ialottery blog

Repeat Numbers In Lotto America: It Means The Game Is Working As It Should

With the Lotto America® jackpot continuing to climb, we’re hearing all sorts of opinions about what’s going on in that game. Here are a few clarifications for the good of the order.

Yes, there can and often will be repeats for the game’s Star Ball number. When that happens, it means the game is working as it should. If there were no repeat numbers, something would be wrong.

Players in Lotto America choose 5 numbers from a pool of 52 for the white balls and another number, called the Star Ball, from a pool of 10. If you match all six winning numbers selected in a drawing, you win the game’s jackpot.

Repeats Are OK

With only 10 numbers in the Star Ball pool, it will repeat more often. And because you can buy up to 10 plays on a ticket, the only way to ensure that each play on your ticket will have a different Star Ball is to choose your own numbers or purchase the Play ‘Em All option.

If you go with the easy-pick option, the numbers on your ticket will be randomly selected. And random can mean repeats.

Powerball’s Younger Cousin

Lotto America is sometimes called Powerball’s smaller cousin. The game costs $1 to play and has drawings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, just like Powerball®. It also has the same playstyle as Powerball.

But Lotto America’s jackpots start at a smaller level and the game has easier odds of winning. Lotto America is sold by 13 lotteries, while Powerball is offered by 48.

It’s True: The Jackpot Has Been Growing A Long Time

The other detail getting a lot of talk right now is how long the Lotto America jackpot has been growing. The jackpot for the game’s next drawing tomorrow night stands at an estimated $35.22 million annuity, $15.83 million lump-sum option.

That’s the second-highest jackpot in the history of the game, and it’s now been climbing for more than a year. The jackpot was last won on March 4, 2024.

Long jackpot runs – where the jackpot isn’t won and keeps growing from drawing to drawing – can happen in any lotto game. No one knows when the next big win will hit, but the fact is that someone will win the jackpot.

Lotto America’s current record jackpot was won by an Iowan, and that giant prize had grown for more than 1½ years. A Dubuque man claimed that $40.03 million Lotto America jackpot in April 2023.

Mystery Solved: Player Was Sure She Put $10 In Our Self-Service Kiosk

Here’s a story for the “mystery solved” file! We were contacted this week by a player who was sure she’d put a $10 bill into one of our self-service kiosks and was upset that the machine wouldn’t dispense any tickets to her.

Through the lottery’s central gaming system that links all of our equipment statewide, we can track activity in real time. So after the woman reached out, we reviewed the history for that particular kiosk. It didn’t show any record of a player putting a $10 bill into the machine at the time the woman said she did.

We then asked staffers at the retail location to open up the machine and look in the kiosk’s cash box. Again, no $10 bill.

But there was one more thing we asked the store to check, as we’ve seen this occasionally through the years: the playslip box.

And yep! The player had put her money in the wrong spot. The $10 bill was in the receptacle where you can insert a playslip if you want to choose your own numbers for a ticket in a lotto game.

The machine hadn’t dispensed any tickets to the player because it didn’t recognize that she’d loaded any money into it.

The store was able to return the $10 to the player, and the situation was a good reminder for all of us in the conversation to double-check the details involved!

So next time you’re buying tickets at one of our self-service kiosks, be sure you put any cash in the slot marked “Insert Money Here” and not in the spot that’s marked for play slips! (You also can use a debit card at most of our kiosks, which takes the issue of hard currency off the table.)

If Something Goes Wrong With Your Lottery Purchase, Please Contact Us Quickly

A player reached out to us this month after noticing something unusual with the InstaPlay tickets she tried to buy, and her quick action made all the difference in our ability to help.

If you ever think that something went wrong with your lottery purchase, please contact us at the lottery as soon as you can. Quick action will provide the best chance for us to pinpoint the information involved and help figure out what happened.

The northwest Iowa woman contacted us last week after she tried to buy a couple InstaPlay tickets at a local store. She got blank pieces of paper rather than the tickets she was expecting.

The woman emailed us within an hour of that happening. She was able to provide the name and address of the store involved, the approximate time she tried to buy the tickets, name and price point of the game involved, and send photos of the front and back of the ticket paper involved.

As you can see, something definitely went wrong as her tickets were being printed.

The Right Details To Help

The details the woman provided allowed us to quickly contact the store involved, where it turns out someone had loaded the paper backwards in the lottery self-service kiosk. That was preventing ticket details from printing on the paper in the machine. Staffers at the store were able to load the paper correctly so the lottery kiosk could resume printing tickets.

