ialottery blog

Lottery Raises Record $68 Million For State Causes

The latest results are in, and they show that the lottery raised a record $68 million for state causes during its latest financial year. That number includes more than $3 million to benefit Iowa veterans and their families.

We released preliminary figures today showing that lottery sales totaled $271.4 million in fiscal year 2011, which ended June 30. That marks the highest combined sales total from lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games since the lottery’s start in 1985.

And we can’t forget about lottery players! They took home a historic $159 million in prizes from those core games. That’s a 5.6 percent increase from the previous record prize total from those products set just a year earlier.

Each year, we concentrate on bringing new and exciting ideas to the market while keeping an eye on results. The past fiscal year saw Iowa Lottery players get into our promotions in record numbers, and at the same time, they won eight prizes of at least $1 million in our games.

Another huge highlight for us is the $3.1 million that the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. That’s the highest total for the cause since proceeds from select lottery games were first dedicated to the Veterans Trust Fund in 2008. It’s also the first time that annual lottery proceeds for veterans’ causes have topped $3 million. Iowans are definitely committed to the cause!

And finally, another side of the lottery’s success is the positive impact we have on businesses’ bottom line. Iowa businesses received $17.3 million in commissions from the lottery for their daily work in selling lottery products in FY 2011. That’s a $1.2 million increase from the year before.

Since the lottery’s start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.7 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.3 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.  

Scratch-Game Sales Hit A Record (Again)

You can officially say it’s been a very good year for the sale of instant-scratch games, the Iowa Lottery’s perennial sales leader.

Preliminary figures show that scratch-game sales in Iowa totaled $16.1 million in March, the highest monthly sales total for that product category in the lottery’s history. Scratch tickets were the first product introduced by the Iowa Lottery when it started in 1985 and have been one of its top-selling items in all the years since.

The March sales total for scratch games tops the previous monthly high for that product category of $14.7 million, which had been set in January. And January’s figure had topped the previous record set in November, which in turn had topped the previous high established in March 2010.

There are several reasons behind that success. First, lottery tickets today are what they’ve always been: an affordable, local entertainment option for customers. And, more lottery players have been winning prizes this year, which has raised the profile of the lottery and strengthened sales overall. (Ten lottery tickets purchased in Iowa have won prizes of $1 million just since January 2010!)

Lottery retailers also figure prominently into the mix. They’re the day-to-day face of the lottery and are the folks interacting with customers and selling tickets.

The help the lottery provides to worthy causes here in Iowa also is a big part of the picture. When you play the lottery, the benefits extend beyond the prize you may win.

Scratch games accounted for 56 percent of the lottery’s record sales of $256.3 million in fiscal year 2010, which ended June 30. And, scratch-game sales are helping to drive the lottery’s continued strong performance in the current financial year. Total lottery sales through March are running ahead of 2010’s pace.

The outlook is not entirely rosy, however. Fuel prices have always been something that impacts lottery sales, so we’re watching today’s rising prices closely. If the current trend continues, the high prices likely will put a damper on Iowa Lottery sales (along with the sales of a whole lot of other things, too).

And just where does the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets go in Iowa? Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.

When Are Lottery Sales Higher?

We like to say that you can tell the seasons by lottery sales! Each year, there’s a general cycle here in Iowa: Lottery sales are strong in the fall and winter and through early spring. In late spring and throughout the summer, lottery sales dip a bit.
 
Why? In the late spring and summer, people aren’t in their regular routines. They’re on vacation, they’re traveling, and they’re outside having fun.

People buy lottery tickets when they’re running errands of part of their regular routines, and that gets interrupted a bit in the late spring and summer. But it always comes back when we head into fall.

Lottery Proceeds To Veterans Causes Near $4 Million

In just a year and a half, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $4 million to help Iowa veterans and their families, and we owe you a big thank-you for that success!

Gov. Chet Culver signed a law in March 2008 that authorized the lottery to create two new instant-scratch games and two additional pull-tab games each year, with all profits from the games dedicated to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. Lottery tickets for the cause were introduced in July 2008 and since that time, nearly $4 million has been provided to the Veterans Trust Fund from the sale of tickets.

The newest scratch game dedicated to the cause is “Veterans Cash,” which began sales Monday, while the newest pull-tab game to benefit the Trust Fund is “Star Spangled Bucks.” It was introduced on Jan. 11. Both are $1 games with a red, white and blue theme.

