ialottery blog

Not Many Progressive Jackpots Left -- What Will Happen When They're Won?

Our blog post last month highlighting the remaining prizes list on the lottery’s website led to this blog entry today after a player question. A player named Billy reviewed the list and asked what will happen when all the progressive jackpots have been claimed in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.

The answer to Billy’s question highlights the unique nature of InstaPlay games, and how they combine features from both scratch and lotto games.

If you go to the remaining prizes list, you’ll see that 93 of the progressive jackpots in the game have been claimed with three still to go. But Cherry Twist Progressive won’t end when all the jackpots have been won.  

The prizes shown on the list are for the tickets released to date in Cherry Twist Progressive. Over time, as the supply of tickets in particular InstaPlay games has been purchased, the lottery has ordered more tickets. When that happens, players will notice that the available prizes increase along with the new supply of tickets. The tickets currently available in Cherry Twist Progressive are actually the third re-order in that game. We anticipate that the fourth round of tickets in the game will hit the market in the near future.

That same situation sometimes applies in scratch games. If a particular scratch game is popular, the lottery can order additional tickets to keep it available in the marketplace, knowing that customers like it.

Player Question: Can I Win A Different Amount Than The Game's Prize Levels?

Here’s a question we occasionally get from players digging into the details of our games: Can I ever win a different amount than the prize levels in the game, particularly the top prize amount?

The latest inquiry came from a man who was playing the Xtreme Multiplier Progressive InstaPlay game, but the answer to the question applies to tickets in any of our games.

If you have a winning ticket in one of our games, your prize will match one of the designated prize levels in the game. No other amount is possible.

The player who contacted us this week was looking at the symbol on his ticket that would multiply the prize amount shown. It’s also a game where you can win more than once on a ticket, with the amounts involved adding up to one of the prize levels in the game.

That’s one of the play styles in our games. But on tickets in other games, you may win just one prize amount on your ticket.

We vary the play styles in our games knowing that different people like different things, and variety matters!

But in any game, the maximum you can win on your ticket is the top-prize amount in the game. You can’t win the top prize AND a smaller prize amount on your ticket that would add up to more than the top-prize figure.

JURASSIC WORLD Second Chance Promotion from the Iowa Lottery

Dinosaurs and lottery prizes together? Yep, it’s happening in Iowa!

Two new games featuring iconic dinosaur-themed images have hit stores this week and a promotion tied to them will give you even more chances to win. The JURASSIC PARK Progressive InstaPlay game debuted Sunday here in Iowa. Tickets in the JURASSIC WORLD scratch game are beginning to arrive in stores today and will be available statewide by the end of the week.

The 2 games are tied to the JURASSIC WORLD Second Chance Promotion from the Iowa Lottery that will award 10 prizes of $10,000 and 2 trip packages to Hawaii where the winner will participate in an exciting event with the chance to win up to a $1 million prize!

Tickets in the JURASSIC PARK Progressive InstaPlay game and JURASSIC WORLD scratch cost $10 each, with multiple ways to win instant prizes. The scratch game features a top prize of $100,000, while the InstaPlay game has a progressive jackpot that starts at $10,000 and grows with each ticket purchased statewide until it is won.

How The Promotion Works & The Prizes Involved

The new promotion opened for entries at 10 a.m. today. Members of the lottery’s free VIP Club can enter it with nonwinning tickets in the JURASSIC PARK Progressive InstaPlay game or the JURASSIC WORLD scratch game. The entry period runs through 9:59 a.m. on Oct. 1, and the promotion will have 2 drawing dates.

On Aug. 14, the Iowa Lottery will select 5 promotion prize winners of $10,000 each. And on Oct. 2, the lottery will select 5 more winners of $10,000 each along with the 2 trip prize winners.

Each trip package, valued at nearly $17,000, includes:

• roundtrip airfare for 2 from any U.S. international airport to Honolulu, Hawaii (November 2026)
• a 5-night hotel stay (double occupancy) in Oahu, Hawaii
• $2,500 in spending money
• a welcome reception and choice of curated tour or activities in and around Oahu
• ground transfers between the destination airport and hotel, and if necessary, between hosted activities and events
• the winner’s participation along with other U.S. lottery trip winners in the $1,000,000 JACKPOT CHALLENGE Event, for a chance for all trip winners to win cash prizes of up to $1 million.

The Drawing Details

Players will choose the prize category they prefer at the time they make an entry into the promotion. Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next.

And, while the odds of this happening are long: If you enter each promotion category, you could win a $10,000 cash prize on each drawing date and a trip prize package.

Here are the promotion’s key dates:

Entry Period	Drawing Date	Prize	Number of Winners
10 a.m. June 3 - 9:59 a.m. Aug. 13	August 14	$10,000	5
10 a.m. Aug. 13 - 9:59 a.m. Oct. 1	October 2	$10,000	5
10 a.m. June 3 - 9:59 a.m. Oct. 1	October 2	Hawaii trip and $1,000,000 JACKPOT CHALLENGE Event	2

© Universal City Studios LLC and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Universal is not a sponsor or administrator of this Promotion.

If Something Goes Wrong With Your Lottery Purchase, Please Contact Us Quickly

A player reached out to us this month after noticing something unusual with the InstaPlay tickets she tried to buy, and her quick action made all the difference in our ability to help.

If you ever think that something went wrong with your lottery purchase, please contact us at the lottery as soon as you can. Quick action will provide the best chance for us to pinpoint the information involved and help figure out what happened.

The northwest Iowa woman contacted us last week after she tried to buy a couple InstaPlay tickets at a local store. She got blank pieces of paper rather than the tickets she was expecting.

The woman emailed us within an hour of that happening. She was able to provide the name and address of the store involved, the approximate time she tried to buy the tickets, name and price point of the game involved, and send photos of the front and back of the ticket paper involved.

As you can see, something definitely went wrong as her tickets were being printed.

The Right Details To Help

The details the woman provided allowed us to quickly contact the store involved, where it turns out someone had loaded the paper backwards in the lottery self-service kiosk. That was preventing ticket details from printing on the paper in the machine. Staffers at the store were able to load the paper correctly so the lottery kiosk could resume printing tickets.

