ialottery blog

Why Do We Blur/Crop Out The Ticket Codes In Images?

Here’s an interesting question that came our way about the images we post of players’ winning tickets in our games. We know that you’re always curious about winning tickets and what numbers and symbols are on them, so we often post images to give you a closer look.

In the process, however, we always blur or crop out the security codes on the tickets as you can see in the image shown here. Some folks have asked why.

From a purely technical perspective, the security codes aren’t part of the play area on a ticket, so they aren’t necessary to show the winning numbers or symbols involved. However, the codes are what identify each individual lottery ticket and they’re used in the prize-claim process.

We blur the codes out so we don’t inadvertently cause a complication in the lottery prize-claim process. So, while we know you’re curious about them, there is a reason that those codes are blurred out.

We show as much of the ticket as possible, but the codes will continue to be left out of the images for security purposes.

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.

There Are Long Odds, And Then There Are REALLY Long Odds

In games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®, the long odds of winning the jackpot are often in focus. You don’t get the gigantic top prizes involved without long odds.

But right now, another contest is underway involving even longer odds. It’s kind of a badge of honor to be among those getting the picks wrong because it’s nearly impossible to get them all right.

I’m talking about having a perfect bracket in the men’s or women’s college basketball tournaments. According to the statisticians, if you just take a guess at the outcome of the tournament games, you have odds of about 1 in 9.2 quintillion of picking all 63 games correctly.

A quintillion is one billion billions. It looks like this: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1 followed by 18 zeros).

Apparently, if you know something about basketball, you can lower your odds of getting a perfect bracket down to about 1 in 120.2 billion.

By comparison, the odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million. In Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million.

So, whether you’re tracking your bracket or buying a ticket for that next drawing, just remember to have fun with it. The long odds involved definitely give us all something to talk about!

Des Moines Woman 'Overwhelmed' After $1 Million Win

She follows a specific process to get her tickets, and this time, it came through with a $1 million prize.

"Look at me, I'm shaking. I guess it's starting to hit," Marla Ballard told officials on Thursday as she claimed her Mega Millions® prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. “I’m kind of overwhelmed right now.”

Ballard, 60, of Des Moines, matched all five white balls but missed the Mega Ball to win a $1 million prize in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing. She's worked out an arrangement with her neighbor, Ron Hubbard: Once the jackpot reaches $100 million, she gives him money to buy her tickets when he buys his own. Hubbard purchased his neighbor's lucky easy-pick ticket at QuikTrip, 3941 SE 14th St. in Des Moines.

Then, a couple days after each drawing, Hubbard writes down the winning numbers and comes over again to show his neighbor. After hearing a $1 million-winning ticket was sold in Des Moines, he wasted little time.

“He was over first thing this morning, too,” Ballard said with a laugh. “I’m like, ‘Who’d be knocking at our door this early in the morning?’”

Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 1-7-23-38-55 and Mega Ball 2. The Megaplier® number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $254 million annuity, $133.7 million lump-sum option for Friday’s drawing.

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

Ballard said that amid the rush of emotions surrounding her win, she hasn’t yet thought about what she’ll do with her winnings.

Another $1 million Mega Millions prize won in Iowa remains unclaimed after more than six months. That winning ticket, purchased at Gateway Expresse (also known as The Filling Station), at 2400 S. University Blvd. in Ames, matched all five white balls but missed the Mega Ball to win at the game’s second prize level in the drawing on Sept. 6, 2022. The winner or winners of the Ames prize have until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it at lottery headquarters in Clive.

$1 Million Mega Millions Prize Won In Des Moines

Someone who bought a Mega Millions® ticket at a Des Moines convenience store won a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing!

It’s the fifth Mega Millions prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa in the past year.

The $1 million ticket was purchased at QuikTrip, 3941 SE 14th St. in Des Moines. It came within one number of winning last night’s $229 million Mega Millions jackpot. It was one of three tickets nationwide to win a $1 million prize. The other two were in California and North Carolina.

The ticket in Des Moines matched the first five numbers but missed the Mega Ball to win a $1 million prize. Last night’s winning numbers were: 1-7-23-38-55 and Mega Ball 2. The Megaplier number was 3.

No one matched all six numbers to win last night’s jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $254 million annuity, $133.7 million lump-sum option, for the next Mega Millions drawing on Friday.

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

Prizes of $1 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are open for prize claims from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. The winner or winners of the Des Moines prize can call the lottery at 515-725-7900 to make an appointment to claim it.

Mega Millions prizes won in Iowa must be claimed within 365 days of the drawing.

