ialottery blog

I’m a snowbird, can I use my VIP Club free play where I am for the winter?

Here’s a question we just got from a member of our VIP Club who’s enjoying warmer weather for the winter. Other folks may also be out of state at times and have the same question.

The woman said she’s a snowbird currently in Florida, and she wondered if while she’s there she can use the free lottery play she gets each month for being a member of the Iowa Lottery’s VIP Club.

The short answer is no, but here’s the background involved:

We send free plays by email to our VIP Club members each month, and in this instance, the woman was checking her email from another state. We’re all often on the go these days, so we understand that you may check your email from many different places.

But in the case of our free plays, they can only be redeemed at lottery retail locations in Iowa. The free play is from the Iowa Lottery, not a lottery in another state.

From an operational perspective, lottery terminals outside of Iowa can’t redeem our free plays because they’re not programmed to read them. And from a cost perspective, we’re not asking another lottery to cover the expense of the free plays we send out. That wouldn’t be very neighborly of us!

So please know that we’ll continue to send our VIP Club members free plays each month. It’s a thank you from us to show our appreciation for you as a lottery player. You can redeem your free play anywhere in Iowa that lottery tickets are sold!

Will I Get a Tax Form from the Lottery if I Claimed a Prize Last Year?

If you claimed an Iowa Lottery prize of more than $600 in calendar year 2023, we’ll send a form to you later this month that you’ll need as you file your income taxes.

The document that most winners will receive is the W-2G form. It lists the total prize amount won along with any federal and state withholdings applied to the prize. (Lottery winners who aren’t U.S. citizens receive a document called Form 1042S.)

If you claimed multiple Iowa Lottery prizes of more than $600 in 2023, you’ll receive multiple forms from us, one for each prize claimed.

The deadline for all W-2G forms to be mailed is Wednesday, Jan. 31. We’re processing the forms on our end now! Depending on the delivery time, you should receive your form within about a week of the date we mail it.

If you think you should receive a tax form from us for winnings in calendar year 2023 and you've moved since you claimed your prize, please let us know your new address as soon as possible. Unless we receive that update, our records will show the address provided when you claimed your prize. Your tax form would be sent there.

You can call the Iowa Lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected] if you have questions. Be sure to include your name, old address, new address, and telephone number in case we need to contact you.

Thank you again for playing the lottery. And congrats again to all our winners!

Player Comment: I’m Mad You Pulled Your Holiday-Themed Games

Here’s a player comment we received that in some ways we understand and in other ways, we totally don’t. At all.

The man was mad that we’ve removed our holiday-themed games from store shelves for the year. He said he thought we were being unfair by pulling them.

On one hand, we understand that some people may really like a particular game and want the chance to keep playing it. On the other hand, it wouldn’t make sense for us to have a holiday-themed game still on sale in July. Nothing says summer in Iowa like a … ticket with snowmen and holly on it!

We remove our holiday-themed games from sale each year shortly after the holiday season ends. Once the holidays are over, people are ready to move on!

But we also design our holiday games for the relatively short period of time that they will be on sale. They generally begin sales in early October and then end in early to mid-January after the holidays. By comparison, some of our non-holiday scratch games can be for sale for years at a time.

We order smaller quantities of tickets in our holiday games, designed to best fit their shelf life. And we’ll sometimes bring back a holiday game the following year if it was particularly popular the year before.

So while that particular player wasn’t happy with us, others say they look forward to the switch-over of our games. There probably are as many opinions on the matter as there are people who play.

Just know that we’ll keep doing our best to come up with fun and new game ideas! And before you know it, the NEXT holiday season will be on the way and we’ll have holiday-themed games out once again!

Player Question: Does the time or day that I buy my ticket affect my chance to win?

Here’s a Q-and-A we had with a player on social media this week that provides an interesting insight into the way that people play the lottery.

The man shared with us that he buys tickets for several drawings at a time in our Pick 4 game, but he’s afraid that he’s made himself unluckier by doing that. The player said he thinks that most winners in the game buy their tickets right before the drawing happens, and he wondered if he should change his approach to do the same thing. He knew it would mean more trips to the store, but if it would impact his odds of winning, he wanted to know if he should do that.

The quick answer is that it does not matter what day or time you buy a ticket in Pick 4 – the odds of winning are the same for them all. That’s a guarantee in our games, and we know you look to us for that!

But it is true that more tickets in any of our lotto games (including Powerball®, Mega Millions® and Pick 4) are purchased on the day of the drawing. That seems to be a reflection of the human condition: We as human beings often procrastinate! As people realize the drawing time in a particular game is approaching, they realize that they’re running out of time to buy a ticket, and it jogs their memory to get one!

It does not mean that those tickets are luckier – there are just more of them. And because there are more of them, there will be more winners among them. That’s just based upon quantity.

But again, the odds are the same for every ticket in our lotto games, so it does not matter when you buy yours. It only takes one to win!

Why Do We Blur/Crop Out The Ticket Codes In Images?