The Iowa Veterans Trust Fund was created to provide assistance to qualified veterans and their families. Currently, funds are used for unemployment or underemployment assistance due to service-related causes; assistance with vision, hearing, and dental care, durable medical equipment and prescription drugs; counseling and substance abuse services; housing repair; and transitional housing in an emergency. Trust Fund expenditures are approved through the Iowa Veterans Commission.

How’s It Going, Iowa Lottery?

We thought you’d never ask! And actually, we have some good news to share.

The lottery just made its final proceeds transfer to the state for fiscal year 2009, and our total was up more than 7 percent from a year earlier.

Our preliminary figures show that lottery proceeds to the state in FY 2009 totaled more than $60.6 million. That’s the highest profits total from the sale of lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games since the lottery’s start in 1985. And that’s even with lottery sales being down a little for the year. Lottery sales totaled $243.3 million in FY 2009, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier.
So how can our numbers match up? It has to do with the success you can achieve with business flexibility.

In 2003, the lottery “got a makeover,” changing from being a state agency into the Iowa Lottery Authority, a corporate-model lottery that focuses on entrepreneurialism. That new flexibility has allowed us to make some important changes that have saved money.

In 2004, the lottery purchased both its headquarters building in Des Moines and the vending machines it currently uses to sell instant-scratch and pull-tab tickets in retail locations across the state. That’s resulted in long-term savings to the state, including a big change this year as the payments on the bonds we’d issued to buy the building and machines decreased from $2 million to $100,000.

We’re glad that our changes are making a difference for our state’s budget, especially in these tough economic times.

Another important project that’s made a big impact on the lottery are our games that benefit the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. Legislation dedicating some lottery proceeds to veterans’ causes was signed into law by Governor Culver in March 2008. The Lottery’s first games to benefit the Veterans Trust Fund began sales in July 2008 and we’ll continue to create two new instant-scratch and two additional pull-tab games each year, with the proceeds from those games dedicated to the Trust Fund.
 
When we’d initially talked about the games, we’d estimated that they could raise between $2 million and $3 million annually to help Iowa veterans and their families through the Trust Fund. Well, we hit the very upper end of that range in FY 2009, raising nearly $2.8 million for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

Our thanks go out to lottery players for recognizing this important cause and helping the lottery provide a stable, ongoing source of revenue for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund!

 

New Ad Features Iowa Veterans

Catch the Lottery's latest TV ad, and you'll see the faces of some true Iowa heroes. They're all veterans who have served our country and now have received some much-deserved assistance from the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs to develop the new ad. We wanted a campaign that would serve two important purposes:

1. to call attention to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund and the help it offers to veterans.
2. to remind everyone that the Iowa Lottery has instant-scratch and pull-tab games available that specifically benefit the Veterans Trust Fund, with 100 percent of the proceeds from those games going into the Trust Fund.

The TV ad features images of veterans who have received assistance through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund and agreed to be part of the campaign to help spread the word about the help that's available. You’ll see veterans from across the state and from several different eras in the ad -- maybe even someone you know! Click here for a sneak peek!

We’re very proud that we’ve been able to raise more than $1.4 million so far for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. We're right on track to meet our projections that we’ll raise between $2 million and $3 million this year for the Trust Fund. Thank you for the role you've played in that success!

$1.4 Million For Iowa Veterans So Far This Year

Those of us at the Iowa Lottery owe our players a huge thank you for helping us achieve success in our new initiative that helps Iowa veterans and their families.

In July, the lottery began to sell games that raise money for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. We just made our latest transfer to the Veterans Trust Fund, and I'm incredibly pleased to tell you that we've provided more than $1.4 million to directly benefit veterans so far this fiscal year.
  
Last month, I blogged about the lottery’s newest games to benefit the cause. Next time you're in a store that sells lottery tickets, look for the $1 "Freedom Rings" instant-scratch game and the $1 "Land of Liberty" pull-tab game. And in each fiscal year going forward, we’ll have another four games to benefit veterans.
 
We are right on track to meet our original estimates, which were that we'll raise between $2 million and $3 million for veterans this year. Thank you for all you have done to help the lottery ensure a stable, ongoing source of revenue to help our veterans!

