ialottery blog

Why Was The Jackpot Increased?

Last week, you may have noticed a change in the Powerball jackpot that doesn’t happen all that often.   

The jackpot for the Powerball drawing on Wednesday (Feb. 3) was originally set at an estimated $108 million. But before the drawing happened, that amount was raised to an estimated $115 million.  

The last time we had done something like that was during Iowa State Fair time, when the jackpot reached $259.9 million before it was won in the drawing on Aug. 19.

Some of you have asked us how the jackpot amount can go up for the same drawing. And whose decision is it anyway?

The answer to the jackpot question can be found in the Powerball Game Rules section on our Web site. First, it helps to know where the Powerball jackpot money comes from. From all the tickets that are sold for a particular drawing, 49.5 percent of the money is dedicated to paying prizes until the jackpot prize is funded at the guaranteed annuitized amount. In other words, the prize pool consists of 49.5 percent of sales until the full estimated jackpot amount is reached.

If sales exceed that amount, the money can either be held over for the next drawing’s prize pool or the jackpot amount for the current drawing can be raised. In instances like last week when sales were high due to the start of cross-selling in Powerball and Mega Millions, the decision was to increase the jackpot amount for Wednesday‘s drawing to $115 million.

And just who makes that decision? You likely know that Iowa is just one member of the Powerball game. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which is based in Urbandale, Iowa, oversees the game on behalf of the lotteries that sell Powerball tickets. The directors of all the lotteries that are members of the Powerball game serve on the MUSL Board. It is that Board that makes the decisions concerning the jackpot amount in Powerball.   

And in case you’re wondering, tomorrow night’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $20 million. The $141.4 million jackpot in Saturday night’s drawing was won in North Carolina.  

Two Giant-Jackpot Games For Iowa

There’s huge lottery news in Iowa this weekend! Starting Sunday, you can buy tickets in both of the country’s premier big-jackpot games when Mega Millions® joins Powerball® on the list of lotto games sold in Iowa.

The addition means players in Iowa will be able to play for even more big lotto prizes.  With Mega Millions drawings on Tuesday and Friday nights and Powerball drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays, you’ll have four chances each week to hit it big!

With more people playing, we expect the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots to grow bigger and faster than they would have on their own. And, we expect more winners to be taking home more prizes.

Powerball and Mega Millions are both lotto games with jackpot prizes that have climbed into the hundreds of millions of dollars. But to date, the games have been sold by separate groups of lotteries. U.S. lottery directors reached an agreement in October to allow what’s being called “cross-selling” of the two games.

Here in Iowa, we think the biggest impact will be felt in eastern Iowa, and specifically along our border with Illinois. Illinois is the only state bordering Iowa that’s been a member of Mega Millions rather than Powerball, so when the two games’ jackpots have been big, players have driven back and forth to buy tickets. Now Iowa Lottery players will be able to buy all their tickets right here at home.

The Iowa Lottery has had six Powerball jackpot winners. The largest Powerball jackpot won in Iowa was a $200.8 million prize claimed in October 2006 by a Fort Dodge couple. Now we’re looking forward to seeing who will be our state’s first Mega Millions jackpot winner!

Power Play 10X is Coming Back!

Recently we had a player write to us inquiring about the Power Play 10X promotion, and when he might see it again. The answer: sooner than you may think!

We are tentatively scheduled to bring back the Power Play 10X in the late spring. As you may remember, when Power Play 10X is in effect, one of the four "5"'s in the Power Play drawing will be replaced with a "10."

During this period, if the number "10" is drawn during a Power Play drawing, all Power Play prizes will be multiplied by 10 for eligible players who have purchased the Power Play option.

That means, if you win the $200,000 second tier prize with the Power Play on your ticket and the "10" comes up in the Power Play drawing, you'd win $2 million! As usual, jackpot prizes are not eligible for multiplication.

The promotion will run for at least nine drawings or until the "10" on the Power Play wheel is drawn at least once, whichever period is longer. The "10" could be drawn up to nine times during the promotion (once for each of the nine draws). Otherwise, the promotion will continue until the "10" is drawn.

If you've never used the Power Play option, here's the rundown on how that works:

Normally, when you purchase Power Play for $1 extra per play, your non-jackpot prize is at least doubled and you could win up to $1 million!

The Power Play multiplier number is chosen during the Powerball drawings on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. Normally, the Power Play is drawn from a field of the numbers "2" through "5." The Power Play number determines by how much a winner's prize will be multiplied.

