ialottery blog

Were You One Of Our 322 Big Winners In September?

We’ve been tracking our big winners all across Iowa for the past nine months in the hopes to give a greater perspective on just how many winners we have all over our great state. Each month’s map represents just how many prizes of $600 or more were claimed.

September brought us 322 more lucky winners of $600 or more, bringing the grand total thus far to 3,375 for the year. On average there are about 375 winning claims filed each month.

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so there are a lot of them!

As always, remember that our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include those prizes won but not claimed yet.

Sales Resume In Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay Game After Vendor Glitch

Sales have resumed today in one of our InstaPlay games after it was suspended earlier in the week.

The “Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay” game was the only lottery product affected. A system glitch at a lottery vendor caused duplicate plays to be produced in that game during a 25-minute period Sunday morning. As soon as the error became apparent, the game was suspended.

A total of 28 duplicate plays in the game were sold to players from 9:05 to 9:29 a.m. Sunday. Of the plays involved, 8 indicated winnings totaling $23.

If you have questions about what happened, please contact Iowa Lottery Security at 515-725-7900 or Wmaster@ialottery.com. And if you think you have one of the tickets involved in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game, take it to one of our regional offices or mail it to us at: Iowa Lottery, 13001 University Ave., Clive, Iowa 50325-8225.

 
During the game’s outage, its progressive jackpot had been frozen at $4,923.95, the level it had reached when sales were suspended. Now that sales have resumed, the jackpot will again increase with each ticket sold statewide in the game until it is won.

Over the past few days, we conducted reviews on several fronts. Among other things, we made sure that all plays generated Sunday in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game were tracked and that the game’s progressive jackpot was not impacted. We’ve monitored sales in our other games to be sure they’ve continued normally. We requested and received an incident report from the vendor involved, and we’ve been assured that the error relating to Sunday’s difficulties has been addressed.

We also completed some additional testing of the InstaPlay system and it appeared to be functioning normally.

After reviewing all those details, we decided today to resume sales in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.

Sales Suspended In An InstaPlay Game After Vendor Glitch

A vendor system glitch has led to sales being suspended in one of our InstaPlay games.

Our initial review shows that the error caused 28 duplicate plays to be sold to players during a 25-minute span this morning in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.

Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn summed up our response really well today.

“The number of players impacted and the tickets involved in this situation may be modest, but you simply cannot put a price on doing the right thing,” he said. “The right thing today was to suspend sales of the game in question and have our team work to fix the issue. Maintaining the integrity of Iowa Lottery products and giving every player a fair chance to win every time must be job one.”

The Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game appears to be the only Iowa Lottery product impacted. Sales in that game were suspended about 9:30 a.m. today, and remain suspended at this time. Lottery records show that of the 28 duplicate plays sold in the game, 8 indicated winnings totaling $23.   

The $2 Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game has been sold in Iowa since November 2016. Its top prize is called progressive because it starts at $2,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.

Shortly after 9 a.m. today, the lottery and the vendor for its statewide gaming system noticed that sales in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game appeared to have reset to a point several hours earlier as an apparent result of a system and equipment reset that the vendor performed this morning. The glitch caused duplicate plays to be issued in that game. Once the issue was identified, sales in the game were immediately suspended. A total of 28 duplicate plays in the game were sold to lottery players from about 9:05 a.m. until 9:29 a.m. Sunday.

Any players with questions should contact Iowa Lottery Security directly at 515-725-7900 or Wmaster@ialottery.com. And if you think you have one of the tickets involved in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game, please take that ticket to one of our regional offices or mail it to us at: Iowa Lottery, 13001 University Ave., Clive, Iowa 50325-8225.

Big Prizes Were Won HERE This Past Month

We’re officially into the fourth month of 2019, so in keeping with the new initiative we started this year, it’s time to look back at the biggest lottery prizes claimed in Iowa during the past month.

This map shows all of the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed in March. You’ll find 418 dots on it, as compared to 399 on February’s map. So even with the many, many weather challenges that this winter and spring have brought our way, we were glad to see that people still made it in to see us and claim their prizes!  

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

As I’ve done in the past couple months, I’ll give the reminder here that this map only shows those big prizes that were claimed in March. It doesn’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.

All The Spots With Big Prizes In February

We’ve made it to the other side of a snowy-nasty February, so we’re pausing to look back at the biggest lottery prizes claimed in Iowa during the shortest month of the year (which sometimes felt like the longest this time around).

