ialottery blog

Being A Nudge: Please Reserve Lottery Tickets For The Adults On Your Gift List

With the holiday season underway, I’m going to be a nudge about something because it matters.

At the Iowa Lottery, we know that lottery tickets will be among the items given as gifts and put in stockings in the next month or so. And hey, we’re all about that fun!

But please remember that our tickets – while colorful, entertaining and affordable – are something that should be purchased by adults for adults.  

That’s true for a lot of products: The content of some video games and movies is not appropriate for all ages. Alcohol and tobacco-related products have age restrictions. Even toys have age-recommendation guidelines.

In Iowa, you have to be at least 21 years old to buy lottery tickets, and we’ve always considered our products something for adults. After all, you are gambling when you play the lottery.

Problem gambling can begin in adolescence when impulse and attention control are still developing. We want our products to go to those who are mature enough to enjoy that entertainment.

And as always, if you or someone you know has questions about problem gambling, please know that help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can text and live chat by visiting Your Life Iowa or you can call 1-800-BETSOFF (1-800-238-7633).

Human Error Temporarily Delayed Iowa Results in Monday’s Powerball Drawing

We provided updates about this throughout the day yesterday, and now we know that a human reporting error caused the winning numbers for Monday’s Powerball® drawing to initially be reported incorrectly here in Iowa, and then led to a delay in the drawing results in the state for several hours.

The Iowa Lottery was able to correctly enter the official drawing results yesterday afternoon and then we resumed paying prizes from the drawing.

The Powerball drawing was conducted correctly as scheduled Monday night and official results were produced. But the Iowa Lottery’s redundant reporting procedures failed after the drawing. It takes time to correct an error like that on the lottery’s statewide gaming system, which links all the lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in the state. Lottery staff were able to complete the corrections by yesterday afternoon.

We at the Iowa Lottery sincerely apologizes for the interruption.

The mistake impacted only the Iowa Lottery’s reporting of the official results for Monday’s Powerball drawing. All other lottery tickets could be purchased, checked and cashed as usual at lottery terminals across the state and the results for all other lottery drawings were recorded correctly.

The CORRECT winning numbers in Monday’s Powerball drawing were: 2-21-38-61-66 and and Powerball 12. The Power Play® number was 2.

The Powerball Double Play® winning numbers were: 9-29-51-53-61 and Double Play Powerball 20.

Those are the winning numbers for which the lottery will pay prizes.

As part of the Iowa Lottery’s procedures, two different people in two different locations both enter the results from lotto drawings before they are officially recorded on the lottery’s statewide gaming system. But when the winning numbers from Monday’s Powerball drawing were being inputted, some of the numbers were mistakenly entered incorrectly.

The mistake initially caused the lottery to report incorrect results from Monday’s Powerball drawing on its statewide gaming system and the lottery website. The incorrect results went live about 12:30 a.m. yesterday and remained available until about 7:15 a.m. that day.

Lottery staffers noticed the error shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday and suspended the results for the Powerball drawing on lottery terminals, knowing that correcting the information on the statewide gaming system would take longer.

The lottery was able to go live with corrected official results about 3:30 p.m. yesterday and resumed cashing Powerball tickets.

Lottery records show that a total of 3,998 in Powerball plays purchased in Iowa won prizes ranging from $4 up to $200 for a total of $24,382 in winnings from Monday’s drawing.

Under the incorrect results initially reported, Powerball prizes won likewise would have ranged from $4 up to $200. Prizes were paid for any of those tickets presented during the time period that the incorrect results were posted.

While the number of people potentially impacted by the situation is small, the Iowa Lottery wants to hear from any players who have questions or concerns. They are welcome to contact an Iowa Lottery Security staffer by calling 515-725-7900 or emailing to [email protected].

Lottery staffers will continue to review drawing procedures with an eye toward improvements in the future.

Cashing of Powerball Tickets Resumes in Iowa

Cashing of Powerball® tickets has resumed in Iowa.

Reporting of the results from last night’s Powerball® drawing were delayed by an error here in Iowa, with the cashing of tickets suspended about 7:15 a.m. today.

Cashing resumed at about 3:30 p.m. today, with the correct results from last night’s Powerball drawing reported on the Iowa Lottery’s statewide gaming system, website and winning numbers telephone line.

Last night’s Powerball drawing was correctly conducted, but an error caused incorrect winning numbers for the drawing to be reported in Iowa. The incorrect results were available from about 12:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. today.

Lottery staffers noticed the error and disabled the results for the drawing on the lottery’s statewide gaming system about 7:15 a.m. today. The Iowa Lottery then reprocessed the Iowa results from the drawing and resumed cashing tickets as soon as that was completed.

Cashing and Checking of Powerball Tickets Currently Suspended in Iowa

Please be aware that the cashing and checking of Powerball® tickets are currently suspended in Iowa.

While last night’s Powerball drawing was correctly conducted, an error caused incorrect winning numbers for the drawing to be reported on the Iowa Lottery’s statewide gaming system, website and winning numbers telephone line.

The incorrect results were available from about 12:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. today. Lottery staffers noticed the error and disabled the results for the drawing on the lottery’s statewide gaming system about 7:15 a.m. today.

The results of last night’s Powerball drawing also are currently removed from the Iowa Lottery website. The image you can see here provides the CORRECT winning numbers for last night’s Powerball drawing.  

The Iowa Lottery is working to reprocess the Iowa results of last night’s Powerball drawing. We anticipate that work will take until midday today to complete. Cashing of Powerball tickets will remain suspended during that time.

Any players who try to scan or cash a Powerball ticket this morning in Iowa will receive this message: “Draw has not occurred, more draws remain.”    