For example, if the number "5" is drawn, each prize, except the jackpot, will be multiplied by five. A $200,000 prize would be worth $1 million. Prizes normally are multiplied by a number from "2" through "5." There are eight ways to win Powerball, other than the jackpot, with prizes ranging from $3 to $200,000 that can be multiplied with the Power Play. During the promotion, the numbers will be changed to the following:

Odds For Power Play 10X
Multiplier	Numbers in Drawing Universe	Odds
10x	1	1 in 16.00
5x	3	1 in 5.33
4x	4	1 in 4.00
3x	4	1 in 4.00
2x	4	1 in 4.00

We'll keep you posted closer to the date that Power Play 10X goes into effect again. But always remember, even without the 10X, adding Power Play to your Powerball ticket for an extra $1 can multiply your prize up to five times the amount (excluding jackpots).

You can check out our Winners Circle for stories of winners who've benefitted from adding the Power Play option.

$106 Million and Climbing!

Although most of us at the Iowa Lottery consider all Powerball jackpots huge, our players get very interested when the jackpot reaches into the hundreds of millions.

Well, it’s happened again! There was no Powerball jackpot winner in Saturday night’s drawing for the $92 million prize, so the current estimated jackpot is $106 million! And it comes at a great time – right around the holidays.

In case you don’t remember, the record Powerball jackpot was a $365 million prize that was won in the drawing on Feb. 18, 2006, by eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant.

Past Iowa Powerball jackpot winners include:
• Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge, who claimed a $200.8 million jackpot in October 2006.
• Hugh Hawkins of Des Moines, who claimed a $113.2 million jackpot in December 2005.
•  Jacquelyn Moore of Omaha, Neb., who won a $14.4 million jackpot in October 2004. (She bought her ticket at a convenience store in Carter Lake in western Iowa.)
• The Larry Hasken family of Sabula, who claimed a $31.8 million jackpot in January 2000.
• Tim Schultz of Des Moines, who won a $28 million jackpot in February 1999.
• Ed Brown of Washington, who split a $10.4 million jackpot with a woman from Missouri in December 1992.

You could be next, so get out there and get your tickets! And don’t forget to add the Power Play to your Powerball ticket. It’s just an extra $1, but could multiply your win (except the jackpot) by two, three, four or even five times!

You can check winning numbers by watching the drawings live on television, checking the winning numbers on the lottery’s Web site at www.ialottery.com, check drawings results in your local newspaper, listen for lottery results on local radio stations, visit a lottery retailer to get a print-out of the winning numbers, or call one of our offices for the details. And Powerball drawing results just began livestreaming on www.powerball.com as well.

Winning Numbers Lines To Be Consolidated

For many years, the Iowa Lottery has maintained three separate winning number lines in an effort to make the information available via a local phone call as far and as wide as possible.

However, times are changing and so are we.   With the popularity of mobile phones and long-distance service bundled as part of your service through your local phone company, we thought the time was right to consolidate to one winning number line. Starting January 1 players will all call the same phone number to hear the latest winning numbers: 515-323-4633. 

We're hoping our players will find it easier to remember just one number.  Additionally, we're going to realize cost savings of a few thousand dollars per year.

Don't forget - there are many additional ways to find out the winning numbers.  Log on to www.ialottery.com or sign up for our text messaging service to have the numbers delivered to you the day after each drawing.  You can also visit one of our retailers for winning numbers.

Two Powerball Jackpot Winners & Washington, Iowa

An eastern Iowa community apparently now has bragging rights to two Powerball jackpot winners!

The Iowa connection to the most recent winner may not have been obvious at first, but the details are coming out courtesy of the Washington Evening Journal. Click here to read the Journal’s article about Dr. William Steele, a Florida dermatologist who won the $189 million Powerball jackpot in the Oct. 3 drawing. Steele’s Powerball jackpot win was the first for the state of Florida.

The Iowa connection? Well, the Journal reports that Steele grew up in Washington, Iowa. And Washington just so happens to be home to Ed Brown, Iowa’s very first Powerball jackpot winner!

Brown won his prize back in December 1992, when he split a $10.4 million jackpot with a woman from Missouri.

And this story is just one more example of the fact that it truly is a tiny, tiny world!

Livestreaming For Powerball Drawings

You’ll soon have a new option for checking your Powerball tickets! Powerball drawings will begin livestreaming on the Internet this month.

We’ve worked hard through the years to make sure you already have several options for checking your tickets. You can watch the drawings live on television, check the winning numbers on the lottery’s Web site at www.ialottery.com, check drawings results in your local newspaper, listen for lottery results on local radio stations, visit a lottery retailer to get a print-out of the winning numbers, or call one of our offices for the details.

But with more and more people turning to the Internet for information, adding a livestream of the drawings makes perfect sense. Powerball drawings will begin being livestreamed this month at www.powerball.com. Previous drawings also will be archived for online viewing. And, we’ll provide a link to video of the drawings on the Iowa Lottery Web site.

