ialottery blog

Des Moines-Area Man Claims $2 Million Powerball Prize

A Des Moines-area man is Iowa’s fourth big winner of the year. Robert ‘Rob’ Maser of Urbandale is a regular lotto player. When he realized he’d won a $2 million prize in Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, he called to tell his family and friends. Problem was, they didn’t believe him!

Rob called his dad and told him he’d won the lottery and said he was keeping his promise to buy him a boat if he ever won big. His dad called him a liar.

Rob then took photos of his winning-ticket receipt and sent them to his dad, wife and others so they’d know it was real.

He said this win will be going toward retirement. He doesn’t have plans to quit his day job but he does plan to take care of a few things around the house, like new carpet and paint.

Rob bought his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 4585 156th St. in Urbandale, where's he's a regular. He went there to scan his ticket first thing this morning and even the staff there didn’t believe it at first. Once they realized he really did win, they were very happy for him and took a few photos. The Kum & Go store will receive a $2,000 bonus check for selling the $2 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

He said he always adds the multiplier options to his lotto tickets in case a win just like this came up. He said he would have been disappointed if he’d only won  $1 million knowing it could have been $2 million for an extra buck. He initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But sine he added the Power Play® option to his purchase, it multiplied his prize to $2 million.

Wednesday’s winning numbers were: 7-17-33-61-68 and Powerball 4. The Power Play number was 2. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $270 million annuity ($168.9 million lump-sum option) for Saturday. The Urbandale ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in Wednesday’s drawing.

Des Moines-Area Ticket Wins $2 Million Powerball Prize

Someone who bought a Powerball® ticket at a Des Moines-area convenience store won a $2 million prize in last night’s drawing.

It’s the fourth prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa so far this year.

The $2 million-winning ticket was purchased at Kum & Go, 4585 156th St. in Urbandale. The ticket came within one number of having at least a share of last night’s $250.3 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 multiplied the prize to $2 million. The Urbandale ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in last night’s drawing.

Last night’s winning numbers were: 7-17-33-61-68 and Powerball 4. The Power Play number was 2. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $270 million annuity ($168.9 million lump-sum option) for Saturday.
 
Kum & Go will receive a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Prizes of $2 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are open Monday through Friday. If you think you’re the big winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, please feel free to give us a shout at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or wmaster@ialottery.com.

This latest big win in Iowa comes about a month after the last one. In late April, a Sioux City woman claimed a $1 million prize she’d won in the Mega Millions® game.

Scams Continue To Skyrocket, Officials Remind You To Protect Yourself

We’ve been warning about scams for years, and new statistics show that the situation has only gotten worse.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined a coalition of 42 attorneys general this week in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take more action to stop the growing number of illegal robocalls and number spoofing.

The AGs are urging the FCC to adopt rules on enforcement against caller ID spoofing on calls to the United States from outside our country. They also want the FCC to address spoofing in text messaging.

The AGs say that the number of spoofed calls and victims' financial losses associated with those scams have increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years. In 2018 alone, Americans received nearly 18 billion scam robocalls.

Some of those scams are by criminals who claim that they’re lottery officials. They typically will promise that you’ve won a big prize and say you’ll receive if you first pay them a “processing fee” or sales commission in advance. But the prize is fake, and if you send them money, you’ll never see it again.

Our video above shares more details about the scams and how to protect yourself. The AG’s Office advises you to report suspected scam calls to the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. The AG also says to consider using call-blocking apps and other services to reduce the number of robocalls you receive.

We’re Declaring It The “Summer of Silverado”

We’ve decided to call it the “Summer of Silverado®” because during the next four months, we’ll give away four all-new 2019 Chevy Silverados. They’re the grand prizes in our summer promotion that that runs through mid-September.
 
It all starts with the “Silverado” scratch game you’ll find in lottery retail locations statewide. The $5 Silverado tickets are easy to spot because they have an image of a Chevy Silverado on them! You can win instant prizes in the game of up to $50,000, but if your ticket is a nonwinner, you can Play It Again® by entering it into our Summer of Silverado promotion for a chance to win a truck or a cash prize.

We’ll hold four drawings in the promotion and each time, we’ll give away a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss and five prizes of $5,000. The drawings will be on June 13, July 18, Aug. 15 and Sept. 12.

It’s been five years since the Iowa Lottery has given away a vehicle as a prize, but the Summer of Silverado is definitely changing that!

Where Have Iowa's Big Prizes Been Won?

We’re into the fifth month of 2019, so in keeping with the mapping initiative we decided to undertake this year, it’s time to look back at the biggest lottery prizes claimed in Iowa during the past 30 days.