We were able to pinpoint the plays the woman was trying to purchase and share those details with her. We also thanked her for helping to clear up a situation that would have affected other customers if it hadn’t been corrected.

In some instances, players have contacted us with questions about tickets they said they bought months or years earlier. After the passage of so much time, they weren’t sure about the dates or specific stores involved. And without those details, we can’t provide many answers to help.

Thank you to the player this time around! She did everything right and in the process, helped us pinpoint the answers she needed!

Truth or Myth: I Know I Won The Lottery Because Someone Online Said I Did

This entry in our Truth vs. Myth series is both a warning and a check of your lottery know-how.

If someone contacts you out of the blue on social media, sends you an email or text message, or even mails you a letter saying you’ve won a big lottery prize, should you believe them?

The short answer is no. Be vigilant! It’s almost certainly a scam.

Here are additional details to help.

Lottery Scam Attempts Happen All The Time

We see lottery scam attempts nearly every day. They’re an important reminder that we all need to protect ourselves and our personal information.

Sometimes, scammers post comments directly on the Iowa Lottery’s social media pages asking people to contact them about a prize. We block those comments as soon as we can, but we know more will come.

In other cases, members of the public have contacted us after getting a text message, email, or letter that made them suspicious.

Many scammers use the names of popular lottery games like Mega Millions® or Powerball® and claim that you’ve won a big prize. Other times, the scammers pretend to be past lottery winners and say they’re giving away a portion of their prize money.

NEVER Pay Money Up Front For A So-Called Prize

We know it can be tempting. Who doesn’t want to win big?

But it’s important to remember these simple truths: No Powerball or Mega Millions prizes are randomly awarded. And we’ve never heard of actual past lottery winners deciding to randomly give away part of their winnings.

Likewise, never believe someone who says they can guarantee you a prize. You’re taking a chance when you play the lottery, and you’re not guaranteed to win.

And, most importantly, if you are asked to pay money up front, it’s definitely a scam. Legitimate lotteries never require winners to pay processing fees, insurance or anything else before they receive their prize.

Other Ways To Be Vigilant

The folks who have reached out to us after they received a suspicious message absolutely did the smart thing. First and foremost, they didn’t fall for the scammers’ claims. And second, they contacted us to report what happened and verify that it was a scam.

The scary part is that for every person who contacts us, there are so many more who also have been contacted by scammers and may have fallen victim.

Protect yourself by never giving out your personal information to strangers.

And remember, if you didn’t buy a ticket or enter a lottery promotion, there’s no way you could have won.

Player Comment: I Don’t Believe That InstaPlay Tickets Are Random

Here’s an interesting comment from a player about scratch games and InstaPlay games. The man said he definitely believes that winning scratch tickets are random, but he doesn’t accept that’s the case with InstaPlay games.

I’m thinking the distinction could have to do with the types of tickets involved in the two product groups, but that’s just a guess. In any case, here’s the background about InstaPlay tickets:

InstaPlay games share features with both lotto and scratch games. For example, InstaPlay tickets are sold on demand from lottery terminals and self-service kiosks, just like tickets in lotto games.

But there is a preset supply of tickets in an InstaPlay game, just like in a scratch game. It’s just that the plays in an InstaPlay game are left in electronic form rather than being pre-printed into a supply of tickets like they are in a scratch game.

You Get The Next Available Play

Lottery retail locations all across the state sell tickets from the same universe of electronic plays in a particular InstaPlay game. So as you’re buying a ticket at one store, a player at another store may be buying a ticket in that same game. The lottery’s central gaming system, which links all 2,500 lottery retail locations in the state, tracks InstaPlay purchases in real time and provides the next available play in the game when a request is made for a ticket.

Even if the plays are made just a fraction of a second apart, the central gaming system accurately tracks them and provides the next available play from the top of the stack in that particular game. It’s like a photo-finish at the racetrack!

No One Knows Where The Next Win Will Hit

Winning tickets, including progressive jackpot winners, are randomly distributed throughout an InstaPlay game so that no one, not even those of us who work at the Iowa Lottery, knows where the next win will hit.

There is the background about InstaPlay games! Does it match up with your understanding of how they work?

New Threshold: $6 BILLION In Prizes!

The Iowa Lottery just passed a significant milestone in winnings.

We’ll never know exactly who it was, but someone recently claimed a winning ticket that lifted the total amount the Iowa Lottery has paid in prizes to more than $6 billion!