The livestreaming is happening through an agreement between the Urbandale-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which administers Powerball on behalf of the lotteries in the game, and TinBu LLC, a company based in Pensacola, Fla.  

TinBu will connect directly with the Powerball drawing studio at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Fla., and has the bandwidth to allow hundreds of thousands of online viewers to watch the live Powerball drawings at the same time. The system also can automatically scale up as needed when the Powerball jackpots grow and more and more people want to watch the drawings.

In addition to the Internet option, Powerball drawings are televised at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays on these TV stations in Iowa:

• KWQC-TV in Davenport
• WOI-TV in West Des Moines
• KTVO-TV in Ottumwa
• KTIV-TV in Sioux City
• KWWL-TV in Waterloo.

Unclaimed Prize Alert: Check Those Tickets!

Time is running out for the winner to claim a sizeable Powerball prize in central Iowa. So, if you bought a Powerball ticket in West Des Moines and you still haven’t checked it, now is definitely the time to get it out and see if it’s a $10,000 winner!

The specific prize I’m talking about was won in the Powerball drawing on Nov. 19, 2008. The winning ticket was purchased at Hy-Vee, 555 S. 51st St. in West Des Moines. It matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball for a $10,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 8-13-38-39-45 and Powerball 31.

In Iowa, you’ve got 365 days from the date of the drawing to claim a Powerball prize, so this particular $10,000 prize has to be claimed by 4 p.m. (the close of business) on Thursday, Nov. 19. If the prize expires without being claimed, the money will go into the prize pools for future lottery games, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not that particular prize.

Click here for a list of all the unclaimed lotto prizes in Iowa right now. And you know what to do: Check your tickets!

Oh My Gosh! It’s Happened Again!

Iowa is definitely riding high on the wave when it comes to Powerball winners. Our state just collected its second $1 million Powerball winner this month and its fourth so far for the year.

A $1 million-winning ticket was sold at Casey’s, 4560 E. 14th St. in Des Moines, for Saturday night’s Powerball drawing. And for the second week in a row, Iowa had the nation’s only Powerball ticket that won a $1 million prize in the Saturday drawing.

The ticket originally matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $200,000 prize. But the lucky player or players who purchased the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the winning play, which multiplied the prize to $1 million. No one won Saturday's Powerball jackpot, so the prize increases to $30 million for Wednesday’s drawing.

The winning numbers in Saturday's $25 million Powerball drawing were: 13-32-45-49-50 and Powerball 30.

Prizes of $1 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. Lottery offices are closed on the weekend, so today is the earliest that the prize can be claimed. Players can claim prizes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

If you’re the big winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, you’re welcome to give us a call at 515-725-7900.

Can’t wait to meet you!

Iowa’s 3rd $1 Million Powerball Winner This Year!

Iowa has nabbed its third $1 million Powerball winner in 2009!

The latest $1 million-winning ticket was sold at the Hy-Vee at 1700 Valley West Drive in West Des Moines for Saturday night’s drawing. It was the only ticket nationwide to win a $1 million prize – and it came close to winning a share of the $189 million jackpot.

The ticket originally matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball® to win a $200,000 prize. But the player who bought the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the winning play, which multiplied the prize to a cool $1 million! Saturday’s jackpot, by the way, was won by a player who purchased his/her ticket in Florida.

When the Powerball game was redesigned in January, one of the changes was specifically for the prize you win if your ticket matches the first five numbers and you’ve added the Power Play. The prize for that play is always $1 million, no matter what the Power Play number is for that drawing.

We think that three $1 million winners this year alone in Iowa is evidence that the updates to Powerball are delivering what players want: continued big jackpots but the chance to win other big prizes, too!

You may remember Iowa’s last $1 million winners because of where they were at the time they won: In August, two couples who were camping at the Iowa State Fair won that prize. Rick Hamilton and Sharon Sulser, both from Chariton, and Vickie and Terry Chambers, both from nearby Columbia, split the $1 million prize they won with a ticket they bought while making an ice run to a Pleasant Hill gas station.
  
And in February, a Marshalltown man won a $1 million prize by adding the Power Play option to his Powerball ticket. Ricky Rushton, who worked in the cafeteria at the Swift & Co. pork-processing plant in Marshalltown, bought his $1 million-winning ticket at a Marshalltown convenience store.

The winning numbers in Saturday's $189 million Powerball drawing were: 12-24-48-50-57 and Powerball 22. The jackpot returns to $20 million for Wednesday's drawing.

Prizes of $1 million have to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters, 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines. You can claim prizes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. If you’re the big winner and you have questions you’re welcome to give us as call at 515-725-7900.