We will provide another update when the cashing of Powerball tickets has resumed.

$2 Million Powerball Prize Won In Clinton

Someone who bought a Powerball® ticket in Clinton won a $2 million prize in last night’s drawing! It’s the 8th lottery prize of at least $1 million won this year in Iowa.

The $2 million-winning ticket was purchased at Clinton Liquor, 1641 S. Bluff Blvd. in Clinton. The ticket came within one number of winning last night’s $337.9 million Powerball jackpot.

The ticket initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the purchase, which multiplies the prize at the Match 5 level to $2 million. The Clinton ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in the drawing.

Last night’s winning numbers were: 27-33-63-66-68 and Powerball 9. The Power Play number was 2. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $352 million annuity ($163.3 million lump-sum option) for Monday.

Clinton Liquor will receive a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.

Prizes of $2 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are open Monday through Friday, and appointments are strongly encouraged for those claims. To make an appointment or contact the lottery with questions, winners are welcome to call us at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

Another $2 million Powerball prize won this fall in Iowa also remains unclaimed. That prize was won in the Oct. 7 drawing with a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 403 Stephans St. in Tiffin.

Powerball prizes currently won in Iowa must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing. Please double-check your tickets to see if you’ve won a prize!

Planning Ahead: Remember That New Year’s Eve Will Be 1-2-3-1-2-3

As we head full steam into the holiday season, here’s a fun planning note for you about New Year’s Eve. Have you realized that the date of the last day of the year breaks down as 1-2-3-1-2-3?

We of course write the date as 12-31-23, but the final day of 2023 will definitely have repeat digits! Those numbers could combine well for a play in our Pick 3 game, or you could have fun figuring out how to play them in our other lotto games. For Powerball®, maybe you would go with 1-2-3-12-31 and Powerball 23?

There are obviously lots of ways you can play the numbers but remember that no matter what our superstitions might lead us to think, they won’t actually be luckier when it comes to the lottery that day. Every play has the same odds of winning in our games. But if you like a certain number that’s available in a game, go ahead and include it on your ticket.

It will be interesting to see if there is a sales spike for combinations of 1-2-3 on Dec. 31!

Player question: Why do you call it Iowa’s Powerball when other states have it, too?

Here’s a question that came our way from a player curious about a detail in Powerball®. Specifically, she wanted to know why we call it Iowa’s Powerball, when the game is sold by dozens of lotteries around the country – 48 in total.

The answer has to do with the way Powerball tickets are sold, and what happens to the money from the sale of those tickets.

Iowa Lottery tickets are sold at about 2,500 retail locations across the state. The lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in those businesses are all part of a statewide gaming system unique to Iowa. That system 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 any other U.S. state with a lottery: Each lottery has its own computerized system that tracks the tickets sold there.

The state lottery systems are not interconnected. So, Iowa’s lottery terminals can’t read the results of tickets from another state, and vice versa. That’s one on the reasons we call it Iowa’s Powerball: Iowa tickets can only by scanned and cashed in Iowa.

In addition, the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to help worthy causes. Here in Iowa, lottery proceeds help veterans and a variety of other vital state programs such as education, law enforcement and agriculture.

That’s the other reason we call it Iowa’s Powerball: The money raised by the sale of tickets in Iowa stays in Iowa.

The other lotteries in the game also tag it as theirs in their jurisdiction, for the same reasons we do here.

If you’re curious, the “Where to Play” link on the Powerball website shows all the members of that game. And yes, it’s nearly the entire country.

Mega Millions® is nearly as big, being offered by a total of 47 lotteries. (Puerto Rico is a member of Powerball but not Mega Millions, so that’s the difference.) Here is a map showing that game’s membership.

$200K Powerball Prize Won At Same Store That Had A $2 Million Winner Last Month

Here’s an interesting twist: A $200,000 Powerball® prize was won this weekend at the same Johnson County store that had a $2 million winner last month.

A $200,000-winning ticket in Saturday’s Powerball drawing was purchased at Casey’s, 403 Stephans St. in Tiffin. The ticket initially matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize that night. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the play, which multiplied the prize to $200,000.

The winning numbers in Saturday’s Powerball drawing were: 1-12-14-24-57 and Powerball 7. The Power Play number was 4.

Last month, a $2 million-winning Powerball ticket was purchased at that store – and it also involved the Power Play. That ticket initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball in the Oct. 7 drawing to win a $1 million prize. But whoever bought that ticket added the Power Play option, which multiplied the prize to $2 million.

Both prizes from the store remain unclaimed as I am posting this. So it will be interesting to see as the winnings are claimed: Is it the same person?

The $2 million prize must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, while the $200,000 prize can be claimed at any lottery office.

$2 Million Powerball® Prize Still Unclaimed After 1 Month

A $2 million Powerball® prize won in Johnson County is still unclaimed after a month, and the Iowa Lottery is reminding everyone to double-check their tickets!

The $2 million-winning Powerball ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 403 Stephans St. in Tiffin, for the game’s drawing on Oct. 7. It was one of only two tickets nationwide to win a $2 million prize that night by matching the five white balls but missing the red Powerball.

The winning numbers in the Oct. 7 drawing were: 47-54-57-60-65 and Powerball 19. The Power Play number was 3.

Casey’s received a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.

In addition to the $2 million prize, six other lottery prizes ranging from $10,000 up to $50,000 also are unclaimed in Iowa right now.

The $2 million prize must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, while the other significant prizes on list can be claimed at any lottery office.

If the winners have questions before coming forward to claim their winnings, they’re welcome to call the Iowa Lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected]. We’ll be glad to help!