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.

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!

This Time, You Can Enter InstaPlay Tickets For A Chance To Win More Prizes

This time, InstaPlay games are in the spotlight in a promotion that gives you the chance to enter tickets for a chance to win more prizes -- A LOT more in prizes. To be specific, the InstaPlay promotion that began this morning has a total of $228,000 in prizes on the line!

We’re applying the “max bet” concept in this Play It Again® promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you could win increases with the purchase price of the ticket you enter.

There are five categories in the promotion based on the ticket price point involved:

• $20 tickets are eligible for a $20,000 prize.
• $10 tickets are eligible for a $10,000 prize.
• $5 tickets are eligible for a $5,000 prize.
• $2 tickets are eligible for a $2,000 prize.
• $1 tickets are eligible for a $1,000 prize.

The promotion will have two drawings. They’ll be held on Feb. 3 and Feb. 24, with 15 cash prizes awarded in each. That works out to 3 prizes per category in both drawings.

So, in the Feb. 3 drawing, there will be 3 winners of a $20,000 prize, 3 winners of a $10,000 prize, 3 winners of a $5,000 prize, 3 winners of a $2,000 prize and 3 winners of a $1,000 prize. That same thing will happen in the Feb. 24 drawing.

Only recent InstaPlay tickets can be entered. Any nonwinning InstaPlay ticket purchased on or after Jan. 3 of this year is eligible for entry into the promotion. And remember that you’ll need to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club to enter.

You can enter tickets for the first drawing until the morning of Feb. 1, and then entries will start over for the second drawing, with its entry period open until the morning of Feb. 22. Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next.

You can win a prize in each category you enter. (Yes, the odds of that happening are long, but we’ve seen players win multiple prizes before in our drawings.)

Good luck, thank you for playing, and we hope you have fun with this moment in the sun for our InstaPlay games!

Tiny Town, Big Win!

An eastern Iowa man who bought a lottery ticket in a tiny town has won big!

Gary Knief of Bellevue won a jackpot prize of $160,074 in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game.

He purchased his winning ticket Saturday at Kalmes Store, 100 N. Main St. in Saint Donatus, a Jackson County community with a population of about 135.

Gary claimed his prize yesterday at the Iowa Lottery’s Cedar Rapids regional office.

The Extreme Green Progressive jackpot starts at $20,000 and increases with each ticket sold statewide in the game 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. And rather than having supplies of tickets printed in advance like those in traditional scratch and pull-tab games, InstaPlay tickets are printed on demand from the lottery terminal.

Congratulations on your win, Gary! You’re proof in action that big lottery wins can pop up anywhere! 

He Didn't Forecast This: Meteorologist Wins Big Prize

His job is to make accurate forecasts, but something happened today that a television meteorologist did not have on his radar: He claimed a big lottery prize.

Jason Sydejko, a meteorologist in Des Moines at KCCI-TV, won a progressive jackpot of nearly $17,000 in one of the Iowa Lottery’s InstaPlay games. His exact prize was $16,807.70 in the Cherry Twist Progressive game.

Jason claimed his prize this afternoon at lottery headquarters in Clive and admitted he was a little nervous about the reaction that the news staff at his station would have because he worked all weekend and managed not to tell anyone there. He said he kept the winning ticket in his wallet all weekend and was really feeling the strain of not telling his co-workers by Sunday night. He said that in some ways, he was almost just seeing if he could do it.

Jason, 38, said he’s a stats and numbers guy, and that’s why he started playing progressive InstaPlay games, which have jackpots that grow with each ticket sold statewide until someone wins it.

He said that on Friday, he stopped at the Kum & Go convenience store at 1300 Keosauqua Way in Des Moines near the KCCI station, and bought five tickets in the Cherry Twist Progressive game.

He said he went back out to his car and started to drive away, but at the last minute, decided to check the tickets while he was still at the store to see if he had won anything. He looked over his tickets and got a shock.  

