A question that just came our way is a reminder that sometimes, you can’t touch on a topic enough. I’m talking about the odds of winning in our games – what they mean and what they don’t.
A player reached out to us after buying two tickets in the Lucky Numbers Game Book and not winning a prize. The player noticed that the game’s overall odds of winning are 1 in 2.51 and apparently thought that meant one of their tickets was guaranteed to win. But that’s not correct.
Think of it like a deck of cards: With four suits in a deck (spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts), there’s about a 1 in 4 chance that the next card up will be in a specific suit. But once you shuffle the deck, you can go through a lot of cards in a row before you find a card in a specific suit.
It’s the same thing in our scratch games: Winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout the game so no one – not even those of us who work at the lottery – knows when or where the next big winner will hit.
We’re not joking, we’re not lying, and our odds aren’t wrong.
We made the video below to explain the odds. I hope its visuals help tell the story.
I purchased 15 Hot & Cold $3 Scratch Offs last night, I would say I'm amazed but it's more like 'nothing, just as I expected'. I did not win off any of those tickets and I purchased them all at the same time and same location. I go to the same gas station to purchase my tickets since it's the closest and I ask has anyone won here lately, the answer is always no. Can you send a couple of boxes that have winning tickets in them so we have a 'chance' to win.
Posted by: Dave Holsapple | February 14, 2022 at 02:34 PM
Hi, Loren. Yes, that's a common game design for any lottery.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | February 14, 2022 at 10:25 AM
Hi, Kimberly. The Iowa Lottery's VIP Connection newsletter, including its monthly coupon for a free play for the members of our VIP Club, is definitely still being distributed! However, email system providers can sometimes block our emails simply because they come from a lottery address. There is an easy work-around. Just log into your VIP Club account and click the link for the "VIP Connection & Coupon." You can quickly access the newsletter and coupon that way!
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | February 14, 2022 at 10:24 AM
I always enjoyed getting the monthly coupon for the free ticket. I didn't get one for February. Has this been discontinued?
Posted by: Kimberly Dykes | February 12, 2022 at 08:16 PM
Does Iowa have a guaranteed minimum per pack like Texas?
Posted by: Loren Thoman | February 11, 2022 at 05:24 PM