ialottery blog

What You’ve Asked For: Join the VIP Club & Change Your Password From The App

You’ve been asking about it, and we’re excited to share this update today: Now you can join the lottery’s VIP Club and change the password for your VIP account password from our mobile app.

We all live a lot of our lives on mobile devices these days, and these changes will make it easier for you to access the lottery info. you need while you’re on the go.   

We debuted our app for both Apple AND Android devices back in 2017, and like any technology, we’ve updated it over time. If you already have our app (it’s called the Iowa Lottery’s LotteryPlus) on your device, there’s nothing you need to do to receive this update. It happens automatically, so you already have the new feature available. If you don’t yet have the app, feel free to install it from the Google Play Store® or Apple iTunes Store® as applicable for your particular device.

The most popular way that people use our app is to check the results of their lottery tickets. You can check lotto, scratch and InstaPlay tickets on the app, so you don’t have to visit a store or a lottery office to see if you’ve won. Two other popular ways that people use the app is to enter their tickets into our VIP Club drawings and to check the winning numbers in recent lotto drawings.

Thank you for playing the lottery, and we hope this update makes it even easier for you to reach us!

We'll Mail 2019 Tax Forms To Winners By The End Of This Month

If you claimed an Iowa Lottery prize of more than $600 in calendar year 2019, check your mailbox in the next couple weeks for a form you’ll need as you file your income taxes.

The document is called a W-2G form and it lists the total prize amount as well as any federal and state withholdings from your prize. If you claimed multiple Iowa Lottery prizes of more than $600 in 2019, you’ll receive multiple W-2G forms from us, one for each prize claimed. (And congratulations on your wins, by the way!)

We’re required to mail all W-2G forms by Jan. 31, but we always do our best to have them processed before that date if possible.

In the image here, you can see the envelopes we’ll use to send the tax forms, so check your mailbox for them.

If you think you should have received a W-2G form from us for calendar year 2019 and you've moved since you claimed your prize, please let us know your new address as soon as possible, or your form may end up at your old address. You can contact us at 515-725-7900 or email us at wmaster@ialottery.com.

Be sure to include your name, old address, new address, and phone number in case we need to contact you.

S-M-L-XL: You Don’t Have To Choose

The new scratch games that hit shelves this week here in Iowa include a special series of tickets that may have already caught you eye for how much they look alike. And that’s on purpose.

Through the years, we’ve occasionally released what we call a “Family Of Games,” and the latest are the “9s In A Line” games that just made their debut. There’s 9s In A Line Small, a $1 game; 9s In A Line Medium, a $2 game; 9s In A Line Large, a $5 game; and 9s In A Line XL, a $10 game.

Players have told us that they like the fun of a set of games, and we have fun coming up with concepts and ideas to try.

The top prize available gets larger as you follow the 9s In A Line series up, and so does the playing time on the ticket. For example, the size Small game has just one playing area and offers a top prize of $900, while the size XL game has four playing areas and a top prize of $100,000.

So choose the size you like, or play them all. One size does not have to fit all in this series!

Boone Man Wins His Own $100,000 Prize After Buying His Mom A $100,000 Winner

Lightning really can strike twice!

Six months after he bought a scratch ticket for his mom that won a $100,000 prize, a Boone man has claimed a $100,000 lottery prize of his own.

Troy Dennis won the final top prize available in the “Cash In” scratch game. He bought his winning ticket at L & M Gas & Grocery, the same Boone store where he bought a ticket for his mom last summer that also won a $100,000 prize. Terry Dennis of Boone claimed her big prize Aug. 1 in the “Diamond 9s” scratch game.

Troy said he couldn’t believe it when he first saw the results of his winning ticket and said the situation must be “just good karma.” He said his mom won, and now it’s his turn!

Troy is a contractor and said he was on his way into work when he stopped for a morning coffee. He noticed the Cash In game in the store’s ticket display and decided to buy a couple tickets.

