ialottery blog

Lottery-Ticket Purchases at The Checkout Make Iowa Debut at Fareway Stores

Powerball® and Mega Millions® tickets can now be purchased in checkout lanes at many Fareway® Stores in Iowa, marking the state debut of this new convenience in lottery play.

The new purchase option, called Easy Play, has debuted in select Fareway locations in Iowa. Roll-out is planned by the end of March to all Fareway locations in the state that sell lottery tickets.

The new option allows quick-pick tickets in Powerball and Mega Millions to be printed from the cash register. The tickets are produced on the same paper as store receipts, but printed separately.

Customers in those stores can buy quick-pick tickets – where the numbers in the plays are randomly assigned – in Powerball and Mega Millions at any checkout lane staffed by a cashier.

Before this, Iowa Lottery tickets could only be purchased at a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk in a retail location.

Express Lane vs. Full Selection

Think of Easy Play as an express lane with just a couple lottery options available. Customers who want to cash a lottery prize, choose their own numbers in a lotto game, or buy tickets in the full selection of lottery games available at the store, will still go to the clerk at the lottery terminal.

At the Iowa Lottery, we recognize that consumers value convenience. And we’re glad to help meet that expectation by going live at Fareway with this new way to buy lotto tickets in Iowa.

How It Works

The Easy Play option allows customers at the cash register to buy quick-pick tickets with 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 plays on them for the next drawing in Powerball and Mega Millions.

The point is to keep things moving, so you can’t add the Power Play®, Double Play® or Megaplier® options on an Easy Play ticket. Also note that Easy Play tickets can’t be purchased in self-service lanes.

But Easy Play tickets can be checked or cashed at any lottery retail location in Iowa. The tickets look a lot like those from a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk, but include the Easy Play logo to identify them.

Easy Play tickets comply with the same security standards as any Iowa Lottery ticket. And,
Fareway cash registers have the technology to ensure that customers buy Easy Play tickets with cash or the equivalent, including debit. It is illegal in Iowa for lottery tickets to be purchased with credit.

This Week Marks 25 YEARS Of ‘Crossword’ Scratch Games In Iowa!

A lottery game that shot to popularity as soon as it debuted in Iowa is marking 25 YEARS on the market this week.

The Iowa Lottery’s first “Crossword” scratch game was released on March 13, 2000. And we’ve had at least one Crossword game on the market every day since then.

While the Iowa Lottery has high expectations for any game we sell, I don’t think we could have imagined what the future would hold for Crossword. It’s now been one of the lottery’s top-selling games for a quarter of a century!

The Design Still Looks The Same

It’s interesting to look back at those first Crossword tickets, which you can see above. They could be among the Crossword games we have on the market today! The design of our Crossword tickets obviously hasn’t changed much because that’s the way players like them! (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, people!)

What HAS changed is the variety of Crossword games on the market in Iowa at any one time. For years, the Iowa Lottery had just one Crossword game for sale. The first version of Crossword was a $3 game and we stuck with that for a long time.

But then we got brave. We decided to keep a $3 Crossword game out there, but add more. We released a $5 Crossword game, then a $10 Crossword, a $20 Crossword, and a $30 Crossword. Somewhere along the line, we backed up and added a $2 Crossword. And today, we’ve also got a SCRABBLE™ version of the Crossword game!

You Can Choose Your Favorite Today

There currently are 6 Crossword scratch games for sale in stores across the state. They all have different prize structures and some of them have multiple versions of Crossword puzzles on each ticket. What’s universal about them all is that it takes a while to uncover all the letters available – and that’s what players say they like about Crossword.

So, when you see Crossword tickets this week in local stores, wish them a happy 25th birthday! I’m betting Crossword scratch games will celebrate many more birthdays in Iowa!

There IS A Jackpot Game That Costs Just $1 To Play & Has Easier Odds Of Winning

Here’s something that players regularly tell us they want in a lotto game. And in fact, it already exists.

You can play it today, and the game’s current jackpot is the second-highest in its history.

I’m referring to Lotto America®, the multi-state lotto game that costs $1 to play and has easier odds of winning than its larger cousins, Powerball® and Mega Millions®.

The Lotto America jackpot currently stands at an estimated $25.56 million annuity ($12.04 million lump-sum option) for tomorrow night’s drawing. That’s the second-largest jackpot ever offered in the game.

And, did you know that the largest Lotto America jackpot to date was won by an Iowan? That $40.03 million prize was won in April 2023 by a Dubuque man.

Some players tell us they wish there were an alternative to Powerball and Mega Millions, which both cost more than $1 per ticket and have long odds of winning. (You can’t achieve the giant jackpots that those games regularly produce without having a higher price point and longer odds.)

And so we’re left to wonder: If people SAY they want a $1 lotto game with easier odds of winning, are they playing Lotto America, which provides just that?

Things that make you go, “Hmmmm …”

‘Step Down’ Now Underway On Advance Plays In Mega Millions

We gave you a head’s up last month that it was coming, and now a temporary countdown is underway on the number of drawings for which you can buy tickets in advance in Mega Millions®.

As of today, you can buy tickets in the game here in Iowa for up to 9 drawings in advance. (The usual maximum is 10.) After Friday’s drawing, the number will be reduced to 8. With each drawing, the number will continue to be reduced until the new version of the Mega Millions game debuts early next month.

The limit on advance plays is called a “step down” and it’s put in place to ensure that no one mistakenly ends up with an invalid play when the revamp of the game begins.

Once the redesign in Mega Millions debuts on April 5, you’ll again be able to buy tickets in advance for up to 10 drawings in the game.

Please note that the current step down only applies to Mega Millions. You can buy the usual number of advance plays in the other lotto games available in Iowa.

The changes on the way in Mega Millions are designed to allow the game to continue meeting player expectations for play options and big jackpots.

The Step Down Schedule

Here is the Iowa schedule for the step down on advance plays leading into the Mega Millions redesign. The reduction in the number of advance plays you can purchase happens after the Mega Millions drawing on each date.

Drawing Date	Max Number Of Advance Plays Available
February 28	10
March 4	9
March 7	8
March 11	7
March 14	6
March 18	5
March 21	4
March 25	3
March 28	2
April 1	1

When The New Version Of Mega Millions Will Debut

The final drawing in the existing version of Mega Millions will be held on Friday, April 4. Sales in the $5 version of the game begin the next morning, on April 5.

The first drawing in the revamped game will be held on Tuesday, April 8. Drawings in Mega Millions will continue to be held twice a week at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesdays and Fridays.