We were able to pinpoint the plays the woman was trying to purchase and share those details with her. We also thanked her for helping to clear up a situation that would have affected other customers if it hadn’t been corrected.

In some instances, players have contacted us with questions about tickets they said they bought months or years earlier. After the passage of so much time, they weren’t sure about the dates or specific stores involved. And without those details, we can’t provide many answers to help.

Thank you to the player this time around! She did everything right and in the process, helped us pinpoint the answers she needed!

Player Comment: I Don’t Believe That InstaPlay Tickets Are Random

Here’s an interesting comment from a player about scratch games and InstaPlay games. The man said he definitely believes that winning scratch tickets are random, but he doesn’t accept that’s the case with InstaPlay games.

I’m thinking the distinction could have to do with the types of tickets involved in the two product groups, but that’s just a guess. In any case, here’s the background about InstaPlay tickets:

InstaPlay games share features with both lotto and scratch games. For example, InstaPlay tickets are sold on demand from lottery terminals and self-service kiosks, just like tickets in lotto games.

But there is a preset supply of tickets in an InstaPlay game, just like in a scratch game. It’s just that the plays in an InstaPlay game are left in electronic form rather than being pre-printed into a supply of tickets like they are in a scratch game.

You Get The Next Available Play

Lottery retail locations all across the state sell tickets from the same universe of electronic plays in a particular InstaPlay game. So as you’re buying a ticket at one store, a player at another store may be buying a ticket in that same game. The lottery’s central gaming system, which links all 2,500 lottery retail locations in the state, tracks InstaPlay purchases in real time and provides the next available play in the game when a request is made for a ticket.

Even if the plays are made just a fraction of a second apart, the central gaming system accurately tracks them and provides the next available play from the top of the stack in that particular game. It’s like a photo-finish at the racetrack!

No One Knows Where The Next Win Will Hit

Winning tickets, including progressive jackpot winners, are randomly distributed throughout an InstaPlay game so that no one, not even those of us who work at the Iowa Lottery, knows where the next win will hit.

There is the background about InstaPlay games! Does it match up with your understanding of how they work?

On Our Website & Mobile App: New Details For The Jackpots In InstaPlay Games

We’ve added some additional details on our website and mobile app to help show exactly how the jackpots work in our Progressive InstaPlay games.

The information for each Progressive InstaPlay game now includes the game’s starting jackpot amount AND the amount that jackpot grows with each ticket sold statewide in the game.

There are currently 9 Progressive InstaPlay games available in Iowa. And as any new Progressive games are added in the future, we’ll continue to make sure the jackpot-growth details are available.

Why They’re Called Progressive

The jackpots in Progressive InstaPlay games have set starting amounts and increase with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won. The jackpot then resets to the starting amount and begins to grow again.

InstaPlay games have similarities to scratch games, but their plays are left in electronic form rather than being pre-printed into a supply of tickets.

An electronic file of plays exists for an InstaPlay game, and winners are randomly distributed within that file. When you buy an InstaPlay ticket at a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk, you get the next available play from the top of the file.

Some jackpots won in a Progressive InstaPlay game will be larger, based upon where the particular jackpot-winning ticket falls within the file, and some will be smaller, for that same reason.

No one – not even those of us who work at the lottery – knows where the next big winner will hit.

And as with any of our games, the jackpot is just one of the prize levels available in an InstaPlay game. Some of the money spent on tickets in the games goes to pay the jackpot, and some goes to pay the other prizes.

The Jackpot Details, All In One Place

While the jackpot details are on our website and mobile app for each Progressive InstaPlay game, I’m providing them here so you’ll have them all in one place:

• In the $30 Blank Check Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
• In the $30 Super 7s Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $20 Xtreme Multiplier Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $20 Extreme Green Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $10 Hot Ticket Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $10,000 and grows by $1 with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 Big Money Doubler Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 MONOPOLY™ Game Tokens Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $2 Fat Wallet Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows by 15 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $1 Cash on the Run Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold.

Those amounts are programmed into the prize structure of the game itself, and the lottery does not adjust the prize structure once it has been implemented.

MONOPOLY TM, ® & © 1935, 2024 Hasbro

2 New InstaPlay Games Debut Sunday While Another Will End Soon

Update on Tuesday, January 21: The final progressive jackpot in the Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay game had reached $23,551.75 when it was won yesterday with a ticket purchased in Stacyville. So that game now has ended.   

Hey, InstaPlay fans! Here’s a head’s up that 2 new games will debut on Sunday, while a long-time existing game is on the list to end.

These updates are the final pieces of a refresh in our InstaPlay product line that’s been underway since September. In the months since then, we’ve introduced more than a dozen new InstaPlay games while a corresponding number of older games have ended.

It’s the first major update to our InstaPlay lineup since we began offering the product back in 2016. And it’s been fun to introduce new games for you to check out and have a shot at new prizes!

The updates continue on Sunday when ticket sales begin in the Big Money Doubler Progressive and Ultimate Winnings InstaPlay games.

As the name indicates, Big Money Doubler Progressive (a $5 game) has a progressive jackpot that starts at $5,000 and grows with each ticket sold statewide in the game until it’s won. Other prizes in the game range from $5 up to $1,000.

And, Ultimate Winnings (a $20 game) features set-amount prizes ranging from $20 up to $100,000.

While we’re gearing up for those games, another InstaPlay game is scheduled to end. The $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay game has been on the game-ending list since Nov. 30. But the exact date it will be removed from sale depends on when the game’s current jackpot is won.

To be fair to our players, we never want to end an InstaPlay game while its progressive jackpot is still growing. Someone should get to win that prize! So as soon as the Jumbo Bucks Progressive jackpot is won, the game will end.

As we move ahead, it will be the norm for new InstaPlay games to regularly be introduced and older games to end. But for now, the refresh over the past few months has created a fun, new mix of games for you to try!

Big Change In The Lineup: 10 New InstaPlay Games On The Way In November!

Iowa’s InstaPlay lineup is set for a BIG makeover in November, with 10 new games scheduled to hit the market.

The revamp of our InstaPlay line started a couple months ago when we introduced a few new games. It continued earlier this month when we debuted our first holiday-themed InstaPlay tickets.