He said he played the first one standing at the counter and it was a $100,000 winner. He called his mom, who thought he was kidding, and then continued on with his day. He said he locked the ticket up at home first, and then went to work.

Troy said he hasn’t entirely decided what he’ll do with his winnings, but he’s considering investing in his business and taking a family vacation. He said he can’t remember his last vacation, so he’s well overdue.

Christmas Gifts Lead To Two $10,000 Lottery Prizes

Two family Christmas gatherings led to two $10,000 prizes for Iowa Lottery players – both in the same game.

First up was Dylan Day of Monroe in Jasper County. He got a scratch ticket as a Christmas gift from his mom and said he played the “$100,000 Happy Holidays Crossword” ticket the next day. But he said he didn’t realize he’d won big until he counted up all the words he’d uncovered. 

Day says he was pretty much jumping up and down and was so happy, he didn’t know what he was thinking. He said he plans to use his winnings to pay off debt, begin finishing his basement and will treat his mother to a nice dinner – or two.

Next up was a Minnesota woman who claimed a $10,000 prize in that same game. Stephanie Charpentier of Rosemount, Minn., said that her father, who lives in Shell Rock, gives his family lottery scratch tickets as stocking stuffers every year. And when they played this year’s tickets at their recent holiday gathering in Clear Lake, they found multiple winners among the bunch.

Stephanie said they thought they had a $20 winner, a $50 winner, and a $100 winner. But when they checked the tickets at a local convenience store, the clerk gave them the customer receipts from the lottery terminal showing that one of their tickets had actually won a $10,000 prize. Stephanie said they just stood there counting the zeroes.

In the spirit of her family’s holiday gathering, Stephanie said she plans to share the winnings with her family.

Post-Holiday Question: Can I Use A Gift Card To Buy Lottery Tix In Iowa?

Now that holiday celebrations are winding down for a lot of us, we’re hearing from folks asking if they can use gift cards to buy lottery tickets in Iowa. The quick answer is: Yes. But there are more details involved, so please keep reading. 

From a legal perspective, a gift card is the same as cash, so under Iowa law, it can be used to purchase lottery tickets.

But some retail locations may have policies that bar the use of gift cards for lottery purchases, just as they may ban personal checks for any purchase. Stores can and do develop their own policies for what’s allowed in their place of business, and we understand that.

The same thing applies to the use of debit cards to buy lottery tickets. While it’s legal for debit cards to be used to buy lottery products in Iowa, some stores may have policies against that. To be sure, please check with the business involved.

(Here are some further notes about the use of debit cards: In Iowa, state law prohibits the use of credit when making a lottery purchase. But a debit transaction is always tied to available funds, so as long as the card says DEBIT on the front, it’s OK to use it for a lottery transaction so long as the store involved allows that. If it’s a CREDIT card, it’s illegal to use it to buy lottery tickets in Iowa.

When you’re using a DEBIT card, even if it’s run on the credit setting, the money involved is still coming from available funds, so it is still a DEBIT transaction. A debit card never involves anything other than available funds, meaning cash. We had wondered about that particular detail ourselves, so we checked with the network folks who process the transactions. They confirmed that DEBIT always = available cash.)

Player Mail: Hey! They Carded Me!

With the holiday rush underway, I’m sharing a conversation here on the blog that we had with a player in case you encounter the same thing while you’re out shopping and running errands.

The player reached out to us after being carded at a convenience store as he was buying lottery tickets.

“They made me show my I.D,” he wrote. “The clerk said anyone who looks under 40 must show I.D. I’ve been buying lottery tickets there for several years and never heard this before. I am 55 years old. Is this a thing?”

Now, some people might interpret that situation as a huge compliment to their youthful good looks (insert smile emoji here), but the fact that stores ask customers to verify their age before buying certain products is a reality, and it’s a step they take to protect their business.

Lottery tickets are an age-controlled product, meaning that you must be a certain age before you can purchase them. Here in Iowa, the minimum purchasing age for lottery tickets is 21.