The Iowa Veterans Trust Fund was created to assist qualified veterans in paying for some of their expenses. To learn more about the Veterans Trust Fund, visit www.iowava.org.

Lottery Sales Down So Far This Year

Reports are coming in from around the country showing that lottery sales are slowing in many areas as folks tighten up their spending in today’s tumultuous economic times. Click here, here and here to read the latest about lottery sales in a few other states.

In Iowa, we’re seeing much of the same, but things here also continue to be impacted by the weather-related disasters that devastated much of the state earlier this year.

In the Iowa Lottery’s year-end report in July for fiscal year 2008, we noted that sales of lottery tickets had begun to be impacted by increasing fuel prices and weather-related disasters. Lottery sales in FY 2008 finished up overall, but that was because they had jumped out to a strong start early in the year. As the fiscal year continued, lottery sales had slackened.

That trend has continued into the current fiscal year. Our early figures show that Iowa Lottery sales in FY 2009 are down about 6 percent (about $4.2 million according to our raw sales figures through Oct. 18) compared to the same time period a year ago. We believe that’s perfectly understandable when you consider the impacts that many areas of the state continue to feel from this year’s storms and flooding.

Iowans, along with people around the world, also are undoubtedly concerned about economic issues. Consumers have cut back in their discretionary spending for everything from eating out to buying new cars to purchasing lottery tickets and other convenience items.

Now, a lot could change before the June 30th end of the current fiscal year. We’ll continue to do the creative things we’ve always done at the lottery, whether that be coming up with new game designs and ideas, offering new promotions or using creative advertising. But we also understand that Iowans are having to make some sensible decisions with their money during these times and we not only would expect that, we encourage it. 

$1 Million For Iowa Veterans So Far

I am so proud to tell you that today, the Iowa Lottery is sending nearly $1 million to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. It’s the lottery’s first transfer of proceeds to the fund, which directly benefits our state’s veterans and their families.

Last month, I blogged about the lottery’s new initiative to support veterans. The proceeds from an instant-scratch game (Stars & Stripes) and a pull-tab game (All American) already are dedicated to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, and we’ll come out with another set of games dedicated to veterans’ causes in January. And in each fiscal year going forward, we’ll have another four games to benefit veterans.

Today, the lottery will transfer $992,772.81 to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. That’s the proceeds total from the sale of veterans-benefit lottery tickets during the first quarter of FY 2009. We anticipate we’ll raise between $2 million and $3 million for veterans this year.

Thank you for all you have done to help us ensure a stable, ongoing source of revenue to help our veterans!

The Iowa Veterans Trust Fund was created to assist qualified veterans in paying for expenses such as:

• Travel expenses for wounded veterans directly related to follow-up medical care;
• Job training or college tuition assistance;
• Unemployment assistance during a period of unemployment due to prolonged physical or mental illness or disability resulting from military service;
• Benefits for a child or children of a disabled or deceased veteran following September 11, 2001;
• Individual or family counseling programs;
• And family and children support groups and honor guard reimbursement.

To learn more about the Veterans Trust Fund, visit www.iowava.org.

Can Lottery Profits Help Flood Victims?

With the heartbreaking devastation that our state has faced this year, we're receiving a lot of questions from folks who wonder if Iowa Lottery profits could be used to help flood victims. It would require a change in Iowa law in order for that to happen, so I want to take just a little time to explain how Iowa Lottery profits currently are used to help our great state.

When the Iowa Lottery started in 1985, its profits were dedicated to the Iowa Plan, a long-term economic development program. The Iowa Plan was divided into four basic areas: a Jobs Now program designed to put people to work; government construction programs; community and economic betterment; and educational and agricultural research. Lottery profits went to the Iowa Plan through fiscal year 1990.

During the 1991 fiscal year, Iowa Lottery profits were dedicated to the CLEAN Fund, which stood for Committing the Lottery to Environment, Agriculture and Natural Resources. The program dedicated money to environmental and cultural causes.

Then 1992, Iowa faced some tough economic times and lottery profits were dedicated to the state general fund. Within the state budget, the general fund provides money to a variety of vital projects in Iowa, including public education, natural resources, health and family services and public safety. The governor and Iowa Legislature allocate money from the general fund based on where they believe those funds are needed most.