This map shows all of the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed in February. You’ll find 399 dots on it, as compared to 427 on January’s map. The difference comes down to February’s shorter number of days, because both months averaged about 14 to 15 big winners per day. So even with the wintry weather, people still made it in to see us and claim their prizes!  

I said it when we looked at January’s numbers and I’ll say it again now: The patterns on this map put into perspective something that we’ve often said about prize wins: In bigger cities, more people are buying tickets and winning prizes. That’s not a matter of luck, it’s a matter of population.

Another way of putting it is that if 5 percent of lottery tickets are sold in a particular area, you expect to find about 5 percent of the overall winners there. Everyone has the same chance of winning, but there will be more winners in places where more tickets are being sold. That’s why there are more dots (prizes) on this map in areas where there are bigger populations. But there really is no telling where the next big winner will hit.

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

I’ll note that this map only shows those big prizes that were claimed in January. It doesn’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.

Nope, Those Tickets AREN’T Fakes!

Similar reactions from two of our recent winners caught my attention because they both referenced fake lottery tickets.

First up was Don Burd of Hiawatha, who claimed a progressive InstaPlay jackpot of more than $64,000 on Dec. 24. Don said his initial thought when he saw his winning ticket was that someone must have given him a phony one because there’s no way he would be so lucky. But it wasn’t a fake and Don WAS lucky, taking home a prize of $64,494 on Christmas Eve.

Then a couple days later, we met Laci Kane of Prairie City, who claimed a $50,000 scratch-game prize on Dec. 26. Laci said she won her big prize by buying some lottery tickets to help pass the time while she and her husband drove back from a family Christmas gathering in western Iowa. She told us she was looking forward to showing her family her ceremonial check as evidence of her win because none of them believed her news! She said they all thought it was a fake.

So, while fake lottery tickets do exist and people have been known to give them as a joke, Don and Laci’s tickets were real! And they both have something extra to celebrate for the holidays.

The Holiday Prize Rush Is ON Here At The Lottery!

I don’t know if it’s something in the water, or if it’s because people have been saving up their tickets for awhile, but whatever the reason, winners have kept us BUSY at the Iowa Lottery in the past couple days.

On Monday, Iowa Lottery players claimed 19 prizes of $900 or more, including the largest prize claimed that day, a $100,000 top prize in the “Star” scratch game.

Our offices were closed yesterday for the Christmas holiday, but we’ve been off to the races again today! Lottery players in Iowa claimed a total of 28 prizes today of $800 or more. The largest prize claimed today was one of the top prizes of $300,000 in the “Colossal Crossword” scratch game.

And in addition to the prizes that have already been claimed, a “JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive” InstaPlay jackpot also was won this afternoon in Coralville. The winner of that $11,508 prize, won with a ticket purchased at Keystone Liquor & Wine, 517 Second St. in Coralville, has not yet come forward to claim it.

JACKPOT PARTY® and © 2018 Bally Gaming, Inc. All rights reserved.

I Don’t Want To Buy Tickets In A Lottery Game If Players In Other States Are Part Of It, Too…

An email from one of our players highlights the balancing act that goes into the design of our lottery games.

 

In her email, the woman said she wants to see a game that’s only offered in Iowa because she doesn’t like playing our multi-state games, knowing that the jackpot could be won by someone in a different state. The woman’s perspective made us smile because on some level, we’d like it if ALL the winners were from Iowa. But that wouldn’t make players in other states very happy, would it?

 

This player’s viewpoint is why we do our best to have a variety of games available in the market. What appeals to one person may not appeal to someone else, so we keep lots of choices out there.

 

Games like Powerball and Mega Millions are sold by lotteries all across the country because that’s how they purposefully were designed. It takes a big population base playing those games to produce the giant jackpots involved, and you can’t have one without the other.

 

But we also have games that are exclusive to Iowa. Our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games are Iowa-only, as are our scratch games, pull-tab games and InstaPlay games.

 

We hope our game selection achieves the goal of different strokes for different folks. So, if you don’t want to play a multi-state game, you do have other choices!

Norwalk Man Wins Huge InstaPlay Progressive Jackpot

A central Iowa man has won the biggest jackpot offered to date in an InstaPlay game!
 