Retail locations receive licenses to sell age-controlled products, and one of the ways they can violate the terms of their lottery license is by selling tickets to those who are too young to legally purchase them. The business’ license will be suspended or even revoked if that happens, so we explained to the player that some stores have adopted the policy that they will I.D. anyone, not just those they think may be under 21.

We understand the businesses' concerns and support our retailers’ decisions to ensure that laws and regulations are being followed.

So if you’re asked for an I.D. when you buy lottery tickets, know that the store is doing the right thing. (And if you suspect that you definitely do not look 21, maybe choose to have fun in that moment!)

Five Iowa Friends Split $1 Million Prize

Five friends who chipped in to buy lottery tickets together had quite a moment today as they claimed a $1 million Mega Millions® prize.

Tim Harless of Eldora bought the group’s $1 million-winning ticket at a local convenience store for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. The friends call themselves “Just Us” and have played the lottery together for about 15 years. Harless said they’ve won smaller prizes during that time, but now they have a very different story to tell!

Harless is in the middle in the photo here. The four other members of the group are (left to right): Dave Twedt, Steve Wright, Dennis Dickenson, and Julia Salazar. They all live in Eldora and know each other through the Hardin County community of about 2,700.

The four men say that Salazar keeps the rest of them fed. She has managed the local Casey’s convenience store for 20 years, and it’s their regular stop for lunch, snacks and drinks.

Salazar said she checked the results of the drawing and called Harless yesterday morning to share the news that they’d won big. He said she was talking so fast he couldn’t understand her at first, but it finally sunk in.

Salazar also said she was contacted by the Iowa Lottery’s Security Division as part of its verification work for a ticket winning a sizeable prize. That review includes checking the store’s security-camera system for footage of the ticket purchase.

Salazar said that as she watched the security footage with the lottery’s security investigator, she hoped she would see Harless on camera coming into the store and buying a ticket. And there he was!

Dickenson, who works for Harless at the city’s street department, has a story of double good fortune: Last month, he survived quadruple bypass surgery, and now he and his friends have won a big lottery prize. He said he definitely feels lucky!

Harless bought the $1 million-winning ticket at Casey’s, 1807 Edgington Ave. in Eldora. The group’s easy-pick ticket came within one number of having a share of Tuesday’s $372 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. A ticket purchased in Ohio won that night’s jackpot. Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 22-30-53-55-56 and Mega Ball 16. The Megaplier® was 2.

Six prizes of at least $1 million have now been won this year in Iowa. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

All the members of the Just Us group talked about putting their winnings into savings, paying off bills or investing for retirement. And for Wright, who’s already retired, another possibility is on the list. He said there might have a new pickup in the spring.

Wardrobe For Tomorrow: It’s National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

Head’s up for what to wear tomorrow!

Dec. 20 is National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, according to the National Day Calendar. The website tracks unusual and unique national days and has a day for just about everything (including ugly sweaters).

According to the day calendar, this particular national day was started in 2011 by folks who adore their ugly Christmas sweaters and were looking for a way to lighten up the busy holidays.

The day has grown in popularity and is now apparently celebrated worldwide on the third Friday in December.

To help get us all in the spirit, those of us in the lottery’s External Relations area dressed up in our very BEST ugly sweaters for a photo opp. And as you can see, some of us appear to like our sweaters more than others!

The day calendar offers these tips for truly celebrating your ugly sweater:

• Select ridiculous colors. The more they clash, the better.
• Embellish it. The list of potential add-ons for your sweater is probably endless, but top candidates include pom-poms, bells, felt, tinsel or any other glittery, jingly items you’ve got around the house.
• Add a collar or ruffle. You apparently can never dress up your ugly sweater too much.
• Electrify it! Bright lights are NOT over the top in the ugly-sweater category!

And finally, use the hashtags #UglyChristmasSweaterDay or #ChristmasSweaterDay when you talk about it online tomorrow.