Here’s an interesting question that came our way about the images we post of players’ winning tickets in our games. We know that you’re always curious about winning tickets and what numbers and symbols are on them, so we often post images to give you a closer look.

In the process, however, we always blur or crop out the security codes on the tickets as you can see in the image shown here. Some folks have asked why.

From a purely technical perspective, the security codes aren’t part of the play area on a ticket, so they aren’t necessary to show the winning numbers or symbols involved. However, the codes are what identify each individual lottery ticket and they’re used in the prize-claim process.

We blur the codes out so we don’t inadvertently cause a complication in the lottery prize-claim process. So, while we know you’re curious about them, there is a reason that those codes are blurred out.

We show as much of the ticket as possible, but the codes will continue to be left out of the images for security purposes.

Mega Millions Jackpot Climbs to $1.35 Billion For Friday's Drawing

The Mega Millions® jackpot is now the second largest in game history, reaching an estimated $1.35 billion annuity, $707.9 million cash option, for Friday’s drawing.

In addition to being one of the biggest jackpots in Mega Millions, the giant prize is now the fourth-highest U.S. lottery jackpot. It follows the world-record Powerball® jackpot of $2.04 billion won in early November.   

An Iowa Ticket Came Close On Tuesday

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 42,591 prizes in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing, including a ticket that was just one number away from having at least a share of that night’s big jackpot.

That ticket initially matched four of the first five numbers and the Mega Ball to win a $10,000 prize. However, the person who bought the ticket added the Megaplier® option to the purchase, which multiplied the prize to $30,000.   

The $30,000-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 418 S. Seventh St. in Chariton.

Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 7-13-14-15-18 and Mega Ball 9. The Megaplier number was 3.

A player wins the Mega Millions jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing. However, there are a total of nine prize levels in Mega Millions ranging from $2 up to the jackpot, so the Iowa Lottery reminds its players to be sure to check their tickets for all the prizes they may have won.

Iowa Lottery players bought nearly $2.4 million in Mega Millions tickets for Tuesday’s drawing, including more than $1.2 million in tickets on Tuesday alone.

I’ve Heard That The Odds Change …

There are a lot of beliefs about playing the lottery, and some of them aren’t accurate. For example, when it comes to the Mega Millions jackpot, some say that players have a harder time winning when the jackpot climbs because more people are buying tickets.

The odds of winning in Mega Millions do not change. They’re the same for every play purchased in the game.

The odds of winning the game’s jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million because that is how many ways the numbers available in the game can be combined to make a play. When the winning numbers are selected, they’re one of about 302.6 million possibilities.

Will the numbers on your ticket match?

Please Play Responsibly

And as always, the Iowa Lottery reminds everyone that it only takes one ticket to win. Please play responsibly.

Here's What You Need To Know For Tonight's Mega Millions Drawing

Mega Millions Jackpot At $1.1 Billion For Tuesday’s Drawing

Tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $1.1 billion annuity, $576.8 million cash option.

This is the third-highest jackpot in Mega Millions game history and the fifth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached this level because it has been growing for nearly three months. It was last won on Oct. 14.

The Day Of The Drawing Sees The Highest Sales

Through the years of Powerball and Mega Millions drawings, one phenomenon has been clear: The day of the drawing has the highest sales. Maybe it’s procrastination, maybe it’s players just remembering to buy a ticket, or maybe it’s folks who specifically plan to buy a ticket that day.

The busiest time of sales on the day of the drawing generally is from 4-7 p.m. as many people stop to run errands on their way home from work. While Iowa generally has not seen the long lines that can occur in other parts of the country, expect to see a lot of other folks also buying tickets if you’re doing so on Tuesday.

Why Does ‘Coverage’ Matter?

By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations in the game have been purchased for a particular drawing. It’s called coverage – how many of the combinations have been “covered.”

The coverage estimate for Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing is now more than 36 percent.

A higher coverage percentage can mean it’s more likely there will be a jackpot winner, but it is not a definite.

(The odds of winning the jackpot in Mega Millions are about 1 in 302.6 million because that’s how many ways the numbers in the game can be combined to make a play. The winning numbers selected will be one of those combinations. Will your ticket match?)

Things To Consider As You Dream Big

The Iowa Lottery has heard from a lot of people with dreams of winning and thoughts about what they would do if they win. To provide specifics about the details that come with a giant lottery win, the Iowa Lottery has produced a video called “You Won! Now What?”

It is available on YouTube here.

Iowa Stats From Mega Millions’ Latest Drawing

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 31,631 prizes in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing and had purchased more than $1.7 million in tickets for the drawing.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 3-20-46-59-63 and Mega Ball® 13. The Megaplier® number was 3.

The average Mega Millions purchase in Iowa for the drawing remained about $6, or about three plays per ticket. Lottery officials were pleased that a lot of people had fun playing and didn’t go overboard.

$1 Million Unclaimed Mega Millions Prize In Ames

With first-time and occasional players buying tickets for the giant drawing, the Iowa Lottery reminds everyone to check their tickets for all prizes they may have won, not just the jackpot.