Nick Keeling of Norwalk claimed his prize of $173,725 this morning at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

Keeling, 30, a plumber, said he was on his way to work Saturday when he stopped at the Indy 66, 2001 W. Second Ave. in Indianola, and bought a ticket in the JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive InstaPlay game. He won $20 on it, so he decided to buy another ticket – and won the jackpot. 

JACKPOT PARTY is a $10 InstaPlay game with a top prize that starts at $10,000 and grows with each ticket sold across the state until it’s won. The jackpot had been growing for nearly two months before Keeling won his big prize on Saturday.

Prior to Keeling’s win, the biggest InstaPlay prize had been a jackpot of $50,197.25 that was won Jan. 2 in the Jumbo Bucks Progressive game by Donna Smith of Tama.

JACKPOT PARTY® and © 2018 Bally Gaming, Inc. All rights reserved.

One Of Our Progressive-Jackpot Games Has The Biggest InstaPlay Prize Yet

It’s been growing for about a month now, and the jackpot in the JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive game has become the biggest prize offered to date in an InstaPlay game.

As of this afternoon, the jackpot in that game had reached an estimated $52,058, and it continues to grow with each JACKPOT PARTY Progressive InstaPlay ticket sold (in keeping with the “progressive” part of the name). It will be fun to see just how high it climbs before someone wins it!

The jackpot in that game was last won on June 5 – in fact, it was won twice that day! Belinda Rinnels of Remsen won a jackpot of $14,602 on June 5, and was followed just a few hours later by Marcus Hughes of Mason City, who won a jackpot of $10,910.

Before today, the biggest InstaPlay prize had been a jackpot of $50,197.25, which was won in the Jumbo Bucks Progressive game by Donna Smith of Tama on Jan. 2.

Have a Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Maybe the big prize in JACKPOT PARTY Progressive will be won before the holiday ends!    

JACKPOT PARTY® and © 2018 Bally Gaming, Inc. All rights reserved. 

What Do The Numbers Look Like For InstaPlay's 1st Year In Iowa?

It’s been a little more than a year since we introduced InstaPlay games as a lottery product here in Iowa, and we took time this week to look back at the numbers from the year.
 
InstaPlay games debuted in Iowa on Nov. 13, 2016. Since then, players have won 65 progressive InstaPlay jackpots and there currently is a tie for the busiest month of winners so far. We had eight InstaPlay progressive jackpot winners in both August and October of this year.

The size of the progressive jackpots that have been won ranged from a prize of $1,129.04 won on May 5 in the $1 “Loose Change Progressive” InstaPlay game up to a prize of $42,224.60 won June 1 in the $5 “Jumbo Bucks Progressive” InstaPlay Game. Twenty-four other progressive jackpots also topped the $10,000 mark during the first year of sales.

About A Month Left Before Expiration Date For Two Sizeable Iowa Lottery Prizes

As we were heading into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I blogged last week about the number of large lottery prizes that are unclaimed here in Iowa right now. There are two in particular that I’ll highlight again today because they’ll both expire within about a month if they’re not claimed in time.
 
One of the prizes – for $10,000 – was won in the Mega Millions game and the other – for nearly $6,000 – was won in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game. The winning tickets were purchased on opposite sides of the state, one in Sheldon and the other in Cedar Falls.

The $10,000 Mega Millions prize was won with a ticket purchased at the Sheldon Plaza, 121 34th Ave. in Sheldon, for the drawing on Dec. 30, 2016. That prize will expire on Jan. 2 if it’s not claimed by then at one of our lottery offices around the state.

The Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay prize was for $5,720 and was won on Oct. 7. That winning ticket was purchased at Hy-Vee Gas, 6527 University Ave. in Cedar Falls. The prize will expire on Jan. 5 if it isn’t claimed by 4 p.m. that day at one of our offices.

Click here for the entire list of unclaimed lottery prizes of more than $600 here in Iowa right now.

6 Players Have Won InstaPlay Progressive Jackpots Just Since Oct. 1

A number jumped out at us as we were reviewing some reports this week, and we realized that it really has been a busy month when it comes to winners of progressive jackpots in our InstaPlay games.

So far in October alone, six progressive InstaPlay jackpots have been won, and we’re obviously only part of the way through the month.

The prizes range from a jackpot of $2,217.84 won in the $1 “Loose Change” Progressive InstaPlay game up to a jackpot of $26,047.95 won in the $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive Instaplay game. Four other progressive jackpots also have been won so far in October.

We don’t know if there’s something in the water or what, but we’re excited to see what the grand total will look like by the end of the month!

