ialottery blog

Our Latest Promotion Could Have You ‘Dublin Your Luck’

There was so much anticipation for the Ireland trip package we just gave away in the Cyclone™ Football promotion that we’ve decided to do it again!

The Dublin Your Luck promotion opened for entries this morning, with another chance on the line for you to win a trip to see Iowa State’s 2025 season opener in Ireland.

The travel package for two includes airfare, lodging, game tickets to the Iowa St.-Kansas St. football game on Aug. 23 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, $5,000 spending money and a merchandise pack.

How To Enter

To enter the Dublin Your Luck promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through the morning of Feb. 10.

You can enter with nonwinning tickets in the “Cyclone™” scratch game. But please note: Any tickets previously entered in the Cyclone Football promotion that ended in late November are ineligible for this new promotion.

Entries can be made on the lottery’s website at ialottery.com or with the lottery’s mobile app.

The lottery will hold the drawing to select the Dublin Your Luck trip winner on Feb. 11.

Maybe you’ll be like Tammy Newcomb of Davenport, the Ireland trip winner selected Nov. 21 in the Cyclone Football promotion, and be on your way to Dublin next year!

Hawkeye Football Prize Packages On The Line In Kickoff to Kinnick Promotion

Ticket prize packages for coveted seats this season at all 7 Iowa™ home football games are on the line in the Kickoff to Kinnick™ promotion that opened for entries today.

Some of the prize packages are for stadium-seat tickets while others are for premium spots in the exclusive Iowa Ironmen Suite in Kinnick Stadium™. And all of the prize packages include spending money to make for a great game-day experience!

The promotion is built around the Iowa Lottery’s “Hawkeye™ Gold” scratch game. Its distinctive tickets have a bright gold background, feature a large image of the Iowa Tigerhawk™ logo, and offer players the chance to win cash prizes ranging from $5 up to $50,000.

Lottery players who don’t win an instant prize on their Hawkeye Gold scratch ticket can enter it into the Kickoff to Kinnick promotion for a chance to win Iowa football ticket prize packages for the upcoming season.

How To Enter For A Chance To Win

A total of 41 football prize packages will be given away in the promotion. Players will select the ticket prize package and game of their choice at the time they enter.

The promotion’s entry period continues through 9:59 a.m. on Oct. 16. There will be four drawing dates in the promotion. Please pay close attention to the deadlines involved: The home games earlier in the season will be closed to promotion entries once the applicable deadline has passed.

To get in on the promotion, players must join or already be members of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. Players can visit the lottery’s website at ialottery.com to enter or scan an eligible Hawkeye Gold ticket with the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app.

Here are the ticket prize packages that will be given away in the promotion:

Aug. 15 drawing date
1 prize package awarded

• This package includes 4 stadium-seat tickets, $1,000 cash and a parking pass for the Illinois St.-Iowa game on Aug. 31.

Aug. 27 drawing date
19 prize packages awarded

• 17 VIP packages with 2 tickets each in the Ironmen Suite for the Iowa St.-Iowa game on Sept. 7 with food, water and soda provided in the suite, and $100 spending money.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Iowa St.-Iowa game on Sept. 7.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Troy-Iowa game on Sept.14.

Sept. 26 drawing date
19 prize packages awarded

• 17 VIP packages with 2 tickets each in the Ironmen Suite for the Washington-Iowa game on Oct. 12 with food, water and soda provided in the suite, and $100 spending money.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Washington-Iowa game on Oct. 12.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Northwestern-Iowa game on Oct. 26.

Oct. 17 drawing date
2 prize packages awarded

• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, 4 passes to the pre-game hospitality village, 4 field passes, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Wisconsin-Iowa game on Nov. 2.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, 4 passes to the pre-game hospitality village, 4 field passes, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Nebraska-Iowa game on Nov. 29.

Cardinal & Gold: New Scratch Game Tied To ISU Football, Including Game In Ireland!

