ialottery blog

Hey, That Place Wouldn’t Cash My Check

A player reached out to us after getting a prize check from the Iowa Lottery and then having no luck while trying to cash it at a couple banks where he had no account. The player wondered if we at the lottery could somehow force a bank to cash a check. The short answer is no, and there are real-world security issues involved.

Many financial institutions have policies that allow check-cashing services only for their account holders. The approach is designed to protect the financial institutions and their customers from forgeries and fraud.

If the check was written by a business or person with an account at the financial institution, it may honor the check, but only if there is enough money in the account to pay it. You may be charged a fee if you don’t have an account there.

Any financial institution with a question about a check from the Iowa Lottery is welcome to call our headquarters office to verify it. And many take that step, even with their own customers. We understand that – after all, it’s not every day that someone wins the lottery, and it’s always best to verify financial details!

As we shared with the player, the best approach when cashing a check is to do so at a financial institution where you have an account. And if the check is for a significant amount, you likely will want to visit your institution in person and be prepared to provide your I.D.

Davenport Man Claims $2 Million Prize, Will Split The Winnings With His Stepfather

A Davenport man has claimed a $2 million Mega Millions® prize today that he won in the game’s giant jackpot drawing nearly a month earlier. Ben Sanford is splitting the winnings with his stepfather, Jason Sanford.

Ben Sanford, 37, said he’d known since shortly after the July 29 drawing that he won big, but he waited to claim the prize while he and his stepfather made plans for the winnings. The two said they usually buy tickets together and have always said they would split their winnings.

Ben Sanford said he bought six plays for the Mega Millions drawing on July 29. The game’s jackpot that night had climbed to more than $1.3 billion, the second-highest grand prize ever offered in the game.

One of Sanford’s easy-pick tickets matched the first five numbers that night to initially win $1 million. But Sanford had added the Megaplier option to his purchase, which multiplied the total winnings to $2 million.

The winning numbers in the July 29 drawing were: 13-36-45-57-67 and Mega Ball 14. The Megaplier number was 2.

Ben Sanford said he checked his tickets the night of the drawing, and yelped in surprise when he realized that one of them had hit big. He said he immediately went downstairs to share the news with his stepdad, who was half-asleep while watching sports and asked if they could talk about it in the morning.

The next day, Jason Sanford said it all became very real for both of them.

The two said they would carefully invest the winnings, and Ben Sanford may get a new car.

He Left His $1 Million Ticket Behind, But The Small-Town Grapevine Helped Find It

A northeast Iowa man was so flustered when he realized he’d won a $1 million Mega Millions® prize that he left his winning ticket behind at the store.

But the story turned out well: The small-town grapevine reconnected him with the ticket within about 30 minutes.

Tad Alber, 57, of West Union claimed his $1 million prize today at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. He said he was working Saturday at the West Union Event Center, which is owned by his family, and hadn’t heard that a ticket in the nearby community of Ossian won a $1 million prize in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing.

As the afternoon went on, Tad said he got hungry and decided to go to a local store for some chicken. While he was there, he asked the clerks to check his Mega Millions tickets.

Tad said that when the clerk told him he’d won $1 million, he was so shaky and excited, he almost forgot to pay for his food and ended up leaving the winning ticket behind.

Tad said that when he got back to the event center, he was telling some of his relatives about his big win when one of them got a call from the manager at the store. The manager said that Tad had left his winning ticket there and he needed to go get it right away. Tad jokes that he may have used up all his family’s luck that day!

Tad bought his $1 million-winning ticket at Casey’s, 200 W. Main St. in Ossian. His ticket came within one number of having at least a share of Friday’s $99 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. It was the only $1 million-winning ticket nationwide in Friday’s drawing.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 12-18-24-46-65 and Mega Ball 3. The Megaplier® number was 4. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Tad’s ticket is the fourth in Iowa to win a prize of at least $1 million in 2022.

He said that he plans to use a portion of his winnings to buy a restaurant in nearby Clermont owned by his brother, Jeff, but which has been closed since the COVID-19 emergency. Tad said he thinks it’s time for the business to re-open and now he can make that happen.

Ticket Purchased In NE Iowa Wins $1 Million Mega Millions Prize

Someone who bought a Mega Millions® ticket in northeast Iowa won a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing.

The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s 200 W. Main St. in Ossian, a community of about 800 in Winneshiek County. It was the only $1 million-winning ticket nationwide in last night’s drawing.

The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball to win a $1 million prize. Last night’s winning numbers were: 12-18-24-46-65 and Mega Ball 3. The Megaplier number was 4. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $116 million annuity, $65.6 million lump-sum option for Tuesday’s drawing.

Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

This is the fourth Iowa ticket to win a prize of at least $1 million in 2022.

Prizes of $2 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are open Monday through Friday, and prize claims are currently available by appointment. The winner or winners of the Ossian prize can call the lottery at 515-725-7900 to make an appointment to claim it.

Already Sold Out? That Store Didn’t Have The Tickets I Wanted To Buy

A lottery player who wanted to buy tickets in a new scratch game said that when she couldn’t find tickets at her local store, she thought the game had been removed from sale because all the top prizes in it had already been claimed.

In reality, the store was just temporarily out of tickets in that particular game. It was popular and the location’s initial supply had sold out. The store was able to order more tickets and the game was available there again within a few days.

When a new scratch game is released, businesses that sell lottery tickets place orders for a supply of tickets to have available in the first days that the game is for sale. Stores do their best to estimate the number of tickets they’ll need, but sometimes a particular game may sell faster than expected.

