Are Back!

Fun news for our friends in the social media world! We’re bringing back our monthly Facebook contests! Can I get a “Woo Hoo”?

Very similar to our monthly Twitter contests, we’ll be asking you a lottery-related question on our “Lottery Contest” tab on our Facebook page.

What’s the prize? Glad you asked. We’ll be giving away three prize packs that will each contain $10 in Powerball coupons and some sweet lottery swag!





A while back, we polled our Facebook fans to see what day of the week and what time they would like to see the contests held. The majority picked Mondays at 11 a.m. So with that said, our January Facebook contest will start at (you guessed it) 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 30.

To be eligible to enter, just “Like” us on Facebook – it’s free to create an account. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the prize packages.   

At 11 a.m. on Monday, we’ll pose our question on Facebook. Just click on the “Lottery Contest” tab, read the question, fill in the entry form and your answer and click “submit” during the 15-minute window and you’ll be entered. It’s just that easy!

We’ll print the list of eligible entries and use a random-number generator to select our winners and then post those winners under the “Lottery Contest” tab on our Facebook page. We’ll notify the winners by phone and/or email to claim their prize. We’ll also post a list of the winners’ names here on our blog.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your prize pack. Winners will have until 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize. We’ll also select alternate names in case any of the winners don’t contact us within the specified amount of time.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Facebook contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

A BIG Twitter Contest

Something BIG is coming tomorrow, and to celebrate, we’re having a Twitter contest!

As you may already know, $2 Powerball® debuted Sunday. Powerball now offers MORE millionaires, BIGGER jackpots and BETTER odds of winning. Well, tomorrow night is the first drawing in the newly designed game, and it’s BIG! Tomorrow’s estimated jackpot is $80 million.

To celebrate the changes in Powerball, we’re giving away three prize packages of $20 in Powerball coupons – so you can have a chance to win BIG from our Twitter contest!

The contest is set for noon on Tuesday, Jan. 24. To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account if you don’t already have one. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the ticket prize packages.

At noon next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

We’ll select the three winners here at our office, and as always, we’ll record a video after the contest and post it on our website and YouTube. We’ll also blog about the winners here, and link to that blog entry on Twitter and Facebook.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

December Twitter Contest Winners

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! We asked you to name one of our ten holiday tickets we have out this season for our Super Tech promotion. We had a lot of right answers.

Today, we played the card match game to see who our three winners would be. We matched pairs of our holiday tickets with entrant’s names on the pairs.

Our three winners have each won $20 in the “Holiday Wishes” scratch game! And remember, if you have any non-winning tickets, you can enter them into your free VIP Club accounts in our Super Tech promotion where you’ll have the chance to win one of more than 250 cool electronic prizes!

Congratulations to:

@blondiekate
@TattooedJuggalo
@Kathy_L

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20 to claim their prizes.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!

Happy Holidays! Time for a Twitter Contest

Hopefully you all can take some time out of your busy holiday schedule to join us for a Twitter contest!

This time, we’ll be giving away three prize packs of $20 in one of our holiday scratch games. The winners will get to try their luck at our “Holiday Wishes” scratch ticket. It’s a $5 game with top prizes of $50,000!

And don’t forget, if you get some non-winners, you can enter them into your VIP Club account to earn points to use in our Points For Prizes™ online store. But that’s not all: We’re also running our “Super Tech” promotion right now. The Holiday Wishes tickets can get you in the running for some sweet electronics, OR help get you an entry for a chance to win one of the Super Prize packages.

The contest is set for noon on Tuesday, Dec. 13. To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account if you don’t already have one. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the ticket prize packages.   

At noon next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

To determine our winners this time around, we’ll be playing a holiday round of the Concentration card game (also known as Memory)! We’ll select ten semi-finalists’ names and put them on 20 cards. The first three matches we make are our winners!

As always, we’ll record a video after the contest and post it on our website and YouTube. We’ll also blog about the winners here, and link to that blog entry on Twitter.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

Winners of the Veterans Twitter Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! We asked you to tell us the name of a veteran you know and the branch of the military in which they served. And, boy, was it cool seeing all those veterans’ names come up on our Twitter page!

There was a definite twist to today’s contest. Since everybody is a winner when they play the lottery’s veterans games, ALL of you who entered the contest today are winners!

You have all won $5 in “Veterans Hot $50” scratch tickets, a lottery “Dream” T-shirt and a VIP Club starter card worth 750 points to use in our Points For Prizes™ online store.

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22 to claim their prizes. And remember, if you’re a VIP Club member, you’ll get TRIPLE POINTS for your non-winning Veterans Hot $50 tickets this month! And if you’re not already a VIP Club member, no worries, it’s free to become a member.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!

Honoring Our Vets With A Twitter Contest

With approaching Veterans Day celebrations, we thought we’d do our part by honoring our vets with a Twitter contest.   

We’ll be giving away tickets in our $1 “Veterans Hot $50” scratch game. Proceeds from the sale of this ticket go to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, which helps Iowa’s vets in many ways.

Another great thing about this ticket for you VIP Club members: it will earn you triple points in the month of November! So if you’re trying to build up points for a special item in our Points For Prizes™ store, this just might help you get there.

The contest is set for Tuesday, Nov. 15 at noon. We found that most of you liked the noon time slot better than 10 a.m., so we’re sticking with it until you tell us differently!

To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the ticket prize packages.   

At noon next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

As always, we’ll record a video after the contest and post it on our website and YouTube. We’ll also post a list of the winners’ names here on our blog, and a link to that blog on Twitter.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

Winners of the Trick or Twitter Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! We had a blast asking all of you what you’re going to be this Halloween. We got all kinds of answers, ranging from an Angry Birds character to Star Trek personalities and princesses!

It wasn’t an especially spooky game, but to determine which three contestants won prize packs of $20 in “Spooky Loot” scratch tickets, we played a game of Witch Stew! We used tiny straws to suction paper Halloween monsters at one end of a table into little buckets at the other end. Whoever completed their witch stew first, won!

Congratulations to:
Round 1 winner: @kim_marie_olson
Round 2 winner: @Cheeto_Girl
Round 3 winner: @cindr29

You’ll want to make sure you watch the video all the way through, because we ended things with a sticky Halloween finale!

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, or we’ll move on to alternates. And remember, if you’re a VIP Club member, you can enter any non-winning tickets you might receive into Points For Prizes™ so you can buy cool stuff in our online store! And if you’re not already a VIP Club member, no worries, it’s free to become a member.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!