Now in the next few weeks, you’ll see another 10 new InstaPlay games hitting the market as some older games end. That approach is similar to the schedules we use for scratch and pull-tab games – as new games are introduced, sales end in older games that have been on the market for some time.

The big difference on the InstaPlay side has to do with progressive-jackpot games. I’ll dig into those details later in this blog entry.

The Schedule Of New Games

The 5 InstaPlay games set to debut Nov. 3 all feature set prize amounts. Here is the list, including their ticket prices:

• $20 on the Spot ($1)
• Fast Cash Bingo ($2)
• Plus the Cash ($5)
• Crazy Wild Cash ($10)
• Top Dollar ($30).

Five more InstaPlay games are set to begin Nov. 17. Four of them have progressive jackpots, meaning that the top prize increases with each ticket sold statewide until it’s won. Only 1 game scheduled for Nov. 17 features set prize amounts. The games are:

• Big Money Doubler Progressive ($5)
• Hot Ticket Progressive ($10)
• Xtreme Multiplier Progressive ($20)
• Ultimate Winning ($20, game has set prize amounts)
• Blank Check Progressive ($30).

Some Older Games Are Ending

As the new games are introduced, some existing InstaPlay games will leave the market.

Ending dates are solid for the InstaPlay games with set prize amounts that are leaving the market. But the exact date that the Iowa Lottery plans to end an InstaPlay progressive game is dependent upon its jackpot being won.

To be fair to our players, we don’t want to end an InstaPlay game while its progressive jackpot is still growing. Someone should get to win it!

So, for example, the Cherry Twist Progressive game was put on the game-ending schedule on Oct. 19, but it’s still for sale because its current jackpot hasn't been hit yet!

Sales ended Oct. 19 in these 3 InstaPlay games with set prize amounts:

• Lucky Gems ($1)
• Bullseye Doubler ($2)
• Triple Play ($10).

As we move ahead, we anticipate it will become the norm for new InstaPlay games to regularly start and older games to end.

This Time, The Prize Was NOT Getting Away!

Here’s a story that’s the complete opposite of the unclaimed prizes that can sit out there for months without a winner coming forward.

In this particular case, a Des Moines man made SURE his prize didn’t get away. He claimed it about 45 minutes after he won it!

Mike Ewald of Des Moines claimed a jackpot prize of $17,140.80 yesterday afternoon in an InstaPlay game. He said he made his usual stop at a local convenience store and bought a ticket while he was there. After scanning the ticket with the lottery's mobile app on his phone, he immediately grabbed an image of the prize message and texted it to his wife.

Mike says his lottery win has great timing, landing just before his 8th wedding anniversary. He says his wife will get a little spoiled this year, with a trip to the jewelry store likely on the way!

Mike is 48 and works as a truck driver hauling roll-off dumpsters. He says that in addition to the anniversary plans, he may upgrade the stereo system on the couple’s motorcycle or even get a new tattoo. And some of the winnings will go into savings.

Mike bought his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 2110 Guthrie Ave. in Des Moines. He won the jackpot prize in the MONOPOLY™ Game Tokens Progressive InstaPlay game from the Iowa Lottery and licensed by Scientific Games, LLC.

The MONOPOLY name and logo, the distinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the MR. MONOPOLY name and character, as well as each of the distinctive elements of the board and playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro for its property trading game and game equipment. ©1935, 2024 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Hasbro.

Will We Celebrate A $5 Win? You KNOW It!

Today, we celebrated with a guy who is NOT a big prize winner. And it was all his idea!

Justin Palmieri visited our Cedar Rapids regional office this afternoon to claim a $5 prize. Yep, you read it right: He won $5.

Justin, who operates a local food truck in Cedar Rapids, says he always sees pictures of lottery winners getting oversized checks when they claim huge prizes. And he wondered if we’d give him a check for the $5 he won in the Loose Change Progressive InstaPlay game.

When he reached out to us on Facebook, we told him to come on in today when our offices would be open after the long holiday weekend! Justin’s initial reaction: “When you guys said yes, I was like, ‘Wait, no way! Somebody’s just pulling my chain!’”

But we weren’t kidding. And we gave him the red-carpet treatment, complete with a ceremonial check with lots of exclamation points on it, if not lots of zeroes. And yes, Justin put on his winner T-shirt from the lottery before we took his photo!

Through the years, we’ve had a couple other winners of small prizes ask if they could have an oversized check, and we’ve always said yes if we could. Meeting our winners is one of the best parts of working at the Iowa Lottery and we’ll celebrate wins of all sizes!

Justin says his sister asked him what he planned to do with “all that money.” He has some $5 ideas: maybe buy more lottery tickets, a cup of coffee (decaf, because that’s what he drinks), or a new fishing lure.

Justin considers today's prize-claim experience just a warm-up for much larger winnings to come. He says somebody’s going to win big, and it might as well be him!

4 New InstaPlay games start Sunday!

Earlier this week, I shared a preview that 4 new InstaPlay games will debut on Sunday. Now that it's almost time, here’s what you need to know to be among the first to have a chance to win prizes in them!

The new games will be available for sale at lottery terminals and self-service kiosks statewide as soon as our equipment comes up for the day on Sunday. In many locations, that will depend on when a particular business opens that day.

Two of the new InstaPlay games have progressive jackpots – meaning that they grow with each ticket sold statewide in the game until the prize is won. And two of the games have prizes that are all pre-set amounts. The new games range in price from $1 up to $10.

Cash on the Run Progressive is a $1 game with jackpots that start at $650 and grow from there. Fat Wallet Progressive is a $2 game with jackpots starting at $2,000.

The other new games that start Sunday are:

• $50 and $100 Frenzy, a $5 game with prizes from $5 up to $100.
• Hit $250, a $10 game with prizes ranging from $10 up to $500.

As the names in those last two games indicate, they’re loaded with prizes at the $50, $100 and $250 prize levels.

We plan to introduce even more new InstaPlay games in October and November, including Iowa’s first holiday-themed InstaPlay games. So be on the lookout for those!

