Here’s a question that came our way from a player curious about a detail in Powerball®. Specifically, she wanted to know why we call it Iowa’s Powerball, when the game is sold by dozens of lotteries around the country – 48 in total.
The answer has to do with the way Powerball tickets are sold, and what happens to the money from the sale of those tickets.
Iowa Lottery tickets are sold at about 2,500 retail locations across the state. The lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in those businesses are all part of a statewide gaming system unique to Iowa. That system is extremely complex – it provides real-time information every day to track each Iowa Lottery ticket that is sold or cashed.
The same is true in any other U.S. state with a lottery: Each lottery has its own computerized system that tracks the tickets sold there.
The state lottery systems are not interconnected. So, Iowa’s lottery terminals can’t read the results of tickets from another state, and vice versa. That’s one on the reasons we call it Iowa’s Powerball: Iowa tickets can only by scanned and cashed in Iowa.
In addition, the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to help worthy causes. Here in Iowa, lottery proceeds help veterans and a variety of other vital state programs such as education, law enforcement and agriculture.
That’s the other reason we call it Iowa’s Powerball: The money raised by the sale of tickets in Iowa stays in Iowa.
The other lotteries in the game also tag it as theirs in their jurisdiction, for the same reasons we do here.
If you’re curious, the “Where to Play” link on the Powerball website shows all the members of that game. And yes, it’s nearly the entire country.
Mega Millions® is nearly as big, being offered by a total of 47 lotteries. (Puerto Rico is a member of Powerball but not Mega Millions, so that’s the difference.) Here is a map showing that game’s membership.
Hi, Dan. I can't tell from your comment if you already know that your tickets are winners or if you are looking for ways to check their results. You can scan most lottery tickets on the lottery's mobile app to check their results or you can take your tickets to a local lottery retailer and use the self-checker there or give them to a store clerk to check. If you already know the results of your tickets and it is still within the deadlines to claim the prizes involved, you can claim many prizes at a local retailer. Or, if it is a prize of more than $600, you can claim that by visiting one of our lottery offices or mailing the ticket involved to Iowa Lottery headquarters. If it is past the prize-claim deadline for the prizes involved, it would not be possible for you to claim the prize. Here is a direct link to the How To Claim A Prize page on our website for full details: https://www.ialottery.com/Pages/Games/ClaimingPrizes.aspx
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | November 21, 2023 at 12:48 PM
How do I claim winning tickets I’ve had in my wallet but didn’t claim,thanks.
Posted by: Dan Olson | November 21, 2023 at 12:03 PM
Hi, Donna. You're so right -- and we do. Iowa's Pick 3 and Pick 4 games are Iowa-only and have easier odds of winning. But when it comes to achieving giant jackpots, Iowa could not achieve that on its own. Population is a big factor in jackpot games, and Iowa is too small to produce big jackpots on its own. That is why multi-state games like Powerball and Mega Millions came into being -- by combining their populations together, states can achieve the jackpot sizes they could never produce on their own.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | November 17, 2023 at 03:14 PM
It would be nice to have a game that's only sold in Iowa.
Posted by: Donna | November 17, 2023 at 02:21 PM