All or Nothing Game Ending, Drawing Times Changing For Pick 3 & Pick 4

Changes are coming to three of our lotto games on June 30 and July 1.Changes are coming to three of our lotto games on June 30 and July 1.

On June 30, the final drawing will be held in the “All or Nothing™” game and on July 1, the drawing times will change in the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, giving players longer to buy tickets each evening.

All or Nothing is a joint game offered by Iowa and Minnesota in which players can win the $100,000 top prize by matching all 12 or none of the winning numbers in one of its drawings. The game has been offered since January 2014, and Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said that although it initially sold well, sales have tapered off over time.

Because the All or Nothing game is ending effective June 30, the lottery is required to limit the number of multi-draw tickets clerks may sell beginning June 23. A countdown to the last drawing will begin on this day and the number of multi-draw tickets available will be reduced with each drawing until the game’s final evening drawing on June 30.

Effective July 1, the drawings in Iowa’s Pick 3 and Pick 4 games will be held at slightly different times from their current schedule and the sales cutoff times for these games will be shortened. Here’s the changes: 

• Midday Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 12:20 p.m. (currently these drawings are held at about 12:50 p.m.)
• Evening Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 10 p.m. (currently these drawings are held at about 8:50 p.m.)
• Sales cutoff times prior to the drawings will be shortened to just 20 minutes from the current 50-minute delay.

Rich said that as technology has gotten faster, the processing that the lottery has to complete before its drawings can be done in a shorter period of time. 

As the lottery continues to monitor its game offerings, players can expect more improvements and changes to other lotto products in the coming months.

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

That's a cool idea, Christina! I'll pass your comments along to our game-planning group. Hey, you never know where ideas can lead, right? Off the top of my head, I can see that the proposal would change the odds for the drawings involved, so that would need to be explained and made clear. But it could be fun!

[Christina R.]

I've said this to others, now I'm letting you have it too. You kow how you changed the numbers awhile back for powerball etc, so they would have a higher chance for players to get paid... ok, my thought is, if you want to increase your lottery sales, I know you do, after the jackpot gets to say 250,000,000.00 why not start having multiple drawings for it. After nobody hits it at that mark advertise that the next drawing there will be two sets of numbers drawn. Each time it isn't won, add another set of numbers called. Your sales would go up like a rocket. If you have multiple winners with the multiple drawings, I mean really, I think there would be god's plenty to go around at that point. Thanks for listening to my idea!

[Mary Neubauer]

Donna: You are correct that playing the lottery is always an optional purchase. If someone does not want to buy a lottery ticket, that is completely their choice to make.

[Mary Neubauer]

Great feedback, Elmer and Chad! I appreciate your comments and will pass them along to our game-planning folks. Elmer, we don't yet have a replacement game for All or Nothing, but have several ideas in mind for updates to the lotto games that we offer.

[Elmer Beckler]

I'm going to miss all or nothing. Will anything replace it?
I f you do replace it, replace it with a game that has lots of small winners.