A new lottery scratch game has started arriving in stores today, and this one is ALL cardinal and gold.

You can win up to $50,000 instantly on a Cyclone™ scratch ticket or enter for a chance to win exclusive Iowa State football prize packages, including the grand prize of a trip to see ISU play in Ireland!

Tickets in the exclusive Cyclone scratch game are hitting store shelves today and will be available statewide by Friday. The new game is tied to the lottery’s Cyclone Football promotion, which opened for entries today and offers premium ticket prize packages to see Iowa State play at home, at Arrowhead, or even across the pond.

A total of 17 ticket prize packages will be given away in the promotion. They include premium seats at Jack Trice Stadium, suite tickets when ISU plays on the road at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and a trip to see ISU play at Aviva Stadium© in Dublin.

Players will select the game of their choice when they enter a ticket into the promotion.

How To Enter

To enter the Cyclone Football promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through 9:59 a.m. on Nov. 20. There will be four drawing dates in the promotion for ticket prize packages.

Players can visit the lottery’s website at ialottery.com to enter the promotion or use the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app to scan an eligible ticket for entry. Please pay close attention to the entry deadlines involved. The games earlier in the season will be closed to promotion entries once the applicable deadline has passed.

Drawings & Prizes

Here are the drawing dates and the ticket prize packages that will be given away in the Cyclone Football promotion:

Aug. 15 drawing date
4 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 premium seat tickets for the N. Dakota-Iowa St. game on Aug. 31 at Jack Trice Stadium; $200 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game; 2 pre-game field access passes; 1 Cyclone merchandise prize pack.

Sept. 19 drawing date
8 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 private suite tickets for the Baylor-Iowa St. game on Oct. 5 at Jack Trice Stadium; complimentary food, water and soda provided in the suite; $100 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game.

Oct. 17 drawing date
4 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 private suite tickets for the Iowa St-Kansas game on Nov. 9 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.; complimentary food, water and soda provided in the suite; $100 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game; $500 Visa gift card for lodging.

Nov. 21 drawing date
1 Ireland Cyclone Football package awarded
It includes tickets to 2 Iowa State games, one in Ames, and the other in Ireland.
       For the first game, the winner will receive 2 premium seat tickets including hospitality at the Kansas St.-Iowa St. match-up on Nov. 30 at Jack Trice Stadium and 1 parking pass for the game. The winner will be featured that day in an on-field presentation announcing that they will be going to Dublin as the winner of the travel package for ISU’s 2025 game in Ireland.
        For the second game, the winner will receive 2 game tickets for the Kansas St.-Iowa St. game on Aug. 23, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland; a travel package to Ireland including hotel stay in Dublin and airfare to Dublin from a major airport; and $5,000 spending money.

All entries not selected as a winner in one of the promotion’s initial drawings will remain eligible for the final drawing for the package that includes the Ireland Cyclone Football Experience.

Players can enter multiple tickets into the promotion but can win only one football prize package per game date.

Newest Lottery Promo Features Football Packages to 2023 Iowa State Home Games

Hey Cyclone™ football fans, this newest promotion is for you!

The Iowa lottery’s Cyclone Football promotion is officially underway. A total of 27 football ticket prize packages for Iowa State home games will be given away in it, including VIP suite packages for the Iowa®-Iowa State® game; VIP tailgate packages for the Northern Iowa-Iowa State game; and stadium-seat packages for each of the six Iowa State games at Jack Trice Stadium™ in 2023.

Lottery players can enter the promotion with any Mega Millions® ticket purchased in Iowa on or after July 17 of this year (winning and nonwinning tickets can both be entered).

The entry period continues through 9:59 a.m. on Oct. 3. Players will select the ticket prize package and game of their choice at the time they enter.

Please note this important detail: Simply buying a Mega Millions ticket during the promotion period won’t automatically get you entered. You’ll need to buy an eligible ticket in Iowa and then enter it into the promotion through your VIP Club account. (To enter the promotion, players must join or already be members of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club.)

