ialottery blog

Meet Iowa’s First Mega Millions Millionaire

Meeting lottery winners and learning their stories is one of the nicest things about working at the lottery. Each person has their own excitement and life story to share. But Iowa’s latest $1 million winner had such a great detail to his tale that we just had to work it in to his announcement.

You see, Robert Boehm of Denison was worried that he would lose his $1 million-winning Mega Millions® ticket. So, to make sure he didn’t accidentally throw it away, he put it inside an envelope and then labeled that envelope “winning lottery ticket.”

And it worked! Robert and his ticket made it to lottery headquarters yesterday, where he claimed his $1 million prize.

Boehm, by the way, has kept Iowa’s string of millionaires going. Twelve Iowa Lottery players have won prizes of $1 million since 2008!

Iowa's Had 12 Millionaires Since 2008!

Forget about April showers bringing May flowers, it’s raining millionaires in Iowa right now! Since 2008, 12 Iowa Lottery players have won prizes of $1 million. And the total is now up to four just this year.

The latest happened Friday night in Denison. A $1 million-winning ticket was sold at Kum & Go, 1109 Fourth Ave. S. in Denison, for Friday’s Mega Millions drawing.

The ticket originally matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball to win a $250,000 prize. But the player who purchased the ticket also added the Megaplier® option to the winning play, which multiplied the prize to $1 million. The winning numbers in Friday's $90 million Mega Millions jackpot drawing were: 15-18-39-48-53 and Mega Ball 3. The Megaplier® number was 4.

Players can multiply their prizes (except the jackpot) with the Megaplier up to four times. The cost is $1 per play. Nobody won the jackpot Friday, so Mega Million’s big prize climbs to an estimated $105 million for Tuesday's drawing.

This is the second ticket sold in Denison to win a major Iowa Lottery prize. Don Sporrer of Denison won a $2.7 million Hot Lotto jackpot in the drawing on Christmas Day 2002 with a ticket he purchased at a Denison supermarket.

The three Iowa Lottery players who have claimed $1 million prizes so far in 2010 are:

• Richard Bauder of Ankeny, who claimed a $1 million prize Jan. 14 in the "Set For Life" instant-scratch game.
• Sorin Ganea of Dubuque, who also won $1 million in Set For Life. He claimed his prize on Feb. 8.
• David Lyons of Des Moines, who won a $1 million Powerball prize in the March 31 drawing.

We’re still waiting to hear from the latest big winner. Prizes of $1 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. Our prize-claim office is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

If you’re the big winner and you need more information before coming in to claim the prize, give us a call at 515-725-7900. We can’t wait to meet you!

Does One Jackpot Grow Faster?

Now that Powerball® and Mega Millions® are both being sold in Iowa, folks are really watching – and comparing – the games’ jackpots. And when both big prizes were getting up there earlier this month, we got a lot of questions from people who were wondering about the cash vs. annuity options.

Specifically, they were asking why the cash amount of the Powerball jackpot was lower than the cash amount of the Mega Millions jackpot when the annuity jackpots were about the same.

The quick answer is that the Powerball jackpot earns more interest over time. But here are the details:

All lotteries start with the cash jackpot amount – that’s the amount of money that lotteries have on hand from the sale of tickets in the game. The lottery will pay that cash amount to the winner who chooses to receive the jackpot as a lump-sum, cash payment. (Withholding taxes also are taken out as required by federal and state law.)

But if the jackpot winner chooses the annuity option, the lottery invests the entire cash amount before taxes are deducted. The cash that is invested earns interest over time, and the cash PLUS interest equal the annuity jackpot amount. 

There are a few reasons that the Powerball jackpot earns more interest:

1. More money is invested for a longer period of time. The Powerball annuity is paid out in graduated amounts (rising by 4 percent per year to keep up with inflation) over 29 years (30 payments). The Mega Millions annuity is paid out over 25 years (26 payments). In both cases, the first payment is immediate.
2. Powerball invests in a wider ranger of securities. The Mega Millions jackpot invests only in U.S. Treasury Securities Stripped (CUSIPs starting with 912). The Powerball jackpot invests in about 20 different securities. Please note that the winner is not invested in the securities. The winner has a contract with the states to pay the prizes, no matter what happens to the securities.

A winner who wants to take the cash jackpot should compare only the cash jackpot amounts. The annuity jackpot amounts will be important for those winners who plan to select a long-term, fully guaranteed income stream.   

Two Jackpots Of More Than $100 Million!

For the first time in Iowa, you have the chance to play for two jackpots of more than $100 million! The Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots both jumped past the $100 million mark over the weekend.
 
The Mega Millions jackpot is at an estimated $112 million for tomorrow’s drawing, while the Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $114 million for Wednesday’s drawing. The Powerball jackpot is currently the largest in the world, while the Mega Millions jackpot comes in a close second.

This is what we’d hoped for when Mega Millions and Powerball both began to be offered by lotteries across the country: Players are having the chance to play for even more big prizes!

Until January, the games had been sold by separate groups of lotteries. But an agreement among U.S. lottery directors to allow cross-selling of the games was reached in October and many lotteries, including the Iowa Lottery, began offering both games on Jan. 31.