Player Mail: What’s That Number Mean After The Name Of The Game?

It’s funny how things can sometimes come in waves, like the questions we’ve gotten this week about a certain set of numbers on our website. The numbers have been on the site for years and we haven’t changed their format, but for some reason, people noticed them this week and wondered what they mean.

I’m referring to the Remaining Prizes page on our website where we list prizes of $100 or more that are still up for grabs in our scratch, pull-tab and InstaPlay games. On that page, you can see the number of larger prizes that have been won and those that remain unclaimed. (The list is updated once daily, Monday through Friday.)

We list games alphabetically on that page but also include other details, such as the price per ticket and the game number. And it’s that number that apparently has people talking.

Our games have names like “$250,000 Riches” or “Black Ice,” but to keep track of them in our databases, each game also is assigned a number. So, $250,000 Riches is game No. 925 and Black Ice is game No. 302. It’s simply an identifying number for that particular game. It doesn’t signify anything else.

We list the game numbers on that page because we often have games with similar names, like these currently on the market: Cash In, Cash Lift and Cash Line. The game numbers help differentiate the details involved and help players easily find the information they’re seeking.

I’ve asked our Web Team to add an additional header on the page so it will be clear that they’re simply identifying game numbers, but in the meantime, this blog entry can answer the question!

Who Won Those Big InstaPlay Jackpots?

Last Friday we told you about some big jackpots up for grabs in our three InstaPlay Progressive games. Here’s an update for those of you wondering what happened to those prizes.

The jackpots in both the Cherry Twist Progressive and the Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay games were won this week. But as of 2 p.m. today, the big prize in the Loose Change Progressive game was still climbing. UPDATE: A $4,807.84-winning ticket in Loose Change Progressive was sold Friday afternoon at Yesway, 418 S. Federal Ave. in Mason City. Congratulations to the lucky winner!

Earlier today, Brad Yost of Hamburg claimed a $43,224.60 jackpot prize in Jumbo Bucks Progressive. He bought his winning ticket Thursday night at his local Casey’s. Yost, 57, said that he stopped at Casey’s for a pizza and breadsticks and decided to buy a lottery ticket, too. His decision ended up being in his favor as he claimed the biggest progressive jackpot prize to date in our InstaPlay games.

The top prize in the Cherry Twist Progressive game was claimed Tuesday by Larry Shepherd of Fremont. He won a jackpot prize of $17,572.85 on a ticket he bought at his local Casey’s.

Remember, you can see the latest jackpot information in our InstaPlay Progressive games on the homepage of our website, as well as on each game’s webpage. We also list the date and city where the last jackpot prize was won in each of these games.

New Progressive-Jackpot InstaPlay Game Debuts: Jumbo Bucks Progressive

A new InstaPlay game has just debuted here in Iowa, adding another progressive-jackpot game to the mix. It’s called “Jumbo Bucks Progressive” and it’s a $5 game that began sales yesterday across the state.
 
This is the first time we’ve added a new InstaPlay game since the product’s introduction back in November here in Iowa. There now are four InstaPlay games that you can play in our state and we anticipate adding even more over time.

The jackpot in Jumbo Bucks Progressive starts at $5,000 and grows with each ticket sold in the game. That’s the same concept you’ve already seen in the $2 “Cherry Twist Progressive” game – that jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows until someone wins it. Since the start of the Cherry Twist Progressive game in November, its jackpot has been hit 18 times, with the amounts ranging from a little more than $2,200 up to more than $28,200. That’s the fun of a progressive jackpot – you never know when the next win will hit, or how much the prize will be!  

With this new InstaPlay game’s introduction, we’ve redesigned our website’s home page a bit to quickly provide the details that players have said they want. I’ve included an image of the new design below.

In the case of lotto games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®, you’ll now find on our home page the next estimated jackpot amount; winning numbers from the latest drawing; details about when and where the jackpot was last won; and a link where you can check your numbers. For InstaPlay progressive jackpot games, you’ll see the current jackpot amount – updated every two minutes – and details about when and where the jackpot was last won.

(March 28 update: The first jackpot in Jumbo Bucks Progressive has just been won! Someone bought a ticket winning a progressive jackpot of $5,918.40 today at Delimart, 1920 Lower Muscatine Road in Iowa City.) 

Players have let us know that they like our InstaPlay progressive jackpots, so we hope you’ll have fun playing the new Jumbo Bucks Progressive!