There are nine prize levels in Mega Millions, from $2 for matching the Mega Ball® alone up to winning the jackpot for matching all six numbers in a drawing.

A $1 million Mega Millions prize won in central Iowa remains unclaimed after four months.

The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at Gateway Expresse, 2400 University Blvd. in Ames, for the game's drawing on Sept. 6.

The winner or winners of the $1 million prize have until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

Gateway Expresse received a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket.

Please Play Responsibly

And as always, the Iowa Lottery reminds everyone that it only takes one ticket to win. Please play responsibly.

Player Questions: What About The Odds In Your Holiday Games?

Now that our holiday-themed scratch games are in stores for the season, we’ve gotten player questions about the number of prizes available in them and their odds of winning.

Our holiday-themed games by design are only on the market for a short period of time – about four months. Many of our other scratch games are sold for a year or two or even longer.

We order smaller quantities of tickets in our holiday games, which means there will be a smaller number of prizes involved. But the key detail to note is that the odds of winning in our holiday games are very similar to those in our other games, so your playing experience won’t change.

“Crossword” games are always a favorite for players, so here is a list of this year’s four holiday-themed versions with their non-holiday counterparts. You’ll see how similar the odds are in them.

    • $2 games: $20,000 Holiday Crossword and Four Corners Crossword.
    • $3 games: Candy Cane Crossword and Bonus Crossword.
    • $5 games: Peng-win Crossword and $50,000 Super Crossword.
    • $10 games: Very Merry Crossword and $100,000 Mega Crossword.

In the $2 games, the $20,000 holiday game has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.42 while its non-holiday counterpart has overall odds of 1 in 3.33.

Both of the $3 Crossword games have the exact same overall odds of winning: 1 in 3.52.

At the $5 price point, the Peng-win Crossword game has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.34 while its non-holiday counterpart has overall odds of 1 in 3.53.

And for the $10 games, Very Merry Crossword has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.29 compared to overall odds of 1 in 3.30 for the non-holiday version.

We do our best to keep the game designs in line with each other because we want you to have the same “feel” as you play them. We know that’s part of the fun.

Then there are the folks who say they like our non-holiday games and want to see them come back. And they will!

Our holiday-themed games will only be on the market until early January, and then our other games will cycle back onto store shelves when the holidays are over.

Already Sold Out? That Store Didn’t Have The Tickets I Wanted To Buy

A lottery player who wanted to buy tickets in a new scratch game said that when she couldn’t find tickets at her local store, she thought the game had been removed from sale because all the top prizes in it had already been claimed.

In reality, the store was just temporarily out of tickets in that particular game. It was popular and the location’s initial supply had sold out. The store was able to order more tickets and the game was available there again within a few days.

When a new scratch game is released, businesses that sell lottery tickets place orders for a supply of tickets to have available in the first days that the game is for sale. Stores do their best to estimate the number of tickets they’ll need, but sometimes a particular game may sell faster than expected.

Stores can and do place additional orders for more tickets, but it can take a few days for the next batch to arrive. When that happens, there can be temporary outages.

The customer was correct that when all of the top prizes in a particular scratch game have been claimed, the game is removed from sale here in Iowa.

In this particular instance, that wasn’t what had happened, and we hope that the next time she visits her local store, she’ll find the game available!

Where Are We Going Next? The List Is On Our Events Page

As the summer goes on and we’re making more stops around the state on our Explore Iowa tour, we’ve gotten questions from some folks asking if we’ll make it to their area.

The short answer is that we’re continuing to add new stops over time and we’re doing our best to hit all areas of Iowa. Our campaign is called Explore Iowa, after all!

To see the list of our upcoming events, please visit the Special Events page on our website here.

Some of the events are at retail locations while others are at football games, baseball games, local festivals and auto races.

We’ve already been to Waverly, Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Mason City, Council Bluffs and Davenport, to name a few. This week we’ll be in Cedar Rapids, Waukee and Cedar Falls.

We’ll keep updating the list of events as summer goes on. At some of the stops, we’re doing special presentations to highlight the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, one of the most important beneficiaries of lottery proceeds to state causes.

We sell tickets in our Explore Iowa scratch game at each stop, and all lottery products are available at the events at retail locations. And yes, our prize wheel is there! With a qualifying purchase, you can spin the wheel to win lottery merchandise.

THIS Is How You Update Your Email Address In The VIP Club

We’ve added a step-by-step guide to our website to answer one of the questions we get the most about the VIP Club: How do I change my email address?

We get it. Over time, your email can change as you move, switch Internet providers, update your computer and mobile phone, etc. Some folks said they were having trouble finding the spot under their VIP Club profile to change the email address associated with their account.

We now have a page that maps out the process, including screenshots with the instructions.

To help you get started, I’ve included the initial steps of the process in the image you see here. You’ll first need to log in to your VIP Club account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see the main links along the left side of the page. Click on the “Account Management” link at the top and that will take you to a page with several options.

The first one listed is “Change Email,” which walks you through the remaining steps you’ll follow. But the last link on the list – Update Profile – also will take you to the spot where you will key in your new address and then click the “Submit” button to save your changes.

