Countdown Is Underway In Iowa For Multi-Draw Tickets In Four Lotto Games

The number of drawings for which you can buy tickets in advance will be limited for about the next month in four popular lotto games in Iowa.

The stepdown on advance plays is being utilized because the prize-claim period in the games is changing. The stepdown has already started in Mega Millions® and will begin in the next few weeks in Powerball®, Lotto America® and Lucky for Life®.

The stepdown on advance plays began March 21 in Mega Millions. The same limit will begin April 1 in Powerball and Lotto America, and on April 13 in Lucky for Life.

The stepdown ensures that the same game details apply to all tickets sold for a particular drawing. 

Players normally can buy tickets for up to 10 drawings in advance in the four games. But during the stepdown period, the number of advance plays you can buy will continue to count down until you can only buy tickets for the next drawing.

The stepdown in Mega Millions will continue through that game’s drawing on April 21. The stepdown in Powerball, Lotto America and Lucky for Life will continue through their drawings on April 22.

After that, the number of drawings for which you can buy tickets in advance in the games will return to 10.     

Back in December, the Iowa Lottery Board voted to change the prize-claim period in the four games to 180 days from the date of the drawing.

The current Iowa prize-claim deadline in those games is 365 days from the drawing date. That’s the longest in the United States and outside the norm for the U.S. lottery industry.

A review of recent drawings found that the vast majority of prize claims happened within six months of the drawing date.

In fact, less than 3 percent of prizes from those drawings were claimed after 180 days.

Iowa is currently one of only 14 U.S. lotteries with a 365-day deadline for a player to claim a prize in a multi-state lotto game. By contrast, 33 lotteries require prizes to be claimed within 180 days or six months (182 days).

That lengthy claim period could inadvertently mean that some players throw away their tickets or lose or damage them.  

And from a security perspective, the passage of time makes it more difficult for anyone to accurately recall the details of a ticket purchase and provide that information for verification purposes.

Tickets purchased after the April 21 drawing in Mega Millions will have a prize-claim deadline of 180 days. That also will apply to tickets purchased after the April 22 drawing in Powerball, Lotto America and Lucky for Life.

Any tickets purchased before then will still have a 365-day deadline for prize claims.      

The change has no financial benefit to the Iowa Lottery. Under state law, the money from prizes that expire in Iowa without being claimed will continue to go back to players through the lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions.

In the past three fiscal years, the annual total in Iowa Lottery prizes that expired without being claimed has ranged from about $1.3 million to more than $1.7 million.   

For comparison purposes, these are the prize-claim periods for the Iowa Lottery’s other products, which won’t be changed.

• Tickets in Iowa-specific lotto games (Pick 3 and Pick 4) are valid for 90 days from the date of the drawing.
• Tickets in scratch games are valid for 90 days after the announced end of the game.
• Tickets in pull-tab games are valid for 90 days after the announced end of the game.
• Tickets in InstaPlay games are valid for 90 days from the date of purchase.

Comments

[Kim]

Hi Rose. We are currently working to add the stepdown charts to each of our lotto pages on our website. It will show the breakdown you're looking for.

[Rose]

Hi the when the last step down was going on, posted how it would work week to week. Will you be doing that again? Thanks

[MICHAEL J CLARK]

Ckeck your #### carefully!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MJC, Ia.

[Kevin Pidima]

......Continued...... I would like to see a Lotto game that was totally parmutual, the Lottery would be guaranteed a profit no matter how many winners there were and players would split prize levels according to how many winners there were. It's always a Win-Win game for all !!
It could be set up something like this...

I will use $100,000 in ticket sales to keep it easy to follow.

Parmutual means all winners split a total prize level amount...

A simple 5 out of 50 numbers would be the numbers in play,

Jackpot winners split 35% of ticket sales or $35,000 on $100,000 sales
1 Jackpot winner would get $35,000
4 Jackpot Winners would each get $8,750 --- etc.
Un-won Jackpot money rolls over to next draw by each levels percentage.

4 matched out of 5 would split 15% of ticket sales or $15,000
2 winners each get $7,500 --- or -- 5 winners each get $3000 -- etc.

3 matched out of 5 would split 10% of ticket sales or $10,000
20 winners each get $500 --- or --- 40 winners each get $250 -- etc.

2 out of 5 picked would split 10% of ticket sales or $10,000
2000 winners each get $5 --- or --- 5000 winners each $2 --- etc.

The other 30% would go to Lotto expenses and Charitable donations.

As I read the blog I'm noticing players want easier to win better smaller payouts, and this format would be just that.
It would have great odds of winning and the parmutual payouts would generate excitement and drive sales which would increase payouts, especially on weeks the Jackopt money rolls over which would create even more excitement and higher lower payouts!!
It's a Win Win for All !!!

[Kevin Pidima]

THANK YOU Lori !! For your comment on Lucky 4 Life drawings being shown live and the legitimacy of the these drawings. I've mentioned both in previous blogs and always get a meaningless generic legal sounding answer just like you did.
The fact is that watching numbers pop up on a computer screen wouldn't be very exciting or good for the integrity of the game, and saying it takes place under supervision of security staff and independent auditors don't mean squat! We all know that a computer can easily be programed to do what ever it needs to do to make the game profitable for the Lottery and not have to many jackpot winners that would bankrupt the Lottery. I will again Thank former Lottery employee / computer programmer Eddie Tipton for proving this and spending time in jail when he got caught tipping off friends and family members of numbers that would be coming up in future draws, and JACKPOT, they all won huge amounts of money. To be a truly random draw it should be numbered balls hand drawn by a blindfolded draw person live on TV. No chance of weighted and unweighted balls being blown out of a lottery machine to control the outcome. We must remember that playing lotto is gambling and nothing that I've seen says it's illegal for draw numbers to be manipulated by the lottery. I play Lucky 4 Life daily because of the best odds of any lotto game and enjoy the smaller easy to win prizes. I'd like to see a totally parmutual lotto game with prize levels payed out according to how much money was available from ticket sales and how many winners there are in each prize level.......
to be continued......