Stores can and do place additional orders for more tickets, but it can take a few days for the next batch to arrive. When that happens, there can be temporary outages.

The customer was correct that when all of the top prizes in a particular scratch game have been claimed, the game is removed from sale here in Iowa.

In this particular instance, that wasn’t what had happened, and we hope that the next time she visits her local store, she’ll find the game available!

We’ll Be On the Grand Concourse Today At The State Fair

It’s Veterans Day at the Iowa State Fair, and we’ve got a whole day’s worth of activities to celebrate the difference you’ve helped us make through the lottery proceeds for Iowa veterans and their families.

First up, our State Fair booth that you can see in the photo here is open at the State Fair today from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. We’re in the big white exhibition tent along the Grand Concourse. The map at the end of this blog entry shows you the tent’s spot in front of the Fair’s Service Center.

We’ll be selling and cashing scratch, lotto, and InstaPlay tickets, and we can help you enter our promotions if you need those details. We’ll have the scratch games available that can get you entries into our Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion, Fly with Cy promotion, and Explore Iowa promotion.

The Polaris vehicles that are the top prizes in our Explore Iowa promotion also will be on display at our tent, so feel free to check them out!

Anyone who makes at least a $10 lottery purchase at our booth gets to spin the prize wheel for merchandise prizes, and we’ve got pull-tab tickets as prizes on that wheel!

And remember that a portion of each $1 spent on lottery tickets in Iowa goes right into the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. We’re proud to share that to date, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $35 million for that meaningful cause!

We’ll also be making a couple presentations at the State Fair today to recognize the Veterans Trust Fund and spread the word about the help available through it. One presentation will be just before the Veterans parade at 11 a.m. this morning and the other will be just before the Iowa Military Veterans Band performs at 3 p.m. at the Susan Knapp Amphitheater.

Please join us in thanking and honoring veterans today to make their day at the Fair that much more special!

Russell Smith Wins Again … Or Did He?

It’s apparently a really good time to be Russell Smith in Iowa!

Not one but TWO Iowa men named Russell Smith have claimed big lottery prizes this month.

First up was Russell Smith of DeWitt, who claimed a $10,000 prize in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game on Aug. 1. He got his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one for fun at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Then yesterday, Russell Smith of Des Moines claimed a $25,000 top prize in the “Wild Bingo” scratch game. He visited lottery headquarters in Clive to get his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one.

Not the same guy, just a happy coincidence. And hey, there’s still a lot of time to go in August! Maybe even MORE Russell Smiths will win big prizes by the end of the month!

Congratulations to both Russell Smiths!

Black Hawk County Man Claims Prize of $25,000 a Year for Life

For more than a week, a Black Hawk County man knew he’d won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life game, but waited to claim his prize until he had a plan.

Joe Kapaun of Hudson says whenever a lottery jackpot gets really huge, he reads the articles that pop up about what to do if you win. And he’s taken to heart the advice that it’s smart to have a plan for the money.

So, Joe made his plan. He’s going to pay off debts, invest a big chunk of his winnings and maybe make one big “mad money” purchase: a hot tub.

Joe, who’s 67 and owns an engineering consulting firm, says a hot tub would just be a nice thing to have.

His easy-pick ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in the Lucky for Life drawing on July 24 to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Joe bought his winning ticket at the Git N Go Convenience Store, 124 Wood St. in Hudson. Git N Go will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.

The winning numbers in the Lucky for Life drawing on July 24 were: 11-27-37-38-48 and Lucky Ball 16.

Joe said he checked his tickets the morning after the drawing while he was having some coffee and a cigar. He reviewed the numbers and then just to be sure, he scanned the lucky ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app. It showed that he had hit big!

He went inside right away to show his wife, Lola, the ticket and scan it again on the app. They both concluded it was real!

Kapaun is Iowa’s 15th big winner in the game since its January 2016 debut in our state. He’s also the second big winner in the game just this summer. In late June, a Davenport man claimed a prize of $25,000 a year for life that he won in the Lucky for Life drawing on June 27.

Kapaun chose to receive his prize in the lump-sum amount of $390,000.

He gives what may be the best answer ever when someone asks why he plays the lottery: “The chances of winning something increase in your favor when you buy a ticket.”

I’m going to borrow that one, Joe!

Ticket To Austin: How You Can Have A Chance To ‘Fly With Cy’

Last month, we announced the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion giving folks the chance to win football prize packages to two big rivalry games for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Today, the focus turns to Iowa State, and specifically, the chance to win an exclusive VIP trip to Austin for the Iowa State -Texas football game.

The Fly with Cy promotion has started today! Members of our free VIP Club can enter the promotion with nonwinning tickets in the “Hit It Big!” scratch game. We’ll draw for the Fly with Cy winners on Sept. 15.

Fifty winners and their guests will get to go on a private chartered flight that leaves Des Moines on Oct. 14 and returns from Austin on Oct. 16. Included in the trip package are:

• a 2-night hotel stay for two at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Austin University Capitol District,
• a reception at the hotel on the evening of Oct. 14,
• 2 tickets to the Iowa State - Texas football game on Oct. 15 at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium,
• Hotel and stadium transfers,
• Merchandise swag bag.

Each trip package is valued at nearly $7,300!

Entries can be made into the promotion until just before 10 a.m. on Sept. 13. We’ll post the winners’ names as soon as we have the details available after the drawing on Sept. 15.

Last year, Fly with Cy winners and their guests had a ball going to an ISU game in Las Vegas! We look forward to the fun this year in Austin.

(And for Hawkeye fans, remember that the entry period in the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion runs through 8:59 a.m. on Aug. 17. You’ve still got time to enter!)