He said he saw the words “progressive jackpot winner” on one of his tickets, so he ran back into the store and had them check the results. He admittedly started yelling that he had won.

Jason said he plans to use his winnings to pay off his car and then likely buy a house. A bike-training machine may be in his future. He also said he plans to keep buying the tickets for the Powerball® pool at work – assuming that his co-workers aren’t too mad at him for not sharing his news sooner!

Congratulations, Jason, and thank you for sharing some laughter and cheer with us today. It seems like we all need that these days!

BIG Start To The Week! Prizes Of $276,296 And $300,000 Claimed On Same Day

Maybe Mondays aren’t so bad after all! Our week started out with a definite rush as two players both claimed big prizes within about an hour of each other.

First up was Marissa Besler of Monticello, who claimed one of the top prizes in our “Colossal Crossword” scratch game. Her $300,000 win was quickly followed by Don Burd of Hiawatha, who claimed a jackpot of $276,296 in the “Extreme Green Progressive” InstaPlay game. That’s the biggest prize ever won in an InstaPlay game since the product debuted four years ago in Iowa!

The same theme runs through Marissa and Don’s stories: Disbelief.

Marissa is 34 and an occupational therapist assistant. She said she was shocked when she realized she’d won $300,000 on a lottery ticket she scratched while waiting on a load of laundry. She said she wandered around her house for a while to catch her breath, then downloaded the Iowa Lottery app on her phone so she could scan her ticket, which she bought at Great Pastimes in Monticello. The app verified her win and she said she was in even more disbelief!

Marissa has some real-world plans for her winnings: She said that having no mortgage or a car payment will be a huge weight off her shoulders.

In Don’s case, it was his wife who initially couldn’t believe he’d won a giant InstaPlay prize. Don said he bought a handful of tickets in the Extreme Green Progressive game on Sunday and realized that one of them had won the game’s jackpot, which had climbed to $276,296. He said he called his wife, Shawnee, right away to share the news. He told her he’d hit the game’s jackpot and then said how much it was. He said she really didn’t believe him, but it was definitely real!

Burd, 56, who owns the Otter Creek Country Store in Robins where bought his winning ticket, said he’s still figuring out exactly what he’ll do with his winnings. But he'll definitely continue to help a good cause in his area. Burd donates the fuel needed by his local fire department to help support its critical work.

Congratulations, Marissa and Don! Thanks for helping our week get off to a great start. Woo-hoo, indeed!

Ticket Purchased In Eastern Iowa Wins Biggest InstaPlay Jackpot Yet

Someone who bought an InstaPlay ticket in Linn County has won the largest jackpot to date in the games since they began being sold in Iowa nearly four years ago.

A ticket purchased at the Otter Creek Country Store, 3445 County Home Road in Robins, has won a jackpot of $276,296 in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game. That’s the largest jackpot ever won in an InstaPlay game.

A prize of that size has to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, where prize claims are currently being handled by appointment due to COVID-19. If the winner or winners have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, they’re welcome to reach out to us at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or by email at wmaster@ialottery.com.

The Robins jackpot is a big jump up from the previous record jackpot in an InstaPlay game. That prize – $173,725 in the JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive InstaPlay game – was won in July 2018 by a central Iowa man. Nick Keeling of Norwalk claimed that prize with a ticket he bought at an Indianola gas station.

Extreme Green Progressive is a $20 InstaPlay game. Its jackpot starts at starts at $20,000 and grows with each ticket sold statewide in the game. The game's jackpot had been growing since late July, when it was won with a ticket purchased in Clear Lake.

The amount of the starting jackpot in our InstaPlay progressive games varies by game and price point. As you might anticipate, higher price-point games have a higher starting jackpot amount and those jackpots grow more quickly. Back in May, I blogged about how the progressive jackpot amounts are determined, so feel free to check out those details if you’ve wondered the same thing.

A Busy Handful Of Days In Our InstaPlay Progressive Games!

The past few days have been busy ones when it comes to jackpot winners in our InstaPlay Progressive games. Since Friday, players have won four progressive jackpots, with the latest in the Loose Change Progressive InstaPlay game.

