ialottery blog

My Mother Kept This Old Lottery Ticket From Years Ago…

We got an interesting blast from the past this week from a woman who found an old lottery ticket while going through her mother’s things after her mom had passed away.

 

With the ticket was a note from her mom stating that it was the very first lottery ticket ever sold in Iowa. The woman wondered if it was true. We did a little research, and found out that we can’t answer her question for sure. It may have been the first ticket sold at the Indianola gas station where her mom worked at the time, but that’s as far as our review in that regard can go.    

 

The first lottery tickets sold in Iowa were in the "Scratch, Match & Win" scratch game. It was a $1 game with grey tickets featuring a hand holding a coin and scratching a ticket.
 

That game was the Iowa Lottery’s debut product on Aug. 22, 1985, the first day that lottery tickets were sold in Iowa. It was the only game sold by the Iowa Lottery at the time. And while the kick-off celebration that day was at the Iowa State Fair, lottery ticket sales got underway at the thousands of retail locations across the state that sold tickets.
 
We know that during the first week of sales, lottery players bought 6.4 million tickets in that game, and by Nov. 1 when the game ended, they had purchased 28.1 million tickets in it.

 

It’s always fun to look back and see how much things have changed in the past 35 years. Thank you to this player for a walk down memory lane!

One Year Ago: Iowa’s Largest Powerball Jackpot Winner

Here at the lottery, we’re always looking ahead in our quest to deliver fun and exciting games for you, while responsibly raising revenue for the state of Iowa.

But every once in a while it’s fun to look back at where we’ve been, and a year ago at this time, we were having a lot of fun! This Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of Iowa’s biggest Powerball winner.

Lerynne West of Redfield won a $343.9 million jackpot prize in the Oct. 27, 2018, Powerball drawing, splitting the prize with a ticket purchased in New York. Lerynne, who became Iowa’s ninth Powerball jackpot winner, purchased her winning ticket at Casey’s, 425 Second St. in Redfield, a Dallas County community of about 830.

Nine days later, we had a lot of fun celebrating with her and her family when she came in to claim her prize. We were also touched by her desire to use her winnings to make a difference for others.

As we’ve mentioned before, we love hearing from you. So, tell us: Are you aiming for a Mega Millions, Powerball or Lotto America jackpot this weekend? And what would you do if you won?

 

34 Years In The Making: Iowa Lottery Sets Records

The Iowa Lottery has just posted the best annual results in its 34-year history.

Lottery sales, proceeds to state causes, prizes to players, and retail commissions all set records in fiscal year 2019, which ended June 30. We think the results deliver on our promise to responsibly raise revenues for the state causes that are important to us all.

Click on the video above to see our thank-you message to our players, our retailers, and really, anyone who has an interest in the Iowa Lottery.

Our preliminary figures out today show that the Iowa Lottery generated a record $92.8 million in proceeds to state causes in FY 2019. Annual lottery sales were a record $390.9 million, while prizes to players totaled a record $241.9 million. Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across Iowa that sell our tickets totaled $25.4 million, also a record.

Scratch games have always been the lottery's leading product category and led the way again in FY 2019, with those games accounting for a record $250.6 million in sales in Iowa. 

The lottery retailer with the most sales in Iowa was again the Hy-Vee store at 20 Wilson Ave. in Cedar Rapids. That location has been the No. 1 lottery retailer in Iowa for five straight years, and it sold nearly $950,000 in lottery tickets in FY 2019.

The largest prize won by an Iowa Lottery player in FY 2019 was a $343.9 million Powerball jackpot, and six other prizes of at least $1 million also were won in the state during the year. 

It’s Not Just A Ticket

This week across the country, lotteries are pausing to say, “Thank you!” to our players, the businesses that sell our tickets, and really, anyone who’s ever taken an interest in the lottery, whether it be to ask us a question or just to think for a moment about what it would be like to win.

We know that the lottery is not just a ticket. It’s a daydream, something fun to pass the time, the source of meaningful help to vital causes, additional income to local businesses, and prizes to players.

Ever since the first scratch game that hit the market when the Iowa Lottery debuted back in August 1985, we’ve done our best to demonstrate that lottery products can be responsibly offered in a way that is consistent with our values as Iowans. It’s that “Iowa” stamp on everything we do that has brought lottery entertainment – and lottery winnings – to all areas of the state.

To date, the Iowa Lottery has raised more than $1.9 billion for the state programs that benefit us all. We anticipate that sometime within the next year, a lottery player somewhere in Iowa will buy the ticket that will put our proceeds over the $2 billion mark. That’s significant help for good causes that wouldn’t otherwise have been available here in our state, and we’re proud to be making that difference.

And we can’t forget prizes! They’re obviously one of the motivating reasons for people to play the lottery. Since 1985, our players have won more than $4.3 billion in prizes from the Iowa Lottery. It’s been so fun for us to be a part of those winning experiences. From prizes of just a couple bucks all the way up to jackpots of hundreds of millions of dollars, they all matter!

We’re often asked how lottery proceeds are used in Iowa today. The quick answer is that they  have four main purposes: Proceeds from the Iowa Lottery provide support for our state's veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund; support through the Iowa Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund for the surviving family members of Iowa peace officers and fire fighters who die in the line of duty; help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund; and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.

We also tip our hats to the retail partners that sell lottery tickets each and every day in Iowa.  Our tickets are sold in about 2,400 locations statewide, and those local businesses receive a sales commission from the Iowa Lottery for each ticket they sell. In fiscal year 2018, lottery sales commissions totaled $24.2 million, and we’re proud to be making that difference in the bottom line for businesses across the state.     

