Time really does fly! The Iowa Lottery is turning 30 this year, so I’m using today’s blog entry to take a look back and see what how it’s all added up.
Legislation authorizing a lottery in Iowa was signed into law on April 18, 1985, and Iowa Lottery sales began with a kick-off celebration on Aug. 22, 1985, at the Iowa State Fair. But did you know that the push for a lottery in our state goes back a lot further than that?
It was in 1972, the same year that we put Iowa in the win column for President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign, that Iowans voted by greater than a 2-to-1 margin to amend the state Constitution to repeal a lottery prohibition.
Through the years, the lottery has created life-changing moments for prize winners, provided valuable help in the form of sales commissions to the thousands of Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets, and raised significant proceeds for the state causes that benefit all Iowans.
There’s been an interesting constant that entire time: An instant-scratch game was the first product offered by the Iowa Lottery back in 1985, and scratch tickets are still our top-selling product today. In fiscal year 2014, scratch tickets accounted for 60 percent of lottery sales, lotto games made up 35 percent of sales, and pull-tab games were 5 percent of annual sales.
To celebrate our 30th birthday, today we’re launching the “30 Somethings” game. It’s a $5 scratch game tied to a promotion by the same name. Understanding today’s emphasis on “green” products, tickets in the 30 Somethings game are printed on paper stock made from 60 percent recycled fibers (35 percent post-consumer). You’ll notice the tickets’ unique look and feel – they’re a lot like brown sack paper used for things like grocery bags or lunch sacks.
Nonwinning tickets in the 30 Somethings game can be entered in a Play It Again promotion offering a total of 91 prizes, including a grand prize of $30,000. The promotion just started at noon today and concludes with a grand-prize drawing on Aug. 3.
Here is a look by the numbers at 30 years of lottery history in Iowa (figures current through March 31, 2015, unless otherwise noted):
• $6.3 billion Total Iowa Lottery sales
• $3.4 billion Total prizes won by Iowa Lottery players
• $1.6 billion Total lottery proceeds to Iowa causes
• $474.7 million Total lottery sales commissions paid to Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets
• $241 million Largest lottery prize won in Iowa to date. The Shipping 20, a group of co-workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, claimed that Powerball® jackpot on June 20, 2012.
• 6.4 million Number of lottery tickets sold during the lottery’s first week of sales
• 2,391 Number of retail locations in Iowa that sell lottery tickets (current as of April 30, 2015)
• 1,570 Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $100,000 or more (through April 2015)
• 127 Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $1 million or more (through April 2015)
• 900 Number of instant-scratch games sold in Iowa from 1985 through present
• 237 Number of pull-tab games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1987 through present
• 19 Number of lotto games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1986 through present
• 9 Number of Hot Lotto® jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date
• 8 Number of Powerball jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date
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