A lot of folks are already familiar with the concept of progressive games, but if that term is new to you, they’re referred to by that term because their jackpots have a starting amount, and then the grand prize grows progressively larger with each ticket sold statewide until it’s won. The amount of the starting jackpot varies by game and price point. As you would anticipate, higher price-point games have a higher starting jackpot amount and those jackpots grow more quickly. 

We currently have five progressive InstaPlay games here in Iowa, and since Friday, Iowa players have won four jackpots in them. Friday (Aug. 7) was especially busy, with three progressive jackpots won on that day alone.

Two progressive InstaPlay jackpots were won Friday afternoon. Someone who bought a Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay ticket at Casey’s, 500 W. Main St. in Seymour, won a jackpot of $30,303.25 in that game. And, a Cherry Twist Progressive InstaPlay ticket purchased at Casey’s, 1001 E. Main St. in Ottumwa, won that game’s jackpot of $23,582.60.

Another progressive jackpot was won Friday evening. A Loose Change Progressive InstaPlay ticket purchased at Casey's, 319 E. Highway 3 in Goldfield, won that game’s jackpot of $1,287.84.

Then yesterday, another progressive jackpot was hit, this time in Dubuque. That prize of $975.04 in the Loose Change Progressive game was won with a ticket purchased at Hy-Vee, 3500 Dodge St. in Dubuque. 

It’s been exciting to see so many progressive-jackpot winners, and they’re definitely an indication of the growing popularity of InstaPlay games here in Iowa.

InstaPlay Prize Of Nearly $75,000 Nearing Expiration Date

A lottery prize of nearly $75,000 won in southwest Iowa will expire within a month if it isn’t claimed in time, and we’re reminding players to double-check their tickets.

The winning ticket in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game was purchased in April at Casey’s, 204 Sixth St. in Corning. It won a progressive jackpot that had reached $74,938.00 in the Extreme Green game on April 6 and the prize will expire in early July if it isn’t claimed by then.

Players in InstaPlay games need to claim their prizes within 90 days of the date they purchased their ticket, so the winner of the prize in Corning has until 4 p.m. on Monday, July 6, to claim it at one of the Iowa Lottery’s offices.

Remember that we currently offer curbside prize claims by appointment at our offices, and Iowa Lottery winners also have the option of mailing or shipping their tickets to us or putting them in the secure dropbox at lottery headquarters.

So if you bought an InstaPlay ticket recently, please get it out and double-check it! You may have won a big prize, and time is running out for it to be claimed.

The money from unclaimed lottery prizes in Iowa 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.

Player Question: What Determines The Jackpot In InstaPlay Progressive Games?

A man reached out to us on Facebook to ask about the jackpot amounts in our Progressive InstaPlay games, and I’m sharing our answer here on the blog in case you’ve wondered the same thing.

The man specifically asked how the jackpot amount is determined in the “Extreme Green Progressive” InstaPlay game, but the process applies to the jackpots in any of our progressive InstaPlay games. They’re called progressive because their jackpots grow progressively larger with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won.

InstaPlay as a product combines features from both lotto games and scratch games. The games have a playstyle similar to that of our scratch games, but InstaPlay tickets are printed and sold on demand from the lottery terminal like those in lotto games. And in the case of our progressive InstaPlay games, they have a starting jackpot amount, just as lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions have a starting jackpot amount.

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 the 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 won in Extreme Green Progressive is therefore a combination of the starting jackpot amount in the game and the number of tickets purchased up until that particular jackpot is won.

The jackpot is clearly not the only prize available in that game. Players also can win prizes in Extreme Green Progressive ranging from $20 up to $10,000, so much of the money spent on tickets in the game goes to pay prizes. A portion of the money from sales in the game also becomes part of the lottery's annual proceeds to state causes. And part of it goes to pay the lottery's expenses for the game, including the costs of the paper on which the tickets are printed.

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!