What Can I Do If I Think The Results Of My Ticket Are Wrong?

Here’s an example of a player who did the right thing by contacting us when he had questions about the results of his lottery ticket. Please feel free to follow his lead if you have questions of your own.

The man had his ticket checked at a local store, but didn’t think the clerk told him the right results for it. He called us with his questions, and we were able to help him determine the outcome of his ticket on his own. Then he used the lottery’s mobile app to double-check the details. The information that the clerk had initially shared was correct: His ticket was a nonwinner.

But there is a step in the process he didn’t use while he was at the store, and it could have helped. Here are the tools we make available to help you determine the results of your ticket if you’re ever having trouble figuring it out.

1. Receipts showing the ticket results. Every time a ticket is checked or cashed at a lottery terminal, a receipt for the player is automatically printed out. The receipt shows the results of the particular ticket involved, so be sure to ask for it! (That is the step in the process the player didn’t follow, and it could have helped.)
2. Self-checkers in retail locations. In nearly every business where Iowa Lottery tickets are sold, we have installed a self-checker. The device generally is off to the side from the lottery terminal, and as its name indicates, it allows you to check the results of your ticket on your own. The self-checker serves as both a convenience and security factor because you can quickly check your tickets on your own, and you don’t have to give them to someone else for that to be accomplished.
3. The lottery’s mobile app. If it isn’t convenient for you to go to a retail location, remember that you can use the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app to check your ticket results from wherever your smart device can connect online. Just scan the code on your tickets using the mobile app and you can check your ticket results on your own.
4. The lottery’s website. We have details about all our games available on our website, including the latest winning numbers and how-to-play instructions. Please feel free to use our website as another resource to double-check your ticket results.

A few other details for you to note: Receipts aren’t involved for pull-tab tickets and you won’t electronically check their results because they include "built-in receipts." Any prize won on a pull-tab is already printed beneath the tabs on the ticket so the amount involved is clear.

A lot of retail locations will automatically offer nonwinning tickets back to their customers. But if that doesn't happen, feel free to ask for your ticket back if you have any concerns.

Winning tickets are kept by the lottery and its retailers for record-keeping and security purposes, but nonwinning tickets can be returned to the customer.

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Joe. We do not have a current promotion involving that game. Our current promotions involve the Hawkeye scratch game and the Mega Millions lotto game. Here is a direct link to the promotions page on our website with full details: https://ialottery.com/Pages/Promotions/PromotionsMain.aspx

[Joe Reiff]

Is there a 2nd chance drawing for non-winning scratch off tickets --Mega crossword at this time?

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Diane. If you would like to provide us with more information, we'll be glad to look into it for you. Please don't share the details about your phone, etc., here on the blog, as we want to be cognizant of protecting your personal information. You are welcome to email us at [email protected].

[Diane Robuck]

Well that would be great if the mobile app always worked because I have called the lottery office numerous times and tried to uninstall reinstall the mobile app on my smartphone and I still have problems scanning my tickets.
I can usually scan two tickets back to back and then I have issues after that one.