Another $1 million Mega Millions prize won in Iowa is still unclaimed after more than six months. That winning ticket, purchased at Gateway Expresse (also known as the Filling Station) at 2400 S. University Blvd. in Ames, matched all five white balls but missed the Mega Balls to win at the game’s second prize level in the drawing on Sept. 6, 2022. The winner or winners of the Ames prize have until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it.

My Ticket Is Damaged … Can It Still Be Cashed?

A player contacted us last night with a question that comes up every once in a while about tickets that have been damaged. Specifically, can a ticket still be checked or cashed if the code on it is damaged? Many times, yes. But there are limits.

The player said the barcode on his scratch ticket that’s normally scanned to check the results had gotten stuck on some tape and torn off. He wondered if the results of the ticket could still be checked.

Often there is a way for that to happen.

Each lottery ticket has identifying numbers on it that can manually be entered into a lottery terminal to check the results of the ticket.

It’s not something you as a player can do using a self-service kiosk or self-checker in a store or the lottery's mobile app on your smartphone – the ticket code is required in those instances. But if the code can’t be read and the rest of the ticket is still in good condition, the clerk at a lottery terminal in a retail location or a staffer at one of our lottery offices can manually key in the identifying numbers from the ticket to check its results.

If the clerk at your local store doesn’t know how to do that, they can always call the Iowa Lottery’s retail hotline for help. Instructions for how to send us the ticket are here on our website.

But if a ticket is too badly damaged, not even we’ll be able to determine its results. Through the years, we’ve seen tickets that had disintegrated into tiny pieces after mistakenly being put through the wash. Others had been torn, and the player involved had only a small section of the ticket without any identifying numbers on it.

We’ll always do our best to help, but as is the case with any paper product, lottery tickets can be damaged. It’s important to keep your tickets in as good of shape as possible so you can claim any prize you’ve won!

Lottery, Country Artist Team Up To Offer Trips To Nashville Concert + Cash Prizes

Iowa Lottery players have a chance to win a trip to an exclusive Nashville concert with country recording star Luke Combs and cash prizes of up to $500,000 in a new scratch game and promotion.

The “Living Lucky with Luke Combs” scratch game hit store shelves today, offering instant prizes ranging from $10 up to $100,000. Tickets in the game feature an image of the country star in concert along with music-themed graphics of CDs and guitar picks.

If you don’t win a cash prize on your ticket, you can enter it into the Living Lucky with Luke Combs promotion that began this morning, offering 10 trips to Nashville for a private Luke Combs concert.

During the concert, a $10,000 winner will be selected from Iowa and each of the other lotteries sending players to Nashville along with one grand-prize winner of $500,000. The grand-prize winner will be announced by Luke Combs during his performance.

To enter the promotion, Iowa Lottery players must join or already be members of the lottery’s free VIP Club. The entry period continues through 9:59 a.m. on June 20. The promotion drawing will be held June 22 to determine the 10 Iowa trip winners who will go to Nashville.

The Nashville trips will take place Feb. 4-7 in 2024. Each trip package is valued at more than $20,000.

Included in each Living Lucky with Luke Combs Nashville Experience prize package will be:

• Round-trip airfare from Des Moines to Nashville.
• Three-night stay at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown Hotel, standard room with daily breakfast included.
• Private concert with Luke Combs at the iconic Ryman Auditorium.
• Chance at private meet-and-greet with Combs and VIP concert seating.
• Private dinner and self-guided tour at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
• Private lunch and entertainment at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.
• Private Taste of Nashville dinner at the Skye Lounge on top of the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown Hotel.
• $500 spending cash.
• Custom “Living Lucky with Luke Combs” welcome gifts.
• Ground transportation in Nashville from the airport to the hotel and scheduled event activities.
• Required state and federal taxes paid on behalf of the winner.

No Judgment, Just Help: Problem Gambling Awareness Month

This month, we’re highlighting an issue that can affect people at any time, and for which help is always available in Iowa.

March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. During the next few weeks, you’ll see reminders about it across the state. At the Iowa Lottery, we hope that by providing the information, we’ll get the right message at the right time to someone who might need help.

Whether you’re buying a lottery ticket at a store, watching TV, listening to the radio, using a streaming service or going online, you’ll likely see one of the public service announcements we produced along with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Remember that problem gamblers can come from any background and from anywhere. And problem gambling is treatable.

If you ever have questions about problem gambling, free and confidential help is available 24/7 in Iowa by visiting yourlifeiowa.org or calling 1-800-BETS OFF. You can reach someone who cares through text, secure chat, email, telephone or in person.

The hashtag you’ll see during the next month is #PGAM2023, with messages from public health officials, treatment experts and lotteries across the country. By working together, we’ll emphasize that through awareness plus action, help can be provided to those who need it.