If this doesn’t define twice lucky, I don’t know what does: Someone who got a free play in our promotion this month has won a $4.38 million jackpot with the free ticket!
It’s Iowa’s first jackpot winner in Lotto America, just six months after the game’s debut.
The jackpot-winning ticket came from the Kwik Star convenience store at 2850 W. Locust St. in Davenport. This month, the Iowa Lottery is giving away free lotto plays in a promotion called “Lotto Surprise.” Throughout the month, random players receive free lotto plays when they buy tickets in a particular game. During the past week, the qualifying purchase was a Powerball ticket and the free plays involved were in the Lotto America game. So the jackpot-winning ticket was generated as a free play when the winner purchased a Powerball ticket at the Davenport store.
The jackpot-winning ticket matched all six numbers in last night’s Lotto America drawing, which were: 8-15-18-32-45 and Star Ball 1.
Kwik Star will receive a $5,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the Lotto America jackpot-winning ticket at one of its stores.
Today’s version of Lotto America debuted Nov. 12 and is sold in Iowa and 12 other states. The game’s name is a throwback to the first multi-state lotto game known for big jackpots in the United States. Iowa was a founding member of the original version of Lotto America, which began back in 1988 and made headlines around the world for its jackpots before ultimately being replaced by Powerball in 1992.
In today’s version of Lotto America, jackpots start at $2 million, tickets cost $1 each and the game has drawings on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Lotto America has the playstyle of Powerball, with players selecting numbers from two separate pools for a chance at a big prize. Players in the game choose five numbers from a pool of 52 and another number, called the Star Ball, from a pool of 10. Players who match all six numbers in a drawing win the jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot in Lotto America are around 1 in 26 million, compared to odds of about 1 in 292.2 million of winning the Powerball jackpot and about 1 in 302.6 million of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.
Jackpot prizes must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. Lottery offices are closed on the weekends, so tomorrow is the earliest that the prize can be claimed. If the winner or winners have questions before coming forward, they’re welcome to call us at the lottery at 515-725-7900.
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