One further note: As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog entry, we’ll be ending many of the existing InstaPlay games that have been on the market for some time here in Iowa. Check out that the details in that post so you’ll be aware of the process.

Cash Spectacular InstaPlay Game Ends As 4 New Games Head For Market!

Changes are underway in our lineup of InstaPlay games, and you may have already noticed one of them.

Sales ended in the Cash Spectacular InstaPlay game this past weekend as we gear up to bring 4 new InstaPlay games to the market this Sunday!

This is the first major update we’ve made to our line-up of InstaPlay games since we began offering the product back in 2016. It will be fun to introduce new games so you can check out their features and prizes.

This coming Sunday (Sept. 1), watch for 4 new InstaPlay games to debut! I’ll have more details to share about them on Friday, so check back here.

And that’s not all. We plan to introduce even more new InstaPlay games in October and November, including Iowa’s first holiday-themed InstaPlay games!

With new games hitting the market, many existing InstaPlay games, like Cash Spectacular, will be ending. That’s similar to the standard procedures we use in our scratch games. We leave games on the market as long as we can, especially if there’s still a top prize available. But at some point, players tell us through lower purchase levels that they’re moving on. And at that point, we end the older game to make room for something new.

Here’s what you can expect with the InstaPlay lineup in the next few months. If we end a Progressive InstaPlay game that’s been on the market for some time, we’ll do it immediately after the game’s progressive jackpot is won so everyone has a chance to win that top prize.

For InstaPlay games with set prize amounts, the end date will be more dependent upon sales levels and the top prizes still available.

How Are The Jackpot Amounts Determined In InstaPlay Progressive Games?

A man reached out to us this week with a question about the jackpot amounts in our progressive InstaPlay games, and I’m sharing our answer here in case you’ve wondered the same thing.

The man specifically asked how the jackpot amount is determined in the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game. But the same process applies to the jackpots in any of our progressive InstaPlay games. You may already know this, but those games are called progressive because their jackpots have a starting amount (just like the jackpots Powerball® and Mega Millions®) and grow progressively larger with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won.

The Details Of The Jackpot

In the case of Super 7s Progressive, its jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows from there, increasing by $3 with each ticket sold statewide in the game.

InstaPlay games are like scratch games, but their plays are left in electronic form rather than having a pre-printed supply of tickets. An electronic file of plays exists in an InstaPlay game, and winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout that file. When you buy an InstaPlay ticket, you get the next available play at the top of the file.

The exact amount involved when the jackpot is won in a progressive InstaPlay game depends upon where the jackpot-winning ticket is within the electronic file. Some jackpots won in the game will be larger, based upon where that particular jackpot-winning ticket falls within the file, and some will be smaller, for the same reason.

As a security feature, not even those of us who work at the lottery know where the winning tickets are within our games, so no one can predict when or where the next big winner will hit.

The jackpot in Super 7s Progressive is therefore a combination of the game’s starting jackpot amount and the number of tickets purchased up until that particular jackpot is won.

And remember that as with any of our games, the top prize is just one of the prize levels available. For example, in addition to the jackpot players can win prizes in Super 7s Progressive ranging from $30 to $10,000, so a big percentage of the money spent on tickets in the game goes to pay prizes.

The Details For Each Progressive Game

Here are the jackpot details in all of the Iowa Lottery’s progressive InstaPlay games:

• In the $30 Super 7s Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
• In the $20 Extreme Green Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $10 JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $10,000 and grows by $1 with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 MONOPOLY™ Game Tokens Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $2 Cherry Twist Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows by 15 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $1 Loose Change Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold.

Those amounts are programmed into the prize structure of the game itself, and the lottery does not adjust the prize structure once it has been implemented.

2023 ® & © Light & Wonder, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.
MONOPOLY TM, ® & © 1935, 2024 Hasbro

As He’s Planning To Open A New Business, Storm Lake Man Wins Nearly $300K

A Storm Lake man says his big lottery win has come at the perfect time, just as he’s planning to open a new business.

Alexander Perez won an InstaPlay prize of nearly $300,000! He says the moment got him thinking about the dreams he has together with his wife and family.

Alexander, who is 50, currently own his own garage in Storm Lake to service and repair vehicles, but is in the process of switching fields, planning to open a new business in heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

The story of Alexander’s lottery win began on Monday with a need for coffee. They were out of coffee at home, so he stopped that morning at Midtown, 1100 E. Fifth St. in Storm Lake, for some java. While he was there, he bought a ticket in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game, then went on to work.

He checked his ticket after he arrived and kept looking at the results to try to believe what he was seeing. Then he thinks he may have had a brief panic attack because he was having trouble breathing. Alexander says he called his wife, who got him to calm down.

Alexander won the Extreme Green Progressive jackpot, which at the time had climbed to $295,300. The game’s big prize had been growing for more than three months to reach that level. Prior to his win, it was last hit Feb. 2 with a ticket purchased in Norwalk.

Alexander says he was so shaky and distracted after realizing he’d won that he decided to shut his garage for the day. He went home and walked around, trying to absorb what a different kind of day it was!

As he claimed his prize yesterday at lottery headquarters in Clive, Alexander said his lottery win was sinking in. He said the idea of winning the lottery is something that’s always in your mind – that maybe someday it could be you. And this time, it IS him!

Check Your Tickets! Only 1 Month Left for $50,000 Powerball Prize

A $50,000 Powerball® prize won in Des Moines will expire in a month if it isn’t claimed in time, and at the Iowa Lottery, we’re reminding players to double-check their tickets!

The Des Moines prize is among five lottery prizes of at least $20,000 that are currently unclaimed in Iowa. They’ll all expire by early October if they aren’t claimed in time.

The $50,000 Powerball prize has the earliest expiration date on that list. It was won in the Powerball drawing on Dec. 16 and is set to expire on June 13. The winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 3725 Beaver Ave. in Des Moines, for the Powerball drawing on Dec. 16. It matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize.

The winning Powerball numbers in that night’s drawing were 3-9-10-20-62 and Powerball 25. The Power Play® number was 3.

What’s the largest current unclaimed prize in Iowa?

The largest prize currently unclaimed in Iowa is a $500,000 Powerball Double Play® prize won in March in Mason City. That particular prize is a little more unusual because Double Play is a new option in the Powerball game.