InstaPlay Jackpots Won On Same Day

After being won just hours apart, two InstaPlay jackpots now have been claimed within hours of each other as well!

Both jackpots in the “Cherry Twist Progressive” InstaPlay game were won on Wednesday. The first was won about 5:30 p.m. that evening with a ticket purchased at a tavern in Ankeny. That ticket was for a $16,163.30 prize. About three hours later, a jackpot of $2,263.10 was won with a ticket purchased at a Des Moines convenience store. They were the 14th and 15th progressive jackpots won in the game since the InstaPlay product debuted in November here in Iowa.

Both jackpots have now been claimed. The prize of $2,263.10 was won by Daniel Cramer of Des Moines while the prize of $16,1630.30 was won by Robbie Goodwin of Ankeny.

I call that a nice way to head into the weekend!

 

2 More Players Claim Big Progressive Jackpot Prizes

The winning streak for our new InstaPlay product continues!

Earlier this week two more Iowa Lottery players claimed big progressive jackpot prizes in InstaPlay.

On Monday, Karolyn Manley of Ireton claimed a $9,511.55 progressive jackpot she had won Friday on a Cherry Twist Progressive ticket she bought at Chubs Country Store, 100 Iowa Highway 12 in Akron.

Also on Monday, Tim Wright of Jewell claimed a $2,609.15 progressive jackpot he had won Saturday in the same game on a ticket he bought at Swift Stop, 3218 Orion Drive in Ames.

There have now been 11 for jackpot winners in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game, which, along with the rest of our InstaPlay products, just debuted in November.

The jackpot in Cherry Twist Progressive starts at $2,000 and grows with each ticket sold in the game until it’s won. If this is the first time you’re hearing about our new InstaPlay games, click here to see the details about them.

FREE Tickets To Be Randomly Given Away With Some Lotto Purchases

If you buy a Powerball^®, Mega Millions^® or Lucky for Life^® ticket this month, you could randomly win a FREE ticket in one of our InstaPlay games.

Starting Sunday, thousands of players will randomly receive free InstaPlay tickets with a qualifying lotto game purchase in our “Fast and Fun” promotion.

During this promotion we’ll be randomly surprising players with a FREE InstaPlay ticket when purchasing a different lotto game each week. First up will be first Powerball (Sunday – Jan. 14), then Mega Millions (Jan. 15-21), and finally Lucky for Life (Jan. 22-28).

Just buy the lotto game that qualifies for a chance to win a free InstaPlay ticket that week and listen for a special “Surprise, Player Bonus” sounder. If you hear that sound, the terminal will automatically print your free $1, $2 or $5 InstaPlay ticket. We’ll randomly give out free tickets across the state, so it could happen at any time!

1 Month In, IA’s Biggest InstaPlay Progressive Jackpot Winner Yet!

We’re about a month into InstaPlay sales here in Iowa and the product saw its biggest progressive jackpot so far over the weekend. Someone in Davenport who bought a ticket in the “Cherry Twist Progressive” game on Saturday won a jackpot of more than $17,000!

The winning ticket for a progressive jackpot of $17,710.55 was purchased at the Hawkeye Convenience Store, 6807 Northwest Boulevard in Davenport. We’re still waiting to meet the owner of that lucky ticket!

InstaPlay sales began Nov. 13 here in Iowa and since then, there have been four progressive InstaPlay jackpot winners, or about one a week. If you’re not familiar with InstaPlay games, the product borrows features from some of our most popular games and is known as a “scratchless scratch ticket.” Click here to learn all about Iowa’s InstaPlay games!

 

Meet Iowa’s 1st Progressive Jackpot Winner In InstaPlay

Yesterday, we learned that someone had hit a progressive jackpot in InstaPlay just two days after the product made its Iowa debut. And today we got to meet that lucky winner!

We had fun helping Lindsey Astor of Des Moines celebrate her jackpot win. Lindsey works at the convenience store where she bought her winning ticket. She said that one of her co-workers had heard about the new InstaPlay games and suggested she buy a ticket. Lindsey tried the $2 “Cherry Twist Progressive” game and won its jackpot, which was up to $3,086.15 at the time.    

The jackpot in Cherry Twist Progressive starts at $2,000 and grows with each ticket sold until it’s won. If this is the first time you’re hearing about our new InstaPlay games, click here to see the details about them.