The map here shows all the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed during the month of April in Iowa. You’ll find 426 dots in total, compared to 418 on the March map.

So through the end of April, Iowa Lottery players had claimed a total of 1,670 prizes of $600 or more so far in 2019. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

Remember that this map only shows those big prizes that were claimed in April. It doesn’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.

What You’ve Asked For: Our App Now Shows Prize Amount

You’ve been asking about it, and we’re excited to share this update today: Our mobile app now displays the prize amount you’ve won when you scan a winning ticket.

Back in 2017, we debuted our app for both Apple AND Android devices, and like any technology, we’ve updated it over time. The latest update allows the app to display the prize amount involved when you use it to scan a winning ticket.

Before this change, the app showed whether a ticket was a winner or nonwinner, but it didn’t specify the prize amount involved for a winning ticket. And it might seem like a simple change, but making this update took a lot of time, programming and testing. But we’re there now!

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 the 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 Apples iTunes Store® as appropriate for your particular device.

In addition to the details about what you’ve won, the app also displays where your winning ticket can be redeemed: at a lottery retail location, at a lottery office, or at lottery headquarters only, depending on the prize amount involved.

Our players have been asking for this update and we’re glad to see it go live! It’s a convenience factor for sure, and it’s also another important security feature that allows you to determine the outcome of your lottery tickets on your own. (You also can use a self-checker at a lottery retail location or check our website as other review tools.)

Sioux City Woman Wins $1 Million On Her First Try

I just wrote on Friday about a Cedar Rapids woman who had beginner’s luck with a lottery scratch ticket, but this story tops even that!

A Sioux City woman played Mega Millions® for the first time and won $1 million.

Angelica Chavez claimed her big prize this afternoon at lottery headquarters in Clive. She said she told her dad the night before the drawing that she was going to win big – and she did!

Angelica is 27 and works at the Tyson Foods meat-processing plant in Sioux City. She chose her own numbers, which she had written down a few years ago. She said she worked at the time at a senior-living center and there was a little game there with balls in it like a lottery drawing machine. So she played the game and picked multiple sets of six numbers, which she wrote down and kept all this time in her purse. She played a few sets of those numbers in Friday’s drawing.

She said she worked until late Friday and when she got home, she checked that night’s winning Mega Millions numbers on her phone. She matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball to win a $1 million prize.

Some winners are in disbelief, but not Angelica. She said she believed it right away because she’d already felt that she was going to win.

Angelica bought her $1 million-winning ticket at Fleet Farm Fuel, 5860 Sunnybrook Drive in Sioux City.

The winning numbers in Friday’s $175 million Mega Millions drawing were: 18-25-43-44-57 and Mega Ball 25. The Megaplier® number was 4. Angelica’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $1 million prize that night. It’s the third prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa so far this year. 

Fleet Farm will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Angelica said she has investment ideas for her winnings and also plans to set aside money for her daughter’s future.

$1 Million Mega Millions Prize Won At Sioux City Convenience Store

Someone who bought a Mega Millions® ticket at Sioux City convenience store won a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing.

The lucky winner bought the $1 million-winning ticket at Fleet Farm Fuel, 5860 Sunnybrook Drive in Sioux City. The ticket came within one number of having at least a share of last night’s $175 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $192 million annuity ($116.7 million lump-sum option) for Tuesday.

Last night’s winning Mega Millions numbers were: 18-25-43-44-57 and Mega Ball 25. The Megaplier® number was 4. The Sioux City ticket was the only one in the country to win a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing. It’s the third prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa so far this year. 

Fleet Farm will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Prizes of $1 million have to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. If you think you have the winning ticket and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, you’re welcome to give us at shout at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or wmaster@ialottery.com.

The lottery’s offices are closed on the weekend, so Monday is the earliest that the prize can be claimed.

DEFINITELY Some Beginner’s Luck!

Here’s a story of luck to send us into the weekend: A Cedar Rapids woman has won a $50,000 prize with the first lottery ticket she ever bought.

Ameka Washington said she was out buying groceries when something just told her to stop and buy a lottery ticket. She said she decided to buy a scratch ticket even though she’d never done that before. She took it home and scratched it that night after making dinner for her family. And she quickly realized she’d won a $50,000 prize!

Ameka, 21, said she ran through the house screaming, “I won! I won! I really won!” She said her mom didn’t believe her at first, but the reality eventually sank in.

Ameka is a makeup artist and makes wigs for women undergoing cancer treatments or who have a skin condition that causes them to lose their hair. She said she plans to buy a car for her family and invest in her business.

Ameka won one of the top prizes available in the “$500 Loaded!” scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at the Hy-Vee store at 1556 First Ave. NE in Cedar Rapids.