Hey, did you notice? There’s a new drawing in the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games!
This past weekend, a Sunday midday drawing was added to those games, so now you can play Pick 3 and Pick 4 for two drawings every day. The midday drawings are at 12:40 p.m. while the evening drawings are at 9:20 p.m.
People have been asking if we could expand both games to two drawings every day, and after a little computer programming, the answer is: Yes!
Good luck with your tickets!
Someone who bought a ticket in Mason City came close to take home a share of last night’s $261.6 million Powerball jackpot!
The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. It was purchased at Casey’s, 610 S. Monroe Ave. in Mason City. A ticket sold in Ohio won the jackpot, so the big prize returns to $20 million for Saturday’s drawing.
The winning numbers in last night’s Powerball drawing were: 4-9-14-39-43 and Powerball 38. The Power Play® number was 4. Whoever bought the $200,000-winning ticket did not add the Power Play option to the ticket, which would have multiplied the prize to $1 million. If your ticket matches the first five numbers in a Powerball drawing and you’ve added the Power Play, the prize you’ll win is always $1 million, no matter what the Power Play number is for that drawing.
We’re waiting to find out who will claim the $200,000 prize. A prize of that size has to be claimed at one of the Iowa Lottery’s offices, which are in Mason City, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Storm Lake and Council Bluffs.
And by the way, here are a few more numbers for you: Iowa Lottery players won a total of 20,164 prizes ranging from $3 up to $200,000 in last night’s drawing.
A new instant-scratch game that hits the market today offers players more ways to win than any other game we’ve sold through the years. It’s called “Cash Bonanza” and tickets cost $10 each.
Players in Cash Bonanza try to match any of “your numbers” to any of the “winning numbers” in the play area on each ticket. If you find a coin symbol, you win the prize shown instantly. If you find a star symbol, you win double the prize shown. Prizes in the game range from $10 up to $250,000.
Look closely at the list of prizes available in Cash Bonanza and you’ll see that we’ve packed 38 different prize combinations into the game, giving you multiple ways to win at different prize levels. For example, there are five ways you can win at the $50, $100, $200 and $1,000 prize levels, while there are four ways you can win at the $500 level. You also can win up to 15 times on each ticket!
It’s all designed to produce a game that will keep you entertained for a long time to come. And, Cash Bonanza offers more than $21 million in total cash prizes!
We’re always looking at new ways to design our games and this concept has been really popular in other states. We think you’ll like it here, too!
Our sales representatives have started to deliver Cash Bonanza to retail locations today and the game will be available statewide by the close of the business day on Friday.
A couple great questions have come our way about group play in lottery games. I’ll take on the first one today: Can individuals in a group that wins the jackpot choose the cash AND annuity options?
I suppose the thought process behind the question is that the friends, co-workers, neighbors or relatives who’d pooled their money to buy lottery tickets might not all agree how they’d like to claim the money once they realized they’d won big.
But the question isn’t really applicable in Iowa, and here’s why: When you win the jackpot, whether it’s with a ticket you bought on your own or as part of a group, we only issue one check for all the winnings. If you’re part of a group of 25, we don’t cut 25 checks, we just give you one check and the members of your group have to decide how you’ll divide the money from there.
But to ensure that one person isn’t stuck with all that taxable income liability, all members of the group do have to sign an IRS Form 5754 so all are listed for tax-reporting purposes. On the form, each person states how much of the prize is being claimed by him or her.
We gave a rundown on the ins and outs of group play and groups claiming lottery prizes in a video on our Web site. Click here to watch it.
Great questions! Keep ‘em coming. I’ll take on another one next week!
We’ve written about it here before, but now we’re really serious: Time is running out for someone to claim a $200,000-winning Powerball ticket sold in Council Bluffs. Several other lotto prizes of up to $10,000 also are unclaimed in Iowa and will expire in the next few months if the winners don’t come forward.
Now is the time to double-check your tickets!
The $200,000-winning ticket was sold at Eddy’s at 3434 Nebraska Ave. in Council Bluffs for the Powerball drawing on Saturday, May 9, 2009. It came close to winning it all, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 4-15-32-49-58 and Powerball 21.
The winner or winners have until the close of business (4 p.m.) on May 10 to claim the prize at a lottery office. The Iowa Lottery has offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.
We visited the Eddy’s location on Tuesday and put up some fun signs outside the store to get people’s attention. Maybe we’ll find the winner before it’s too late!
In the lottery’s latest financial year, more than $1.3 million in prizes went unclaimed in Iowa lotto games. Unclaimed prize money in Iowa goes into the prize pools for future lottery games. So, the money will be used to pay prizes, just not the particular prize that’s expired.
In addition to the ticket purchased in Council Bluffs, tickets for these major Iowa Lottery prizes also are unclaimed and are set to expire in the next few months:
| Powerball | |||
| Prize Drawing | Amount Won | Retailer | Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1, 2009 | $10,000 | Wings America, Avoca | July 1, 2010 |
| July 15, 2009 | $10,000 | Kum & Go, Council Bluffs | July 15, 2010 |
| July 18, 2009 | $10,000 | Git-N-Go, Pleasant Hill | July 19, 2010 |
| Hot Lotto | |||
| Prize Drawing | Amount Won | Retailer | Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 11, 2009 | $10,000 | Pronto, Kingsley | July 12, 2010 |
| Pick 3 | |||
| Prize Drawing | Amount Won | Retailer | Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 16, 2010 | $1,800 | Quick Shop, Clear Lake | June 14, 2010 |
| March 20, 2010 | $1,750 | Quick Shop, Clear Lake | June 18, 2010 |
We get a lot of questions from folks who wonder why they can’t cash tickets from other states in Iowa, and vice versa. It all has to do with the technology that goes into running a lottery today and the fact that each state has its own computer system.
The Iowa Lottery has a computerized system of lottery terminals around the state that are used to sell and validate the tickets that are sold here. That network is extremely complex – it provides real-time information every day to track each Iowa Lottery ticket that is sold or cashed.
The same is true in Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and any other U.S. state that has a lottery: Each lottery has its own computerized system that tracks the tickets sold in that jurisdiction.
In addition, the money that is raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to be used for valuable causes. Here in Iowa, lottery proceeds help veterans and a variety of other vital state programs such as education, law enforcement and agriculture.
Continue reading "Can I Claim This (MN, NE, IL, MO, etc.) Ticket Here?" »
As the lottery’s vice president of external relations, I’m a member of the senior management team at the Iowa Lottery, where I’ve worked since 1999. I’ve spent my years at the lottery learning as much as I can about all the ins and outs of the lottery industry. I’ll put that knowledge to work here so I can share the behind-the-scenes details with you!
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