It’s a quick and easy process with either link. And having the correct contact information in your account is important because if you win a prize in one of our VIP Club drawings, we’ll use the email and telephone number you’ve provided to contact you!

Will TwosDay prove lucky for Pick 3 & Pick 4 players?

Next week, an interesting date will occur that involves A LOT of 2s, and we wonder what it may mean for a couple of our lotto games.

It’s being called TwosDay: Feb. 22, 2022.

On dates that involve repeat numbers, we’ve often seen players choose identical sets of numbers in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. And when sales with those same numbers reach a certain point, they’re considered “sold out” in our system. But why?

On Sept. 9, 2009, the combinations of 9-9-9 sold out in Pick 3 and 9-9-0-9 sold out in Pick 4. The same thing has happened with the corresponding numbers on Aug. 8, 2008, and July 7, 2007. When a set of numbers is sold out, it means that the liability limit has been reached. Lotteries have liability limits in Pick 3 and Pick 4 games to protect the integrity of the games and the proceeds that the lottery raises for state causes.

The liability limits don’t get hit very often, but when they do, that particular set of numbers will be sold out for that particular drawing, and you’ll have to choose a different combination to play that time around. The combination will be available again for the next drawing, assuming that the liability limit isn’t reached the next time around as well.

And even though a particular set of numbers may see a surge in popularity, it doesn’t make it luckier than another play. The odds of winning are the same for any play in our games. We as human beings just like patterns, and dates like 2-22-22 always catch our attention.

We can’t wait to see what TwosDay brings!

Conversation Starter: What Do Those Frequency Charts Mean?

Something we keep on our website for fun has sparked a lot of conversations over time, and while some folks swear they can use it to make predictions, it really and truly is just for fun. There’s no future-telling involved.

 

On our website, we have frequency charts that show the number of times a particular number has been selected in the drawings for our lotto games.

 

Do you like the number 8? It’s been selected 211 times as a white ball and 67 times as the Powerball since 1997. Are you partial to the number 39? It’s come up 84 times as a white ball and 11 times as the Mega Ball since 2010.

 

What’s all that indicate? Nothing, really. It’s just fun to track the drawing results. Lottery games and their drawings are based solely on random outcomes. There truly is no way to predict which numbers will be selected next in our games.

 

There’s only one “formula” that works when it comes to your chance of winning a lottery prize: You have to buy a ticket to have a chance to win!

 

So why is there such a variation in the number of times that certain numbers have been selected in lottery drawings? Part of it is just random statistics -- you really can’t predict which numbers will be drawn next. But a big part also is how long some of the numbers have been a part of the games.

 

Powerball and Mega Millions have both been redesigned several times through the years, with the numbers available to be played in them changing as the games have been updated.  Changes like that have a big impact on the number of times some numbers have been selected – or were even eligible to be selected in the drawings.

 

So, if you like the frequency charts in our lotto games, go right ahead and have fun with them. Click here for the frequency chart in Powerball, here for the chart in Mega Millions, here for the Lotto America chart, and here for the Lucky for Life chart.

 

You never know when your favorite number might move up on the list!

Only In Iowa: Powerball Players Have Chance At $1 Million Prize

Now is your chance: For the next three weeks, Powerball® players in Iowa can enter a promotion for a shot at a $1 million prize.

Any Powerball ticket purchased in Iowa from today through 8:59 a.m. on June 18 can be entered into the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway.” After the three-week entry period, we’ll hold a drawing on June 19 to determine the winner of the promotion’s $1 million prize.

Call it our version of recycling! Back in April, a $1 million Powerball prize expired in central Iowa without being claimed. Someone bought that ticket at a Casey’s store in Nevada for the Powerball drawing on April 11, 2018. But the prize was never claimed, so it expired on April 11 of this year.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a $1 million prize has ever gone unclaimed in Iowa. We repeatedly called attention to the prize to try to find the winner, and now we’re dedicating our efforts to ensuring that this prize money finds its way to a new Iowa Lottery winner.

This is a truly Iowa-made effort: Our leadership team at the Iowa Lottery thought through how we could give away this $1 million, one of the district sales representatives in our Cedar Rapids office came up with the promotion name, and only Powerball tickets purchased in Iowa can be entered into the promotion for a shot at the prize.

Please note this important detail: Simply buying a Powerball ticket during the next three weeks won’t automatically enter you into the promotion. You have to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club and enter your ticket in your VIP Club account to be entered. Click here for a direct link to the VIP Club homepage where you can find details about joining if you’re not already a member. 

You’ve heard us say many times that the money from lottery prizes that expire without being claimed in Iowa goes into our prize pools for future games and promotions. Well, this big unclaimed prize gives us the chance to demonstrate that!

Each eligible Powerball ticket entered will count as one entry into the promotion, regardless of the number of plays on it or how many drawings the plays may span.

The lottery retailer that sells the promotion’s $1 million-winning ticket will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery. That also was the case with the $1 million ticket in Nevada: Even though it was never claimed, Casey’s still got a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling that ticket at one of its stores. Our retailers work hard every day to sell our tickets, and this is one more way we can thank them.