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

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

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

The lucky ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 1502 Federal Ave. in Mason City. It will expire on Sept. 12 if the prize is not claimed in time.

Here are details about the other two sizeable lottery prizes in Iowa that remain unclaimed (listed by prize amount):

Game	Drawing Date	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Powerball	April 10, 2024	$50,000	Hy-Vee, Des Moines	Oct. 7, 2024
InstaPlay	May 10, 2024	$38,851.35	Kwik Star, Davenport	Aug. 8, 2024
Mega Millions	March 26, 2024	$20,000	Kum & Go, Ankeny	Sept. 23, 2024

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

What happens to unclaimed prize money in Iowa?

In the last fiscal year (FY 2023), more than $1.7 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

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

MONOPOLY Second-Chance Promotion From The Iowa Lottery Will Award 15 Prizes of $10,000!

Players in two Iowa Lottery games have a chance to win one of 15 cash prizes of $10,000 in a new MONOPOLY-themed promotion that opened for entries this week!

The lottery’s MONOPOLY Second-Chance Promotion opened for entries Wednesday morning. Players can enter it with eligible tickets in the MONOPOLY Game Tokens Progressive InstaPlay game or the MONOPOLY 20X scratch game. Both $5 games debuted in Iowa earlier this month.

Up for grabs in the promotion’s May 30 drawing will be 15 prizes of $10,000 each. A player can enter multiple tickets in the promotion but can win only one prize in the drawing.

To enter the promotion, Iowa Lottery players must join or already be members of the lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through 9:59 a.m. on May 29.

Eligible for the promotion are any nonwinning tickets in the MONOPOLY Game Tokens Progressive InstaPlay game purchased on or after March 20; and any nonwinning MONOPOLY 20X scratch tickets. That scratch game began sales on March 5.

Good luck in the promotion, and maybe we’ll see YOUR name on the winner list from the drawing!

Truth or Myth: With overall odds of 1 in 3.67, if I buy 4 tickets I'm guaranteed to win.

Last month, we asked our first Truth or Myth question to have everyone put their thinking caps on. Now we’re back for another round. This is a good one, and we hear it a lot.

Truth or Myth: If the overall odds of winning in a game are 1 in 3.67, if you buy 4 tickets in a row, 1 of them is guaranteed to win a prize.

That’s a myth.

The overall odds of winning a prize in a scratch, InstaPlay or pull-tab game apply to each ticket purchased in that game, not a series of tickets. So, if a game has overall odds of winning of about 1:4, that doesn't mean that if you buy 4 tickets, 1 of them is guaranteed to win. It means that if you were to buy all of the tickets available in that game, approximately 1 in 4 of them would win a prize.

Winning tickets are distributed randomly in our games, so no one, not even those of us at the lottery or the retailers who sell our tickets, know when or where the next win will hit. That’s an important part of our lottery security procedures.

Think of the random distribution of winning tickets like a deck of cards that’s been shuffled. Within the shuffled deck, there could be three hearts or clubs in a
row and then several cards in a row after that in other suits. It’s the same thing in our games. There could be three winning tickets in a row, and then several nonwinning tickets in a row after that.

It’s our job to ensure that everyone has the same fair shot at winning. The bottom line is, big winners happen all over the state. And, higher ticket sales in a particular area will mean more winners there. It doesn’t mean those tickets are luckier. It just means there were more tickets sold in that area, so there will be more winners there as well, simply based on volume.

We keep a list of all winners of $600 or more in the past year on our website along with the remaining prizes of $50 or more in our scratch and InstaPlay games. We also have a list of unclaimed prizes of $600 or more in our lotto games.

Those lists are part of our efforts to be as transparent as we can about the details in our games. So is this Truth or Myth series.

Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works.

He got engaged, then the next morning won a lottery prize of nearly $400,000

A Dubuque County man’s marriage proposal was accepted on a Friday night, then the next morning, he won a lottery prize of nearly $400,000.

Nick Miller of Bernard says that even he is struggling to wrap his head around it all. He says he guesses this means he’s ready for the next parts of life!

Nick claimed his prize today at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. He says that his fiancée, Lauren Timmerman, accepted his marriage proposal on June 23, then the next morning, he needed to work cattle with his brother. On his way there, he stopped for coffee and a slice of breakfast pizza at Casey’s, 717 First Ave. E. in Cascade.

Nick says he noticed while he was there that the jackpot in the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game had climbed to nearly $400,000, so he decided to buy a ticket, then took it out to his truck to review the results there. He thought he’d matched three winning numbers for the jackpot, but was having trouble believing what he was seeing. So he scanned the ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app and it confirmed he’d won the game’s jackpot of $390,191.

Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay is a $30 game. Its jackpot starts at $50,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it’s won.

The InstaPlay product combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called scratchless because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won.

Nick farms with his family and works at Rail-Way Inc., a Cascade company that produces railroad crossings. He says he was bursting with the news after his win, but he knew that he and his fiancée were leaving for a week-long family vacation in Florida, so he kept things pretty quiet. He says that during the trip, his mind kept returning to his big win, and he would second-guess himself.

But he definitely did win, and he calls it a good way to start an engagement. Nick says that in addition to their wedding, he and Lauren have a house to start doing some work on, and his winnings will go a long way towards both!

Nick’s InstaPlay jackpot was one of four major prizes won in Iowa during a five-day span in late June.

The lucky streak started with a $1 million Mega Millions® prize won June 23 in Davenport. Then on June 24, Nick won his InstaPlay prize in Cascade and a Powerball® prize of $2 million was won in Ottumwa. And on June 27, a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life® game was won in Centerville.

The $1 million Mega Millions prize in Davenport is the only one of the four that remains unclaimed.

Appanoose County Man Claims Lottery Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life

A southern Iowa man says he’d overslept a bit and was rushing to catch up when he learned he’d won a lottery prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Brent Oden of Cincinnati, a community of about 290 in Appanoose County, says he normally would have checked the results of his Lucky for Life® ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app. But in his rush, he gave it to a clerk at a local store to scan on the lottery terminal.