That’s not a typo. Since the Iowa Lottery’s start in 1985, players have won more than $6 billion in prizes. And the last two years have seen the largest prize totals so far!

In fiscal year 2024, players won $106.6 million from the Iowa Lottery. And that number was eclipsed only by FY 2023’s prize total of $108.4 million!

The Iowa Lottery is celebrating its 40th birthday this year, so it seems appropriate that we’d hit another major milestone at the same time.

Congratulations to all our winners of prizes both large and small. We appreciate you being part of our world!

Here Are A LOT Of Great Sayings To Share About Playing In A Healthy Way

We recently asked the Iowa Lottery team to share a simple way that they remind people to play the lottery in a healthy way.

It may sound like a small thing, but in reality, those everyday sayings reflect the foundation of consumer awareness and protection that has always been at the Iowa Lottery’s core.

And wow, did the Iowa Lottery team come through!

I was blown away by the great answers my co-workers provided. Some of the sayings were repeated by multiple people, and that’s OK! That particular saying must have a really clear meaning for a lot of folks.

If you’ve ever struggled with the right thing to say to remind someone to play the lottery/gamble in a healthy way, here are a lot of great choices!

Stay in your budget.	Know your limits.	Play responsibly, use discretionary funds.
Bet within your limits.	Good luck, please play responsibly.	Play with your head, not over your head.
Only play what you can afford to lose.	Don’t gamble in hopes of coming out ahead.	Don’t put your family at risk for a chance.
If you can’t handle it, don’t play.	Play within your means.	Keep your spending on gambling to a reasonable amount for you.
Play for fun, not for retirement.	It only takes one ticket to win.	Set a budget for playing and stay within that.
Play healthy.	Play the lottery for fun, not for a profit.	If it causes you stress, re-assess.
Stop playing when it is no longer fun.	If playing any of our games is bringing you stress, please don’t play.	Play within your means.
If you’re not having fun, don’t do it.	Have fun, responsibly!	Under 21, can’t buy one.
Play for fun, not for a living.	Play what you can afford to lose.	If you’re not having fun, it’s time to quit.
Know when to quit, don’t chase your losses.	If playing stresses you out, take a break.	Play for fun, not just for money.
Remember it is OK to take a break!	Make sure you're playing responsibly. Can you afford it?	Know when to say when.
Play with your head, not over your head!	It should be fun entertainment, not stressful.	If it no longer brings you joy, take a break.
Play smart and responsibly.	Play within your financial means if you’re going to play.	Make sure you don’t spend more than you can afford.

Greatness Returns Basketball Ticket Winners Announced

Nearly 12,000 of our VIP Club members entered the Greatness Returns contest, and the two lucky winners have now been announced!

Congratulations to Sandra Hudson of Delta and Tori Perry of Cedar Rapids, who both won two tickets to the Indiana Fever vs. Brazilian National Team preseason basketball game on May 4 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena™ in Iowa City along with $222 in spending money.

As we celebrate 40 years of winning moments in Iowa, we’re just getting started. Thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned, because more exciting opportunities are on the way!

I Think I Won That Game’s Top Prize, But The Ticket Results Say I'm Wrong

I blogged last week about player questions for one of our new scratch games, and now we’re hearing from players about another one.

This time, the questions are about the “Lucky Stars” scratch game that hit the market this month. Multiple players have contacted us who all thought they won the game’s top prize of $30,000. But as it turns out, they hadn’t uncovered all of the stars required to win that amount.

Here’s the background:

As its name implies, the $3 Lucky Stars game has a solar-system theme, with artwork on the tickets showing planets and constellations in outer space. There are star symbols in the play area on each ticket, and if you match the number shown in a particular star, you can scratch it off. If you scratch off all of the star numbers in the same path, you win the prize shown for that path.

Lucky Stars is designed so the star paths on the ticket follow bending lines, like the constellations in the night sky. And, the number of stars you need to match increases with the prize amount involved.

For example, to win the game’s $5 prize, you only have to match two stars. But to win $200, you have to match six stars. And to win the game’s top prize of $30,000, you have to match seven stars.

And remember, the star paths are not straight lines! The paths are highlighted on the ticket with double purple lines that you can follow from star to star.

The players who contacted us all thought they won $30,000. But they’d only matched the first five numbers in that path. They didn’t match the final two stars in the line.

So if you play Lucky Stars, remember to look for ALL the stars in the path to win a particular prize.