We know that Iowa has faced some really challenging weather-related events this year, and folks in a large swath of our state are still finding their way through those difficulties. Maybe the buzz surrounding this unclaimed prize mystery and new promotion can give us all a short break to think about something else – and then as Iowans, we’ll get back to work to ensure our state recovers. And the Iowa Lottery will keep doing its best to raise proceeds to help with vital state causes right here at home.

Player Mail: Why Is There A Sales Cut-Off Before A Drawing?

One of our players contacted us about the sales cut-off times before the drawings in our lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions, and wondered why they couldn’t be eliminated. The man said he wants people to be able to buy tickets right up until one minute before the drawing. The short answer is that wouldn’t work from a security perspective. Here’s the back story:

 

Sales cut-off times are just one of the security features in our games. They’re one of the processes that lotteries use to help ensure that everything is ready to go. With millions – and sometimes billions – of dollars involved in our drawings, it’s obviously important that mistakes be avoided!  

 

Before one of our drawings can be held, all of the lotteries in that game have to verify that their sales figures balance and that all plays are recorded in the system. It’s a meticulous process, and we know it’s what the public expects from us.

 

The good news is that as computer speeds and technology have improved through the years, it now requires much less time to accomplish that work before the drawing. Today, our sales cut-off times are an hour or less before our lotto-game drawings. Years ago, the sales cut-off time was often two hours before the drawing, but we’ve been able to reduce that and we hope it’s a convenience for our players and retailers.

 

I would imagine there will always be some time required for balancing and verification before a drawing can happen, but maybe in the future, the time involved will be even shorter than it is now.

 

The exact sales cut-off times vary from state to state, depending upon the requirements in that particular state. Check your state lottery’s website for the information that applies in your area.

 

We’ll keep doing our best to keep the sales cut-off period involved here in Iowa as short as possible.

Player Mail: Walk Me Through Buying The ‘Play ‘Em All’ Option

An eastern Iowa man’s email is behind this blog entry, and I’ll do my best to walk you through how to find the ‘Play ‘Em All’ feature on the lottery terminal, in case you ever run into trouble when you try to buy it.

 

The man emailed to let us know that he was having trouble buying the ‘Play ‘Em All’ option, which is available in the Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto America games. The man said that employees in some of the stores in his area didn’t seem to know about the option or how a customer could buy it.

 

In case you’re ever in that same situation, I want you to have the inside scoop about how to find the screen for that option on the lottery terminal. We’ll keep working with our retailers to provide the latest details we can about the lottery, but sometimes the best plan is to have the information yourself.

 

If you’re not familiar with the Play ‘Em All option, it allows you to buy plays for all of the numbers for the Powerball, Mega Ball and Star Ball in the three different games involved. For example, if you buy the Play ‘Em All option in Mega Millions, you’ll get 25 plays with all of the Mega Ball numbers available (1-25). In Powerball, the Play ‘Em All option will give you 26 plays to cover all of the numbers in the Powerball pool; and in Lotto America, you’ll get 10 plays, one for each of the 10 Star Ball numbers available.

 

Here in Iowa, the clerk can find the Play 'Em All feature on the lottery terminal by touching the "Special Offers" tab in the top right-hand corner of the terminal's main screen. That tab brings up the Play ‘Em All screen, and you can then choose the game you want to buy.

 

Or, if you’re buying a ticket at a self-service kiosk here in Iowa, after you select a play option in Powerball, Mega Millions or Lotto America, in the upper right of the screen, you'll see a button that says: Play 'Em All. By touching that button, you can play that option.

 

I hope these “insider” tips can help you walk through the process – and make it easy!

I Lost My Ticket! What Can I Do?

A player from northeast Iowa emailed us with a question that made us so sad about the lottery ticket she’d bought, because there was no way for us to help her. The same thing could happen to you, so please learn from her situation.

The woman said she bought a scratch ticket at a convenience store in Waterloo on her way to work. She didn’t play it right away, and continued on her way. When she arrived at work, she noticed that her purse must have fallen open at some point, and her ticket was gone.

The woman said she went back to look for the ticket, but she never found it. Because she didn’t know whether it had won a prize, she wondered if by letting us know that she had lost it, she could somehow have a claim to any prize if someone else later claimed it.

The woman said she hadn’t signed her ticket when she bought it, and that’s a key point. A lottery ticket without a signature on it is like a blank check. In legal terms, it’s what is known as a bearer instrument, meaning that the person bearing it is considered the owner.

That is why we urge our players to sign the back of their tickets as soon as they buy them. When you sign your ticket, you identify it – and any prize you may win – as belonging to you. It may seem like something that doesn’t matter, but this woman’s story unfortunately illustrates why it’s so important.

 

Player Mail: Questions About Power Cruise

Now that folks have been entering tickets in the “Power Cruise™” promotion for about a week, we’re seeing some repeat questions about the process and have done our best to answer them on the Frequently Asked Questions page we put together for the promotion.