He says the woman ran the ticket through the machine, and then delivered this news: “I think you just hit something big.” Oden’s reaction? “Surely not.”

But it was true!

Brent, 56, who farms and owns a sanitation business, is Iowa’s 19th big winner in Lucky for Life since the game’s 2016 debut in our state.

His ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in Tuesday’s drawing to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life. The winning numbers in Tuesday’s drawing were 1-15-20-31-44 and Lucky Ball 18.

Oden bought his winning easy-pick ticket at Bratz Oil Corp., 102 Drake Ave. in Centerville, the same store where he had his ticket checked. He says his stars must have fallen in a row or something.

Then word in his small town spread quickly. Oden said his children, grandchildren, friends and people in the community all were calling to see if it was true.

Bratz Oil will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Brent chose to receive his prize in its lump-sum option of $390,000. He and his wife, Julie, say they’ll invest most of the winnings, but may spend some of it on a trip to Hawaii to fulfill Brent’s pledge that they’d go back after their honeymoon there.

Brent’s prize was the fourth major win by a lottery player in Iowa in five days. The winning streak started with a $1 million Mega Millions® prize won Friday in Davenport. Then on Saturday, an InstaPlay jackpot of nearly $400,000 was won in Cascade and a Powerball® prize of $2 million was won in Ottumwa.

An Ottumwa woman claimed the $2 million Powerball prize on Monday, while Oden claimed his prize yesterday. The other two major prizes remain unclaimed.

4th major lottery prize won in 5 Days in Iowa, the latest is in Lucky for Life

For the 4th time in 5 days, a lottery player in Iowa has won a major prize.

The latest big win hit last night in the Lucky for Life® game. Someone who bought a ticket in Centerville won a prize of $25,000 a year for life.

That follows a $1 million Mega Millions® prize won Friday in Davenport, and then on Saturday, an InstaPlay jackpot of nearly $400,000 in Cascade and a Powerball® prize of $2 million in Ottumwa.

An Ottumwa woman claimed the $2 million Powerball prize on Monday, while the other major prizes remain unclaimed.

The winning Lucky for Life ticket, purchased at Bratz Oil Corp., 102 Drake Ave. in Centerville, matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in last night’s drawing to win at the game's second prize level of $25,000 a year for life. The winning numbers in last night’s drawing were 1-15-20-31-44 and Lucky Ball 18.

It’s the 19th big Iowa win in Lucky for Life since the game debuted in our state in January 2016.

Bratz Oil will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the ticket winning $25,000 a year for life.

Here are the details about the other two recent major Iowa Lottery prizes that remain unclaimed.

InstaPlay: The Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay jackpot of $390,191 was won Saturday with a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 717 First Ave. E. in Cascade.

Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay is a $30 game. Its jackpot starts at $50,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.

The InstaPlay product combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called scratchless because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won.

Mega Millions: The Mega Millions prize of $1 million was won Friday with a ticket purchased at Smokin’ Joe’s, 3120 Rockingham Road in Davenport. The ticket came within one number of Friday’s $320 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.

The Davenport ticket was the only one in the country to win a $1 million prize in that night’s drawing.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 13-62-65-67-69 and Mega Ball 14. The Megaplier® was 5.

Smokin’ Joe’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket in Davenport.

Prizes won in Iowa of more than $250,000 must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. Lottery offices are open Monday through Friday, and appointments are strongly encouraged for those claims.

If the winners have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, they're welcome to call us at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

WINNING WEEKEND! 3 Big Lottery Prizes Won In The Past 2 Days In Iowa

Talk about a winning weekend!

Three large lottery prizes were won in the past two days in Iowa. The first was a $1 million Mega Millions® prize in that game’s Friday drawing. Then came an InstaPlay jackpot of nearly $400,000 and a Powerball® prize of $2 million, both won yesterday.

The winning streak demonstrates the random nature of lottery games, and the key detail you’ve heard us at the lottery emphasize so many times: You never know when or where the next big winner will hit!

Here are the details about each of the prizes and games involved.

Powerball
The $2 million Powerball prize was won last night with a ticket purchased at Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh, 1027 N. Quincy Ave. in Ottumwa. The ticket came within one number of last night’s $424 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball to initially win a $1 million prize. But whoever bought the ticket added the Power Play option to the play, which multiplied the prize at the Match 5 level to $2 million.

The Ottumwa ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize last night.

Last night’s winning Powerball numbers were: 2-38-44-50-62 and Powerball 19. The Power Play number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $440 million annuity, $230.5 million lump-sum option, for the game’s next drawing on Monday.

Hy-Vee will receive a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million ticket.

InstaPlay
A jackpot of $390,191 was won yesterday in the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game with a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 717 First Ave. E. in Cascade.

Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay is a $30 game. Its jackpot starts at $50,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.

The Super 7s Progressive jackpot had been growing for more than two months. Before yesterday’s lucky strike, it was last won on April 4 with a ticket purchased in Marion.

The InstaPlay product combines features from instant-scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called scratchless because they have no security coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won.

Mega Millions
The $1 million Mega Millions prize was won Friday with a ticket purchased at Smokin’ Joe’s, 3120 Rockingham Road in Davenport. The ticket came within one number of Friday’s $320 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.

The Davenport ticket was the only one in the country to win a $1 million prize on Friday.

Friday’s winning numbers were: 13-62-65-67-69 and Mega Ball 14. The Megaplier® was 5. No one matched all six numbers to win Friday’s jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $343 million annuity, $180.1 million lump-sum option, for the game’s next drawing on Tuesday.

Smokin’ Joe’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket.

Powerball and Mega Millions are both lotto games with jackpot prizes that have topped $1 billion. But while Powerball's drawings are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Mega Millions drawings are on Tuesdays and Fridays.

All three big prizes from this weekend have to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. Lottery offices are open Monday through Friday, and appointments are strongly encouraged for those claims.

To make an appointment or contact the lottery with questions, the winners are welcome to call the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

That InstaPlay Jackpot Is Really Climbing! How Do I Track The Latest Amount?

