ialottery blog

Sneak Peak Of Live Lottery Game Show With Top Prize Of Up To $5 Million

The buzz has started, and we’re getting questions about the live lottery game show at this year’s Iowa State Fair where someone will win the top prize of up to $5 million.

The video above gives a sneak peek of the fun. We break down how the 20 game show contestants will be chosen, the prizes they’ll win (hint: at least $10,000) and your chance to be part of it.

You have until the morning of July 16 to enter the Fair Fever promotion for a shot to be on the game show! The drawing to select the contestants will be held July 18.

And then we’ll all wait for opening day of the 2024 Iowa State Fair!

Is It Fair When Some People Scan Their Promo Entries & Others Key Them In?

Here’s an interesting question from a lottery player who was worried that the way they entered a lottery promotion could impact their chance of winning. In reality, all entries into our promotions are treated equally – the system does not favor one method over another.

There are two ways that you can enter tickets into an Iowa Lottery promotion for more chances to win. The majority of people these days use the lottery’s mobile app to enter by scanning the QR code on the front of their ticket. Other folks key in the information by hand, manually entering the identifying numbers on their ticket.

Either option is perfectly fine. The same details are being recorded for the tickets involved.

Years ago, we phased out the mailing in of tickets as entries in Iowa Lottery promotions. Electronic entries are faster and more convenient – and you don’t need postage!

Each eligible entry into one of our promotions is recorded by the time and date it was entered in your VIP Club account. When you’ve successfully completed an entry, a message will appear at the top of the ticket-entry page stating whether the entry was valid.

The valid entries you’ve made in a particular promotion will appear in the ticket history for your VIP Club account.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve scanned the ticket electronically or manually keyed in the numbers. Both options have the same shot at winning!

Truth or Myth: All the winners are from big cities/small towns, not my area

Here’s another entry in our Truth or Myth series to see if everyone has their thinking caps on! This is about a comment we get a lot, and it comes from people all over the state: All the big winners are from big cities/small towns, this county/that county, eastern Iowa/northern Iowa, etc., etc.

It’s definitely a myth, and it seems to be based upon the area the person is from, no matter where that is. I think the truth of the matter is that the people likely won’t truly be satisfied until they’re the big winner, but maybe you have another theory.

Here's an example of that myth in action, but on a national scale: We were talking one day with the folks from the DC Lottery in Washington. I told them about the comment we get that "no one from here ever wins." They laughed and said what they hear is that "it's always those people from Iowa who win the jackpot."

In reality, people all across Iowa – and all across the country – can and do win lottery prizes every day.

Now, it is true that there will be more winners in spots where more people are buying lottery tickets. Another way of putting that is that if 5 percent of lottery tickets are sold in a particular area, you can expect to find about 5 percent of the overall winners there.

That's always been the case with the Iowa Lottery. Everyone has the same chance of winning but there will be more winners in places where more tickets are being sold.

You want to know when you buy a lottery ticket that you have the same fair chance of winning as anyone else. And it’s our job at the Iowa Lottery to ensure that the case, with winners in our games being determined by nothing other than pure, random chance.

Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works. This Truth or Myth series is part of that effort.

See You This Weekend At The Iowa Speedway!

If you’re headed to the NASCAR® races in Newton this weekend, stop by and see us! The Iowa Lottery has a booth at the Iowa Speedway for all three days of racing.

We’re on the concourse near Ticket Booth 2, just across from the Newton Club! We’re selling and cashing tickets at our booth, there are merchandise prizes you can win in the wheel spin, and we’ve got staffers handing out free pull-tab tickets from time to time along the concourse.

Full details, including our booth hours, are in the video!

NASCAR®, NASCAR Cup Series Championship Weekend™ and NASCAR Cup Series™ are trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC, and used with expressed permission. Iowa Speedway® is a registered trademark of Iowa Speedway, LLC.

$500,000 Powerball Double Play Prize In Mason City Still Unclaimed

A $500,000 Powerball® prize won in Mason City has reached the halfway point in its claim period, so if you’ve got a ticket you haven’t checked, now is the time!

The prize is a little unusual because it was won with Powerball’s Double Play® option, which just was added to the game in November in Iowa.

The $500,000-winning ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 1502 S. Federal Ave. in Mason City. The prize will expire on Sept. 12 if it isn’t claimed in time.

What Is Double Play & How Does It Work?

Here’s a quick recap of Double Play: For an extra $1 per play, players can add the Double Play option to their Powerball tickets. (A Powerball play costs $2, and with Double Play added, a ticket costs $3.) The numbers on that ticket are then eligible to win twice – once in the regular Powerball drawing, and once in a separate Double Play drawing that same night.

It’s possible for a player to win a prize in the regular Powerball drawing and the Double Play drawing on the same night.

In the case of the Mason City ticket, it matched the first five numbers but missed the Double Play Powerball in the Double Play drawing on March 16 to win a $500,000 prize.

That night’s winning Double Play numbers were: 9-11-13-29-69 and Double Play Powerball 12. The Mason City ticket was the only one in the country to win a $500,000 prize that night.

Other Big Unclaimed Prizes

The Mason City prize is among four lottery prizes of at least $20,000 in Iowa that will expire by early October if they aren’t claimed in time. Here are details about the other three (listed by prize amount):

Game	Drawing Date	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Powerball	Dec. 16, 2023	$50,000	Casey's, Des Moines	June 13, 2024
Powerball	April 10, 2024	$50,000	Hy-Vee, Des Moines	Oct. 7, 2024
Mega Millions	March 26, 2024	$20,000	Kum & Go, Ankeny	Sept. 23, 2024

While all of the prizes need to be claimed at an Iowa Lottery office, the $500,000 prize in particular has to be claimed at lottery headquarters in Clive. Prize-claim hours at lottery offices are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, with offices closed on state holidays.

If you’ve got a question about how to claim an Iowa Lottery prize, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or 515-725-7900.

The money from lottery prizes that expire in Iowa without being claimed goes into the lottery's prize pools for future games and promotions, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not those prizes that have expired.

Serial Numbers Are Being Phased Out On The Back Of Lotto And InstaPlay Tickets

A change is underway for the paper used to print lotto tickets and InstaPlay tickets in Iowa, and I’m calling your attention to it to help answer questions.

Serial numbers have been printed for years on the back of the paper stock used to produce tickets from lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in Iowa. Lotto tickets in games like Powerball® and Mega Millions® are printed on that paper, as are tickets in InstaPlay games.

But those serial numbers are being phased out now.

Technology updates have allowed additional identifying security features to be printed on lotto and InstaPlay tickets as they’re being generated. Those new security codes have replaced the need for serial numbers on the back of paper ticket stock in Iowa.

The Iowa Lottery is using up its existing supply of paper with serial numbers on the back, then moving to the new paper without the serial numbers. The new stock is being distributed as locations run out.

During this transition period, you may buy a ticket that has a serial number on the back at one store and get a ticket without a serial number at another location. Both tickets are valid – there is nothing wrong with either kind.

We anticipate that the supply of paper stock with serial numbers on the back will soon be gone statewide, and then all lotto and InstaPlay tickets will be printed on the new stock.   

Have fun playing the lottery, and if you’ve noticed the change, thank you for being a vigilant consumer! I hope the details here have helped shine a light on the update that’s happening.