We try in advance to think of the questions people may have about a particular game or promotion, and in this case, we listed a lot of those Q-and-As on our website when the promotion started last week. But just when we think we’ve thought of all the possible details, our players surprise us and ask about something that wasn’t yet on the list!

So, if you have a question about the promotion, please check out the FAQs for it. And if we haven’t provided the answer there that you’re seeking, let us know. We’ll get the answer for you and then we’ll add it to the website, too!

POWER CRUISE™ is a trademark of Alchemy 3, LLC. Used under license. │Royal Caribbean International logo is a registered trademark of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and is used with permission. ©2018 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.® │ Powerball® and Power Play® are federally registered trademarks and are used with permission of the Multi-State Lottery Association. All rights reserved.

Just Where Can I Claim A Lottery Prize?

A player has sent this question our way: Does it matter where I claim my lottery prize? And are there different rules for bigger prizes? The quick answers are: Yes and yes! But here's the full story:

You can claim prizes of up to $600 in Iowa Lottery games at any retail location where tickets are sold if sufficient funds are available. Please note the last part of that sentence: if sufficient funds are available. For a variety of workplace safety reasons, many locations don't keep a large amount of cash on hand these days, particularly after dark. So even though retail locations can pay prizes of up to $600, they may not always have the money on hand to do that, and we understand that.

That's why we always offer players the option of claiming prizes by mail or at one of our regional offices around the state.

Prizes of more than $600 must be claimed directly from the lottery, either by mail or by visiting one of our offices. Our very biggest prizes, meaning those of more than $250,000, as well as some merchandise prizes, must be claimed in person at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

We keep all the details about the claims process, including the documentation you'll need to provide, on the How To Claim A Prize page on our website. Good luck on your lottery tickets and we hope to meet you as a winner soon!

Player Mail: FAQs About Secret Santa Promotion

We’ve gotten several great questions over the last few days from players about our Secret Santa holiday promotion, so we’ve compiled them here in an overall Q-and-A list so you’ll have the details, too.

My phone/tablet won’t scan my ticket – how do I enter this ticket?

Here’s several tips for scanning your ticket on our app: 

• Make sure all of the security coating is removed from the “Scratch 2 Cash” box on the front of your ticket;
• Use the “light” feature within the app to illuminate the area while scanning;
• Move the ticket around so that your phone’s camera can detect the square barcode;
• Hold the ticket farther away from your phone’s camera so it can focus better on the barcode.

If your eligible ticket won’t scan – for whatever reason – you can enter it manually on the app. Just type the ticket’s numbers in the boxes using your phone’s keyboard.

Can I enter tickets in both the Secret Santa cash drawing and the Not So Secret Santa cash drawing?

Yes, of course! You can only enter each ticket once into either, the Secret Santa drawing or the Not So Secret Santa drawing. However, if you are entering multiple tickets you can mix it up and enter some of your tickets into the Secret Santa drawing and some of them into the Not So Secret Santa drawing. Remember, the Not So Secret Santa cash prize amount is always listed, while the Secret Santa cash prize amount is not. The Secret Santa cash prize may be greater than, less than or the same as the Not So Secret Santa prize – you’ll find out when we draw the winners for that drawing period. 

How do I reset my VIP Club account password on the app?
Unfortunately, you aren’t able to reset your VIP Club account password on the app at this time. This is something we’re working on for future Play It Again® promotions, but for now, you’ll have to reset your password via our website on your laptop or desktop computer or your tablet.

Can I register for a VIP Club account on the app?
Unfortunately, no. You’ll need to register for a VIP Club account on a laptop or desktop computer. Then once you’re fully registered, you’ll be able to login to your VIP Club account on the app.

Do you have a question that wasn’t answered here? Check the frequently asked questions page on our website, or email us at: [email protected].

Player Mail: Did The Lottery Get A New Email Address?

Members of our VIP Club and players who subscribe to our daily Winning Numbers emails may have noticed that our communications have been coming from a different address for the last few weeks.

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, we are using a different email address to send these messages.

The new email address is [email protected] and it’s part of a new distribution system we’re using to send batches of emails at one time.

The content of our emails remains the same – it’s just the sending email address that has changed. One thing you may want to consider is adding “[email protected]” to your address book or your “safe senders” list within your email account to help ensure you can continue receiving email messages from us.

Also note: We’re still accepting emails at our [email protected] address and if you respond to one of our messages from the new email address, we’ll still get it.

Reminders About How To Redeem Winning Tickets

We got nearly identical questions from Facebook and by email from two different players asking where winning pull-tab tickets can be cashed here in Iowa. Here’s the answer in case you have wondered the same thing:

Prizes in our pull-tab games need to claimed at the retail location where you purchased your ticket, or, for pull-tab prizes of more than $600, at a lottery office. This is due to the individual accounting procedures for those games.

If you don’t remember where you bought your winning pull-tab ticket or you received the ticket as a gift, you can send us an email or call us and we can tell you where the ticket was purchased. We’ll need to know the name of the pull-tab game on your ticket as well as the ticket’s serial number, which is found on the front, right above the bar code.