The Mega Millions jackpot was last won in the drawing on Jan. 29. William Kiefer of Katy, Texas, claimed that $144 million prize. The Powerball jackpot was last won in the drawing on Feb. 6. Frank Griffin of Asheville, N.C., a retired firefighter, won that prize of $141.4 million.  

Does Anyone Choose The Annuity?

We just got a letter from a man asking about the issue of cash vs. annuity in Powerball®, and whether anyone has chosen the annuity option lately. It is true that many jackpot winners in recent years have chosen to receive their prize as a lump-sum cash payment, but some also have chosen the annuity option.

The ultimate decision is up to you as the winner when you’re claiming your prize. Here in Iowa, you have 60 days to decide whether you want to receive your jackpot in annuitized payments over time or as a one time, lump-sum payment. On our home page, we give both amounts so you’ll understand the money involved.

There are any number of factors that go into the decision: Maybe you just feel like one of the options is better. Maybe your age is a factor, your other income or your type of employment. A financial planner or attorney can help you decide which option is best for you, so that’s why we always suggest you seek advice before claiming a jackpot prize. It truly is a life-changing amount of money and you want to be sure you’ve thought things through.

So, check out our home page for the latest jackpot amounts. Have fun daydreaming about what you’d do with the money, and just know the decision is yours when/if the time comes!   

Where’s The Rest Of The Money?

A Dubuque man’s recent top-prize win in the “Set For Life” instant-scratch game sparked an online conversation among some folks who questioned the amount he’d won. We’ll cover the issue here today to try to clear things up!

The situation involved in Set For Life is the same as in Powerball® or Mega Millions®. It all has to do with whether you choose to receive your winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment or in annuitized payments over time.

When Sorin Ganea of Dubuque claimed the top prize in Set For Life on Feb. 8, he chose to receive his winnings in a lump-sum payment. The $20 scratch game features eight top prizes of $1 million. And, if you win the top prize like Ganea, you can receive the money in annuitized payments or as a lump sum. If you choose the annuity, you’ll be paid $40,000 a year for 25 years, which adds up to $1 million. If you choose to receive the prize as a lump sum, you’ll receive $650,000 before taxes.

The difference between the two amounts has to do with interest money. And when you choose the cash option, the interest money doesn’t exist – all you get is the cash that the lottery has on hand from the sale of tickets in the game. Let’s take a closer look at that.

When you choose the annuity option, the lottery invests the initial money from the sale of tickets in the game and then gives the player payments over a period of years. The money that’s invested earns interest over that time, so the initial cash plus all that interest adds up to the annuitized jackpot amount.

When you choose the lump-sum option, all you receive is the amount of money that’s on hand from the sale of tickets in the game. There is no interest money because you’ve chosen to get a one-time cash payment.

So the bottom-line answer is that when you choose the cash option, the interest that would have built up over time doesn’t exist. Nothing happens to “the rest of the money” and no one else gets it because it simply isn’t there. That’s why the cash option is always less than the annuitized prize amount.

More, More, More Today!

We can’t get enough of the Mega Millions® news! Tonight is the very first drawing that will include tickets purchased in Iowa.

The estimated jackpot for tonight’s drawing is $12 million. This comes after a ticket purchased in Texas claimed the estimated $144 million jackpot for last Friday’s drawing.

As we’ve said before, the jackpots start at $12 million and grow until they’re won, so Iowans will have plenty of chances to win playing Mega Millions, along with Powerball and Hot Lotto.

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!

Formal Approval For Mega Millions

Plans are in place for lottery players in Iowa to be able to play two big jackpot games starting early next year: Powerball® and Mega Millions®.

During its meeting this week at lottery headquarters in Des Moines, the Iowa Lottery Board approved plans for the sale of Mega Millions tickets in Iowa. The Board’s vote follows an agreement in principle reached among U.S. lottery directors on Oct. 7. That agreement calls for all U.S. lotteries to work towards cross-selling of the Powerball and Mega Millions games in 2010 and development and implementation of a national lotto game for all U.S. lotteries in late fall 2010. 

Powerball and Mega Millions both are lotto games with jackpots that have climbed into the hundreds of millions of dollars. But to date, the games have been sold in separate jurisdictions. Powerball is sold in 30 states including Iowa, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mega Millions is sold in 12 other states, including Illinois.

Mega Millions sales in Iowa are slated to begin on Jan. 31. The game’s first drawing that would include Iowa tickets would be Feb. 2.

The record Powerball jackpot is a $365 million prize that was won in the drawing on Feb. 18, 2006, by eight co-workers at a Nebraska meat-packing plant. The record Mega Millions prize is a $390 million jackpot that was split on March 6, 2007, by two tickets purchased in Georgia and New Jersey.

Mega Millions tickets cost $1 each. Players choose six numbers from two separate pools - five different numbers from 1 to 56, and another number called the Mega Ball from 1 to 46. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing. Jackpots start at a guaranteed $12 million and continue to grow until they’re won. In addition to the jackpot, other prizes in the game range from $2 to $250,000. The game’s drawings are at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Powerball jackpots start at a guaranteed $20 million and continue to grow until they’re won. Players choose five numbers from a pool of 59 and another number – the Powerball – from a pool of 39. Plays cost $1 and drawings are at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. You win the jackpot by matching all six numbers selected in a drawing. In addition to the jackpot, the game offers eight other prizes ranging from $3 to $200,000.