The Iowa Lottery’s latest annual results are out, showing that its sales, proceeds to state causes, prizes to players, and commissions paid to local businesses across the state all set records in fiscal year 2023.
At the lottery, we offer huge thanks our players, our business partners and our hard-working team who all were a part of this record moment. The bottom-line result is more proceeds for the good causes in Iowa that benefit from lottery support.
That’s the “Iowa” part of the Iowa Lottery, and we never forget it.
Diving Into The Numbers
The preliminary figures released today show that the Iowa Lottery generated a record $108.2 million in proceeds to state causes for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. Annual lottery sales in FY 2023 were a record $481.5 million, while prizes to players totaled a record $305.3 million.
Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell tickets totaled $31.3 million, a record for traditional lottery products.
The unaudited results show that Iowa Lottery sales in FY 2023 increased 11.3 percent from the previous year’s total of $432.7 million.
Lottery proceeds to state causes in FY 2023 increased 10.5 percent from the previous year, and prizes to players increased 11.3 percent from the previous year’s total. Lottery sales commissions to Iowa businesses increased 10.8 percent from the previous year.
What Led To The Record Year
The lottery’s results in the past year were positively impacted by two main factors: a rebound in sales of scratch games and significant jackpots in national lotto games.
The jackpots in Mega Millions® and Powerball® simultaneously topped the $400 million mark in October 2022, with the Powerball jackpot ultimately hitting $2.04 billion for that game’s drawing on Nov. 7, 2022. That’s the world record for a lottery prize.
The simultaneous huge jackpots generated a corresponding surge in sales in both games.
Lotto America, a smaller multi-state game than Powerball and Mega Millions, also saw a sales surge for the year. Its jackpot reached $40.04 million, a record for that game, in its drawing on April 1 of this year. A Dubuque man won that jackpot.
Sales of scratch games, which have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product, rebounded in FY 2023 after falling the previous year amid surging fuel prices and inflationary pressures. Increased fuel costs historically have had the most direct impact on the sale of scratch games among the lottery’s products.
As fuel prices and other economic pressures eased in FY 2023 and new games were introduced, scratch-ticket sales gradually rebounded in Iowa. The product category finished the year up slightly, with scratch-ticket sales representing about 61 percent of total Iowa Lottery sales.
Biggest Prizes, Top Retailers For The Year
Eleven Iowa Lottery prizes of at least $500,000 were won during FY 2023. One of those, a $1 million Mega Millions prize won in September 2022 in Ames, is still unclaimed.
The biggest prize won in Iowa during the year was a $40.03 million Lotto America® jackpot claimed by a Dubuque man.
Lottery players in Iowa also claimed 3 prizes of $2 million, 4 prizes of $1 million, and 2 prizes of $500,000 during the year.
The Top 10 retailers in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2023 were in 5 different communities: Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Marshalltown. The No. 1 retailer on the list is the Hy-Vee at 1843 Johnson Ave. in Cedar Rapids. That store sold more than $1.3 million in lottery tickets during the year.
Where The Money Goes
A highlight for FY 2023 was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised nearly $37.4 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.
Full details about how lottery proceeds help Iowa are available on our Lottery Gives Back page.
FY 2023 has been a remarkable year for the Iowa Lottery. These records are not only a win for the organization but also for the community it serves.
Posted by: kyle | August 14, 2023 at 06:22 AM