All tickets in any of the Iowa Lottery’s other games can be redeemed at any lottery retailer across the state, except for prizes of more than $600. Those prizes must be claimed at a lottery office for tax-reporting purposes.

And remember the deadlines for claiming prizes. Scratch and pull-tab tickets are valid for 90 days after the announced end of the game. Tickets in Powerball^®, Mega Millions^®, Hot Lotto^®, Lucky for Life^® and All or Nothing™ are valid for 365 days from the date of the drawing. Tickets in Pick 3, Pick 4 and InstaPlay are valid 90 days from the date of the drawing.

You can find more information about claiming lottery prizes on our website, here.

New Twist In Scam Attempts

It seems like scam attempts have become a fact of life these days, but from the latest reports coming our way, some scammers are taking a slight twist in their approach.

We’ve heard from folks in the last week who all have received text messages claiming that they’ve won a big prize, or should enter a contest for a chance to win. In all of the instances, the scammers asked for the individual’s personally-identifying information – something you should never give out online for personal security purposes.

We’ve seen scams in the past that utilized telephone calls, letters and email, so we’re not surprised to see text messages in play as well. But it does appear to be a new twist. Scam operations are nearly impossible to trace and shut down because they generally are based outside the United States. You can have the most impact in thwarting their efforts by being alert and protecting yourself.

If someone contacts you and says you’ve won a big prize, ask yourself this basic question: Did I buy a ticket or enter that contest? If you didn’t, it’s likely a scam.

We have an entire section on our website dedicated to Player Security reminders, but here are a few quick highlights to remember:

• Keep your credit card, bank account and Social Security information private. Scam artists will often ask for them with the goal of accessing your accounts and stealing your money!
• Never pay processing fees, insurance or commissions to claim a lottery prize. Legitimate lotteries do not require winners to pay anything up front to receive a prize.
• Never believe a letter, phone call or Internet message from someone who claims they can guarantee you a prize. Legitimate lotteries do not guarantee that you will win a prize and do not require you to join a prize pool to play.

What’s In It For Me If I Join The Free VIP Club?

Oh the perks our players enjoy by being a VIP Club member. To keep it short and sweet check out the benefits you’ll receive:

• Free monthly lotto play coupon – the next coupon goes out Nov. 1
• Latest lottery news and winners
• Exclusive Play It Again^® promotions where you can enter eligible tickets for chances to win cash and prizes
• Random pop-up contests where you could win things like scratch tickets, concert tickets and more
• Free seasonal lottery envelopes that you can print at home and stuff with lottery tickets to make someone’s day
• Personalize your desktop, laptop or mobile device with free lottery-themed wallpapers you can download
• Sneak peeks of upcoming promotions and games

Our VIP Club members enjoy exclusive content and chances to win, and anyone who is at least 21 can join for free. Just remember when you register to check “Yes” to receiving email communications from us. Otherwise you’ll miss out on some of the exclusive perks listed above that are sent directly to your inbox. We promise not to overload your inbox with emails. To help make sure you get our emails, add [email protected] to your email provider’s Safe Senders list. And now that you know all the benefits you can enjoy, be sure to sign yourself up today.

Can A Group Choose Cash AND Annuity?

We’ve got some real planners here in Iowa! We’ve heard from a couple folks who tell us they are definitely planning to win the lottery as part of the group they buy tickets with, and they want to know if some members of the group can choose the lump-sum option for a jackpot prize while the rest of the members take the annuity option. The short answer is that it’s an either/or situation: The whole group needs to choose one option or the other.

 

When you win a jackpot, whether it’s with a ticket you bought on your own or as part of a group, we only issue one check for the winnings. There are a variety of security and financial rules in place requiring that to happen.

 

If you’re part of a group of 25, we don’t cut 25 checks, we just give you one check and the members of your group then divide up the money from there. The entire group has to decide on either the cash or annuity option before the prize is claimed.

 

And to ensure that one person isn’t stuck with all the liability for that taxable income, all members of the group sign an IRS Form 5754 so they’re listed for tax-reporting purposes. On the form, each person states how much of the prize they’re claiming.

 

We keep a list of tips about group play on our website. Click here to check them out.

Can I Claim A Ticket From Another State In Iowa?

Here’s a great question from a woman who contacted us on Facebook. Her name is Rhonda and she asked if she could cash a lottery ticket here in Iowa that she bought in Minnesota.

The short answer is no. She’ll need to claim that prize from the Minnesota Lottery. Why is that? It has to do with the technology that goes into running a lottery today and the fact that each state has its own separate computer system.   

The lottery terminals that sell and cash lottery tickets in Iowa retail locations are connected to a central communications system that spans the state. That lottery network is extremely complex – it provides real-time information about retail transactions involving millions of tickets.

The same is true in Minnesota and any other U.S. state that has a lottery: Each lottery has its own computerized system to track the tickets it sells. In addition, the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to help valuable causes.