Players can visit the lottery’s website at ialottery.com to enter the promotion or scan an eligible ticket with the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app to enter. As you enter, please pay close attention to the entry deadlines involved. The home games earlier in the season will be closed to promotion entries once the applicable deadline has passed.

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

There will be three drawing dates in the Cyclone Football promotion. Here is a list of the ticket prize packages that will be given away:

Aug. 22 drawing date
23 ticket prize packages awarded

• 8 VIP suite prize packages that each include 2 suite tickets for the Iowa-Iowa St. game on Sept. 9. Food, water and soda will be provided in the suite and each winner will receive $100 spending money.
• 13 VIP tailgate prize packages that each include 2 stadium tickets and a tailgate experience for the N. Iowa-Iowa St. game on Sept. 2. Food, water, soda will be provided at the tailgate and the winner will receive $100 spending money.
• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the N. Iowa-Iowa St. game on Sept. 2.
• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Iowa-Iowa St. game on Sept. 9.

Sept. 13 drawing date
2 prize packages awarded

• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Oklahoma St.-Iowa St. game on Sept. 23.
• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the TCU-Iowa St. game on Oct. 7.

Oct. 4 drawing date
2 prize packages awarded

• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Kansas-Iowa St. game on Nov. 4.
• 1 prize package that includes 4 stadium tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Texas-Iowa St. game on Nov. 18.

Fly With Cy Winners In Texas!

From enjoying a rooftop pre-party (with tacos, of course!), to seeing a football game in one of the world’s biggest stadiums and getting to explore the city, our Fly with Cy winners officially took in the sights and sounds of Austin. Click on the video above to hear them talk about their trip and see them in Texas!

#FlyWithCy #WooHooForYou #Cyclones #IowaStateFootball 

We’ll Be On the Grand Concourse Today At The State Fair

It’s Veterans Day at the Iowa State Fair, and we’ve got a whole day’s worth of activities to celebrate the difference you’ve helped us make through the lottery proceeds for Iowa veterans and their families.

First up, our State Fair booth that you can see in the photo here is open at the State Fair today from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. We’re in the big white exhibition tent along the Grand Concourse. The map at the end of this blog entry shows you the tent’s spot in front of the Fair’s Service Center.

We’ll be selling and cashing scratch, lotto, and InstaPlay tickets, and we can help you enter our promotions if you need those details. We’ll have the scratch games available that can get you entries into our Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion, Fly with Cy promotion, and Explore Iowa promotion.

The Polaris vehicles that are the top prizes in our Explore Iowa promotion also will be on display at our tent, so feel free to check them out!

Anyone who makes at least a $10 lottery purchase at our booth gets to spin the prize wheel for merchandise prizes, and we’ve got pull-tab tickets as prizes on that wheel!

And remember that a portion of each $1 spent on lottery tickets in Iowa goes right into the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. We’re proud to share that to date, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $35 million for that meaningful cause!

We’ll also be making a couple presentations at the State Fair today to recognize the Veterans Trust Fund and spread the word about the help available through it. One presentation will be just before the Veterans parade at 11 a.m. this morning and the other will be just before the Iowa Military Veterans Band performs at 3 p.m. at the Susan Knapp Amphitheater.

Please join us in thanking and honoring veterans today to make their day at the Fair that much more special!

Ticket To Austin: How You Can Have A Chance To ‘Fly With Cy’

Last month, we announced the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion giving folks the chance to win football prize packages to two big rivalry games for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Today, the focus turns to Iowa State, and specifically, the chance to win an exclusive VIP trip to Austin for the Iowa State -Texas football game.

The Fly with Cy promotion has started today! Members of our free VIP Club can enter the promotion with nonwinning tickets in the “Hit It Big!” scratch game. We’ll draw for the Fly with Cy winners on Sept. 15.

