Do You Have To Be A U.S./Iowa Citizen To Win?

We've seen a few different comments on social media lately that caught our attention, both for their home-state pride and their interest in just who can play - and win - the Iowa Lottery.

Two folks on Facebook recently said they'd like to see a game where you'd have to be an Iowa resident to play or win. We've also heard through the years from those who wondered if someone who lives outside the United States can win a lottery prize in Iowa.

I get the home-state pride that people feel and how fun it is when someone from your state or maybe even your city wins the lottery. Hey, if you didn’t win the big prize yourself, it's always nice to have a "close brush" with someone who did!

But I also find the subject interesting because I've played lotteries in countries outside the United States, had fun while I was doing it, and won some prizes. And I'm pretty sure I would have been offended if I'd been told I couldn't play there just because I was from another country! So, those are the thoughts I have when someone questions just who can play the Iowa Lottery.

The short answer is that people from other states and countries can play - and win - in the Iowa Lottery's games. The requirements for them are the same as those for everybody else: They have to be at least 21 years old to buy a ticket and the ticket must be purchased in person at a lottery retailer here in Iowa.

If you win an Iowa Lottery prize and you're not a resident of the United States, you may need to pay a higher amount in withholding than a U.S. citizen would, but it's perfectly OK for you to play and win!       By its very definition, a lottery is a game that can be won by anyone from anywhere, provided that they have a ticket. A good example of that is the man who claimed Iowa's latest $1 million prize in Powerball®. He’s Richard Watson from Belton, Mo., and we blogged about him back on May 20 after his big win. Richard travels a lot for work and when he's on the road, he likes to buy lottery tickets in whichever state he's visiting. He bought a ticket back in November while on a job in eastern Iowa and although it took him months, he did finally realize that he'd won a big prize.

We're pretty sure Richard is glad that people from outside Iowa can buy tickets and win prizes here! And Iowa Lottery sales do help our state - no matter where the person is from who made the purchase. So we see it as a win-win for all!

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Florence. Thanks for trying out the Power Play option. Hopefully, the details I'm sharing here can help answer your question. The Power Play option multiplies any prize you win, so you first have to win a prize in a Powerball drawings for anything to happen with the Power Play. Once you've won a prize, if you've added the Power Play option to your play, it multiplies your prize by the Power Play number in that particular drawing. Let's look at some specific examples: If you've added the Power Play to your ticket and you don't win a prize, then nothing more happens -- you didn't win a prize, so there was nothing for the Power Play to impact. But let's say that you won a $100 prize by matching four of the first five numbers, you added the Power Play to your ticket, and the Power Play number selected in that drawing was 4. Your $100 prize would be multiplied by 4, so you would ultimately win $400 because you added the Power Play option to your ticket! I hope that explanation helps. We also cover this topic in our "How To Play" video for the Powerball game. Here's a link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDt0lB7WOfY

[Florence Lee]

I am confused concerning the power play on the power ball game....I always pay extra & get the power play too. Twice now I have had
the power play. Sat. June 7th, it was 02 and
last night it was 05. I took the ticket in to have it checked, and it said ticket not a winner....why pay extra for the power play if you receive nothing.

[Mary Neubauer]

I hear you, Donna! The dream is about winning, isn't it? Since the Iowa Lottery started back in 1985, its players have won more than $3.2 billion in prizes, so that is a significant amount. Thank you for playing lottery games and making a difference for Iowa.

[donna studley]

Iowa residents have only been playing lotto games 25-27yrs and have won nothing.What are those odds that someone just passing through wins. Ya it pisses people off. Get real!