Because each state lottery tracks its tickets and $$$$$ individually, the state lottery computer systems are independent. So that means our equipment here in Iowa can’t read Minnesota tickets, and vice versa. 

Great question, Rhonda. And we hope to see you win a big prize here in Iowa someday!

Player Mail: Are Drawing Results Always Posted At The Same Time On Your Website?

Here’s a question that came our way this week: Are the results from our drawings always posted at the same time on our website?

The quick answer is that we obviously want people to have our drawing results as quickly as possible, but there are realities involved that mean we can’t always post the information at exactly the same time each day.

Sometimes it takes longer to balance all of the sales figures for a particular drawing. Sometimes we might have a new staffer at work who is understandably taking a little longer to go through procedures the first few times. Sometimes automated systems may not run as they should, and that means that processes have to be done manually, which can take more time.

We’ll continue to do our best to provide our results as quickly as we can. But I’ve said this before about other things and it applies here as well: As long as human beings are involved in any process, things will vary a little.   

One way to get the results without having to check our website is to sign up for the lottery’s winning numbers emails, so our drawing results will come to your inbox each morning. Click here to learn how to sign up for those emails.

A New Way To Win!

Our players have shared with us that they’ve played similar scratch games in other states like the one shown here, and asked if we could offer something like it in Iowa. We heard you and are proud to bring you “Limited”.

The name pretty much says it all, kind of. We’ve had a couple players ask us, “What exactly does ‘Limited’ mean?” Normally our scratch games have many prizes levels. For example our $10 Joker’s Wild scratch game has top prizes of $100,000 and smaller prizes ranging from $10 up to $4,000. But in our new Limited scratch game there are only prizes of $50 and $100 available. That’s it. As the ticket says it’s ‘loaded exclusively with thousands of $50 and $100 prizes.’

It’s a fairly simple game to play. Just scratch the play area and if you uncover a “$50” symbol, you win 50 bucks! Or, if you reveal a “$100” symbol, you win $100. It’s as simple as it sounds. It’s good to know that you can only win up to one time per ticket. So if you find a $50 symbol, there won’t be a second $50 symbol or a $100 symbol on the same ticket.

We’re curious what you think of this new game play and would love to hear your feedback.

Will The Lottery Send Me A Form For My Taxes?

It’s tax season again, a time when we get questions about the documentation that’s available from the lottery for tax-reporting purposes.
 
Each year, the lottery sends tax forms to each of its winners who claimed a prize of more than $600. The document is called a W-2G form and we are mailing out the 2015 forms next week. The W-2G lists the gross prize amount as well as any federal and state taxes that were withheld from that prize. If you claimed multiple prizes from the Iowa Lottery of more than $600 in calendar year 2015, you’ll get multiple W-2G forms from us, one for each prize claimed.

In addition to questions about those forms, we’ve heard from people who wanted to know if we could provide them with a listing of the entries they made into our VIP Club drawings so they could use that as they filed their taxes. The lottery doesn’t provide lists like that for tax-reporting purposes, for a few different reasons: 

The entry of a nonwinning ticket into our VIP Club is not evidence that the person who made the entry is actually the one who bought the ticket. The lottery is required to provide accurate tax information to the Internal Revenue Service. Allowing incorrect information to be reported can result in hefty fines, something we certainly don’t want to occur, as it would be a disservice to the worthy causes benefited by the lottery.

If you have questions about the information you should maintain for tax-reporting purposes, please visit with a tax professional or legal advisor so they can provide you with the latest accurate details.

If you think you should have received a W-2G form from us for calendar year 2015 and you've moved since the time that you claimed your prize, please let us know your new address as soon as possible. You can contact us at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, old address, new address and phone number in case we need to contact you.

Why Do States Have Lotteries, Anyway?

The holiday season can be a time for deep thinking, so here’s a philosophical question we get from time to time: Why do states have lotteries, anyway? There’s a really long history behind the answer, but I’ll do my best to keep it brief here. It comes down to regulation and revenues.

Lotteries have operated here in the United States since the earliest days of our country. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock all had their own lotteries to raise money for important causes, including the Revolutionary War, the building of roads and bridges and construction of our country’s earliest schools and universities. There was a severe cash shortage in the Colonies, and I mean that literally. In fact, when the first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired, there were only two banks in all of the Colonies. Then, as now, lotteries were an effective way to gather cash to pay for big projects.

But in the late 1800s, scandals involving privately operated and unregulated lotteries led to legislation that effectively banned lotteries in America for about 70 years. But lottery entertainment didn’t go away during that time. It just went underground -- and it often was offered by entities that weren’t doing good things with the proceeds (think organized crime).

Modern lotteries arrived in 1963 when the state of New Hampshire implemented a state sweepstakes or lottery. Through the years, more states have continued to pass legislation allowing lotteries, and today, there are lotteries in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

With state regulation, lotteries are open to scrutiny, with Board meetings and legislative hearings that provide public access. With access comes information about your state’s lottery, how it operates and where the money goes.

If you’ve ever got a question about the Iowa Lottery, just give us a shout. We’ll do our best to get the answer.