We’ve gotten a few questions this month about who can play the Iowa Lottery and win prizes in its games and promotions. Specifically, do you have to be from Iowa to win?
The answer in almost all cases is that anyone from anywhere can play the lottery and win. There is only one instance where you have to be from Iowa to win the prize involved, and I’ll cover that here.
I think there’s a home-state pride involved and it’s fun when someone from your county 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 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 legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented to the Iowa Lottery to claim the prize.
By its very definition, a lottery is a game that can be won by anyone from anywhere, provided that they have a ticket. Within the past year, the vast majority of Iowa Lottery prizes were claimed by folks from right here in Iowa. But our winners have also included a Florida man who claimed a $250,000 prize, a Wisconsin woman and a Nebraska man who each claimed a $100,000 prize, and an Illinois man who claimed a $50,000 prize.
If you win an Iowa Lottery prize and you’re not a resident of the United States, you may pay a higher amount in withholding than a U.S. citizen would, but it’s perfectly OK for you to play and win!
We’re pretty sure that our winners from out of state are glad that people from outside Iowa can buy tickets and win prizes here! And we as Iowans in turn can play the lottery and win prizes when we’re traveling out of state or out of the country. And bottom line, Iowa Lottery sales provide proceeds to help our state, no matter where the person is from who made the purchase.
Folks from outside of Iowa also can enter our Play It Again® promotions and win prizes in them. (As with prizes in our games, the withholding difference will apply to prizes in our promotions if you’re not a U.S. citizen.)
The only time that Iowa residency is required is in our contests that offer actual lottery tickets as prizes. It’s illegal for us to mail or ship lottery tickets across state lines, so in those instances, you do have to be from Iowa to win.
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