Fifty winners and their guests will get to go on a private chartered flight that leaves Des Moines on Oct. 14 and returns from Austin on Oct. 16. Included in the trip package are:

• a 2-night hotel stay for two at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Austin University Capitol District,
• a reception at the hotel on the evening of Oct. 14,
• 2 tickets to the Iowa State - Texas football game on Oct. 15 at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium,
• Hotel and stadium transfers,
• Merchandise swag bag.

Each trip package is valued at nearly $7,300!

Entries can be made into the promotion until just before 10 a.m. on Sept. 13. We’ll post the winners’ names as soon as we have the details available after the drawing on Sept. 15.

Last year, Fly with Cy winners and their guests had a ball going to an ISU game in Las Vegas! We look forward to the fun this year in Austin.

(And for Hawkeye fans, remember that the entry period in the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion runs through 8:59 a.m. on Aug. 17. You’ve still got time to enter!)

Hawkeye Football Tix In Ironmen Suite Up For Grabs In New Promotion

Iowa football tickets to watch two big rivalry games from a suite are up for grabs in a new Prize Zone Promotion that started today.

The Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion offers 34 VIP football packages, each for two tickets in the Ironmen Suite at Kinnick Stadium for either the Iowa St.-Iowa game on Sept. 10 or the Michigan-Iowa game on Oct. 1. There are 17 prize packages per game and you’ll choose the game you prefer at the time you enter.

Players can enter the promotion with nonwinning tickets in the $10 “Cash” scratch game. Each eligible ticket entered counts as one entry into the promotion. You can enter tickets for a chance to attend either game, and you could win tickets to both! But you can win only one ticket package per game.

Each VIP prize package includes food and non-alcoholic beverages, $200 spending cash, two lottery bags with merchandise, and state withholding paid on behalf of each winner for a total prize package value of $1,152.63.

The entry period runs until 8:59 a.m. on Aug. 17. The drawing will follow on Aug. 18.

And for Cyclone fans, stay tuned! We won’t leave you out of the fun this year.

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.

‘Tail Gator’ Offers Primo Football Packages

A new lottery promotion that just kicked off today offers you the chance to go in style to an Iowa, Iowa State or Northern Iowa home football game this fall.

The $1 “Tail Gator” instant-scratch game is making its debut today and along with it, we’re offering a new promotion by that same name. Iowa Lottery VIP Club members can enter nonwinning Tail Gator tickets for a chance to win one of nine ultimate fan packages to college football games Nov. 23 in Iowa. Three fan packages will be up for grabs to each of these games that day: Kansas-Iowa St. in Ames; Michigan-Iowa in Iowa City; and W. Illinois-N. Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Each package is valued at more than $500 and includes four premium seats at the game, a parking pass, pregame hospitality, food, team merchandise, spending cash and more. Hey, we know that Iowans love college football and our Tail Gator winners will have a great time supporting their favorite team with friends at the game.

Tickets in the Tail Gator game should definitely catch your eye, as you can see from the picture here! They feature artwork of a colorful alligator all decked out in football gear, playing on the gridiron. You have the chance to win a cash prize of up to $2,000 on each ticket. And if you don’t win an instant prize, you can use nonwinning tickets as entries in the Tail Gator promotion on the lottery website.

With each entry, you can choose whether you’d like to win a Tail Gator Football Fan Experience at Iowa State University, The University of Iowa or The University of Northern Iowa.

You can enter the promotion through noon on Nov. 4. To enter, you’ll need to join or already be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club. On the lottery website, you’ll key in the entry code and ticket number from a nonwinning Tail Gator ticket.

We’ll hold the promotion’s drawings on Nov. 6 and winners’ information will be posted on the lottery’s website. Winners also will receive an email from the lottery at the address included in their VIP Club profile.
 
A few requirements to keep in mind:
•    You can only enter the promotion on the lottery’s website. Hand-delivered tickets or entries that are mailed in will not be accepted.
•    You can use each ticket only once as an eligible entry.
•    And, while you can enter multiple times, you can win only one prize package in the promotion.