With the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay jackpot now topping $300,000 and the grand prizes in three other progressive games in five-digit territory, we’re hearing from players who want to know how they can track the latest amounts. There are a few different ways to do that, including by reviewing the totals printed on tickets in the games.

Every few minutes, the latest estimates for the jackpots in progressive InstaPlay games are updated on the lottery’s website, our mobile app, the lottery display screens in retail locations, and tickets printed in the games. I’ll emphasize that the figures are estimates, since the progressive jackpots increase with each ticket purchased statewide in that particular game. But we know you want the latest details possible, so we push out the updates!

The other question we’ve gotten today is whether the Super 7s Progressive jackpot is nearing a record. It still has a ways to go in that regard, so we’ll have to see what happens! The largest InstaPlay jackpot claimed to date was a $443,507 prize won in February. Brad Carter of Des Moines claimed that prize in the Super 7s Progressive game.

And here is the background about the growth rate of the jackpots in our progressive InstaPlay games.

• In the $30 Super 7s Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $20 Extreme Green Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $10 JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $10,000 and grows by $1 with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $2 Cherry Twist Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows by 15 cents with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $1 Loose Change Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold statewide.

2023 ® & © Light & Wonder, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.

InstaPlay Promotion Ending Tonight

Please note that the InstaPlay promotion underway since last week is ending at 11:59 p.m. tonight.

The “player bonus” promotion has been so popular, it quickly ran through the free plays allotted for it. The free plays had been expected to last through early May, but player demand for them had surged.

From now through 11:59 p.m. tonight, for every 10th ticket purchased statewide in the JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive game, the lottery terminal or self-service kiosk will automatically generate a free play in the $30 Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game.

You’ll hear the “Surprise, player bonus!” sound from the machine as the free play is printed. Both plays are yours – the $10 ticket you bought and the $30 ticket you won for free.

Remember, not every 10th ticket purchased from a specific location or lottery machine is eligible for a free play. It’s every 10th ticket purchased statewide, so the free-play bonus has been hitting in stores all across Iowa.

Thank you for being part of this fun -- and unexpected -- moment! We heard from a lot of folks who got free plays this past week!

2023 ® & © Light & Wonder Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.

Player Bonus: InstaPlay Bonus Promotion Has Started Today!

When you play the JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive Instaplay game right now, you may get a surprise bonus: a free ticket!

From now through the end of the day May 9, for every 10th ticket purchased statewide in the JACKPOT PARTY Progressive game, the lottery terminal or self-service kiosk will automatically generate a free play in the $30 Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game.

You’ll hear the “Surprise, player bonus!” sound from the machine as the free play is printed. Both plays are yours – the $10 ticket you bought and the $30 ticket you won for free.

Remember, not every 10th ticket purchased from a specific location or lottery machine is eligible for a free play. It’s every 10th ticket purchased statewide, so the free-play bonus will hit in stores all across Iowa.

Listen for the “player bonus” sound when you buy a JACKPOT PARTY Progressive InstaPlay ticket during the next month!

2023 ® & © Light & Wonder Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.

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.

Des Moines Man Claims Largest InstaPlay Jackpot By Far In Iowa

A Des Moines man now has bragging rights, claiming the largest InstaPlay jackpot in Iowa!

Brad Carter of Des Moines claimed the prize of $443,507 today. He won it in the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game with a ticket he bought after washing his van.

Brad said he probably checked the results of his ticket seven times, then asked his wife, his kids and his in-laws to check it. He said that until someone confirms it, you’re just in shock.

Brad bought his winning ticket yesterday at Quik Trip, 849 Army Post Road in Des Moines. He said he took the ticket home to play it, then called his wife to share the news, but was too emotional to talk! Angel Carter said she was worried at first that Brad had reinjured the knee he recently hurt, but he was eventually able to tell her the good news.

Angel said she went right home after that to double-check the ticket and share in the disbelief and excitement.

The couple is still figuring out what to do with their InstaPlay winnings. Angel says a larger kitchen would be nice, the question is whether that would be at their current house or a new one!

This is Brad Carter’s second big InstaPlay win. He claimed a progressive jackpot of $28,840 in a different game in January 2022.

The previous record for an InstaPlay prize was a jackpot of $303,674 in the Extreme Green Progressive game in January 2022.

Jackpots in the Iowa Lottery’s progressive InstaPlay games have a starting amount and then grow with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won. The prize amount involved varies with the purchase price of the game.

For example, the jackpot in the $1 Loose Change Progressive InstaPlay game starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold statewide until it’s won. Conversely, the jackpot in the $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay game starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.

In the $30 Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold.

InstaPlay Games: Standard And Progressive-Jackpots At All Price Points, From $1 to $30

Here’s a quick recap of the lottery’s line-up of InstaPlay games, with standard and progressive-jackpot games available at all price points.

Iowa’s newest InstaPlay games just debuted last weekend, with the $30 Hit the Jackpot and Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay games beginning sales on Sunday. There are now 12 InstaPlay games available in Iowa ranging in price from $1 up to $30, the same price range for Iowa Lottery scratch games.

If you aren’t familiar with InstaPlay games, here’s the background about them: Their tickets borrow features from both scratch and lotto games. InstaPlay tickets are called "scratchless" because they don’t have a coating that needs to be removed to determine the prize won. And rather than having supplies of tickets printed in advance like scratch and pull-tab games, InstaPlay tickets are printed on demand from the lottery terminal, just like tickets in lotto games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®.

In standard InstaPlay games, several set prize levels are available. The prize levels involved don’t change.

Progressive-jackpot InstaPlay games have that name because the top prize grows with each ticket sold statewide in that particular game. (In other words, the jackpot gets progressively larger.) Some InstaPlay progressive jackpots have climbed into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and players definitely have fun playing for them as they climb!

InstaPlay games have been offered in Iowa since 2016. You can buy tickets in them at any lottery terminal or self-service kiosk.

Russell Smith Wins Again … Or Did He?

It’s apparently a really good time to be Russell Smith in Iowa!

Not one but TWO Iowa men named Russell Smith have claimed big lottery prizes this month.

First up was Russell Smith of DeWitt, who claimed a $10,000 prize in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game on Aug. 1. He got his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one for fun at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Then yesterday, Russell Smith of Des Moines claimed a $25,000 top prize in the “Wild Bingo” scratch game. He visited lottery headquarters in Clive to get his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one.

Not the same guy, just a happy coincidence. And hey, there’s still a lot of time to go in August! Maybe even MORE Russell Smiths will win big prizes by the end of the month!

Congratulations to both Russell Smiths!

His 2nd Big Win Of 2022: Davenport Man Claims Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life

A Davenport man who claimed a big lottery prize today said he was looking forward to the evidence he could take home to prove to his family and friends that he really did win.

Doug Schlickman said he thinks there will be a doubt until he gets home with a check. And he definitely got one: Doug claimed Lucky for Life’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Doug, who's 51 and works as a production control supervisor at John Deere Cylinder Works in the Quad Cities,  matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in the game's Monday drawing to win his prize. He bought his winning ticket at Kwik Star, 1225 E. Kimberly Road in Davenport.

He said as he was checking his lottery tickets yesterday on the lottery website, he first realized he’d won $4 for matching just the Powerball® in that game’s Monday drawing. Then he checked his Lucky for Life® tickets.

Doug said he had three tickets in the game and the numbers on the last one were all matching up. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, so he scanned the easy-pick ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app. It confirmed he definitely won $25,000 a year for life.

The winning numbers in Monday’s Lucky for Life drawing were: 2-12-16-29-40 and Lucky Ball 13.

Kwik Star will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Doug said that after he realized he’d won, he sent a text to his wife, Sarah, a nurse practitioner in an operating room. He asked her how it felt to be debt free. She just texted back with question marks. So, he took a screenshot of the winning message on the lottery’s mobile app and sent it to her.

Doug said they plan to pay off debt, then invest the rest of the winnings for their children’s college expenses and their own retirement.

His Lucky for Life prize is Doug’s second big lottery win of 2022. In January, he won a prize of $12,920.90 in the Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay game.

Doug said he enjoys the anticipation of playing the lottery – just the excitement of checking his ticket results. And he says he’s not done winning yet: He’s aiming for a Powerball or Mega Millions® jackpot next.

Say What? 6 Lottery Prizes Of At Least $10,000 Are Unclaimed In Iowa

Are we as Iowans becoming really forgetful? Are we just procrastinating? Whatever the reason, six lottery prizes of at least $10,000 are unclaimed right now in the state. This is a reminder to double-check your tickets.

The largest amount on the list – a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life® game – has been unclaimed for nearly six months.

The winner bought the lucky ticket at Casey’s, 641 Edgewood Road NW in Cedar Rapids, for the Lucky for Life drawing on Nov. 4, 2021. The ticket matched the five white balls but missed the yellow Lucky Ball that night to win the game’s second prize level. The winning numbers in the Nov. 4 drawing were: 6-9-12-23-41 and Lucky Ball 8.

The winner has until 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, to claim the prize at Iowa Lottery headquarters.

Here is a list of the other five big unclaimed prizes, and they’re also shown on a map in the video above if it helps to see them visually.

Game	Prize Drawing	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Powerball	July 21, 2021	$50,000	Casey's, Council Bluffs	July 21, 2022
Powerball	Oct. 23, 2021	$50,000	Kum & Go, Stuart	Oct. 24, 2022
Extreme Green InstaPlay	March 29, 2022	$37,624	River Mart, W. Burlington	June 27, 2022
Word Search InstaPlay	April 14, 2022	$20,000	Casey's, Waukon	July 13, 2022
Extreme Green InstaPlay	March 12, 2022	$10,000	Casey's, Gilbertville	June 10, 2022

The lottery currently offers prize claims by appointment at its offices. If you’re one of the winners and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, please give us a shout at 515-725-7900.

In the last fiscal year, more than $1.3 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

Time appears to be a factor. The Iowa Lottery reviewed plays from a sampling of recent lotto drawings and found that the vast majority of prize claims occurred within six months of the drawing date. Less than 3 percent of prizes from those drawings were claimed after that point. The Iowa Lottery will continue to review how it can best encourage and remind players to claim their prizes.

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

He Just Claimed The Biggest InstaPlay Prize Yet!

An eastern Iowa man has just claimed the biggest prize yet in one of our InstaPlay games!

William Bowling of Maquoketa claimed a jackpot prize of $303,675 this week in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game. That’s the largest prize ever won in an InstaPlay game since the product debuted in Iowa back in 2016.

The previous record InstaPlay jackpot also was in the Extreme Green Progressive game. That prize of $276,296 was won in October 2020 by a Hiawatha man.

As he claimed his prize Tuesday, William was looking to the future. He’s 64 and said he’s been thinking about retiring at the end of the year, and his big win would make that a lot easier if he decides to do that.

William bought his winning ticket at his local Casey’s, where he stopped after work to redeem a $20 prize from another ticket. He said he noticed that the jackpot was still climbing in Extreme Green, so he decided to use his initial prize to buy another ticket. He said he took the ticket out to his truck and that’s when he noticed he’d won big!

But William said he didn’t trust what he was seeing – he kept thinking he’d wake up and it wouldn’t be real. So he called his wife, Deb, and had her check the ticket, too. He said she scanned the ticket with the lottery’s mobile app to verify the prize involved, and then they were both in shock.

If you’re not familiar with progressive games, they’re called that because their jackpots grow progressively larger with each ticket sold statewide until the big prize is won. In the case of Extreme Green Progressive, its jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows from there, increasing by $2 with each ticket sold statewide in the game.

An electronic file of plays exists in the game, and winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout that file. The exact amount of the jackpot won depends upon where the jackpot-winning ticket exists in the electronic file, and when the ticket is purchased.

Some jackpots won in a progressive game will be larger, based upon where that particular jackpot-winning ticket falls within the game, and some will be smaller, for the same reason. As a security feature, not even those of us who work at the lottery know where the winning tickets are within our games, so no one can predict when or where the next big winner will hit.

The jackpot that William won obviously had been growing for a while and his ticket won a big prize because of that! In addition to thinking about retirement, William said he’s considering using part of his winnings to go on a family vacation somewhere warm.

With today’s single-digit temperatures here in Iowa, that sounds like a perfect plan!