Nationwide, in fiscal year 2018, U.S. lotteries generated $23.4 billion for good causes and provided $4.8 billion in sales commissions to local businesses.  

So, from all of us at the Iowa Lottery, thank you! We look forward to more lottery fun in Iowa – an active demonstration of the good that flows to the public from our state’s lottery.

#LotteryWeek
#MoreThanATicket

A Look Back 30+ Years For National Old Stuff Day!

We’re taking a trip down memory lane because tomorrow is National Old Stuff Day!

That’s according to the National Day Calendar™, the website that tracks unusual and unique national days and has a day for just about everything.

According to the explanation given, National Old Stuff Day is a time to acknowledge the history in our lives, but at the same time, break out of our old routines and try something new. 

So, to celebrate the history of the Iowa Lottery, we’re looking back to our very first game ever, which hit store shelves on Aug. 22, 1985, the day the lottery started. The $1 scratch game was called “Scratch, Match & Win!” and it was the only product we had at the time. More than 1.1 million tickets were sold in the lottery’s first four hours.

And below is a photo taken in the lead-up to the lottery’s start, with one of our staffers from back then posing in a “money bags” costume that was part of the start-up celebration. My, oh my, how time flies!

Fast forward to today, and the Iowa Lottery has four product lines: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. We do our best to have a mix of games in the marketplace because we know that variety is the spice of life these days!

In keeping with the theme of Old Stuff Day, we’ll go on thinking about new game and prize ideas so the lottery can keep bringing you entertainment options while doing our best to raise proceeds for the state causes that benefit us all.

It's Time To Go Electronic: We’re Asking To Modernize Iowa’s Lottery

Like any other business these days, the future looks more electronic for the Iowa Lottery, and we think it involves sales of our products on personal consumer electronic devices (smart phones, tablets, PCs, etc.).
 
That is the outcome from a “future-looking” discussion we had with the Iowa Lottery Board this week about how the Iowa Lottery can best position itself to continue providing the proceeds that people count on from us for state causes.

Today’s quickly evolving consumer behavior stands to have a huge impact on the Iowa Lottery as we move ahead. For that reason, we’ve filed legislation for the upcoming 2019 session that we believe will allow the lottery to modernize its operations.

Current state law already would allow the lottery to sell its lotto games online, but we have not yet taken that step. Our proposed legislation would allow the sale of any of our products on personal consumer electronic devices. We believe that for its ongoing success, the lottery must enter the world of e-commerce.  
 
Our proposal also would update the ways that people can pay for lottery tickets in Iowa to include cash, check, money order, debit card and prepaid gift card (all of which can already be used) as well as payments through electronic wallets or mobile applications. I will emphasize that credit is prohibited in the purchase of lottery tickets today in Iowa and that would remain the case under our proposal. The e-wallets would allow players to establish electronic accounts with the lottery and play lottery games online using money they put in those accounts.

This conversation isn’t unique to Iowa: Ten U.S. lotteries already sell products online, and the issue is under discussion in states all across the country.

The Iowa Lottery is currently in a very strong position. We’ve introduced new products in recent years like our InstaPlay games and we’ve enhanced and re-invigorated our long-term product lines to keep our games fresh. But without the ability to modernize our products, we anticipate that Iowa Lottery proceeds will only continue at their current levels for a few more years at most, and then we expect a downturn. The steep, ongoing decline in the use of cash, the ever-increasing trend toward e-commerce, and consumer demand for greater convenience all are factors.

A majority of Americans no longer regularly carry cash. And if they do, nearly half say they keep less than $20 on hand.

As consumers, we’re buying even everyday staples like groceries online. Many times, we don’t go to the store anymore. We have someone else get the items for us and then we want our order brought out to our car or delivered to our home. And a maximum two-day delivery is a normal that we demand for many online purchases.

Because the Iowa Lottery isn’t yet selling its games online, we’ve had to push back against illegal apps that are moving in. Those apps are re-selling lottery tickets through illegal means and there is no way for anyone to be certain that consumers are receiving the winnings they’re due. We’ve taken steps to shut down the apps or prevent them from doing business in Iowa, but they continue to multiply.

Our legislation takes into account these realities, giving the Iowa Lottery the ability to securely move into e-commerce while maintaining strong retailer involvement.
 
We know there are many ways that retailers can be part of any e-commerce system at the Iowa Lottery. For example, in Michigan, the lottery sells online game cards through its lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in retail locations. Customers can buy those game cards in increments from $10 up to $100 and use them to fund their e-wallets with the Michigan Lottery. The game cards can be eligible for bonuses, meaning that players can win an amount above and beyond what they purchased. The bonus system gives players an incentive to buy the game cards at retail locations and retailers in turn get a sales commission from the lottery. Twenty-five percent of online lottery players in Michigan have funded their accounts with a game card.

The statistics from other states and countries with long-term online lottery sales demonstrate that sales of traditional lottery products at retail increase along with the introduction of online sales. The added convenience creates an “omni-channel” approach to lottery sales.
  
Sophisticated age-gating and geo-gating technology is used by all U.S. lotteries that offer online gaming, ensuring that players are of the legal minimum purchasing age and that they’re physically located within the borders of that state in order to play.
 
We’re also impressed by the enhanced responsible gaming opportunities that online sales would bring. It’s nearly impossible to set any type of spending restrictions involving cash, but deposit limits are a standard feature for lotteries using electronic player accounts. And, players have the ability to set their own personal deposit limits that are even lower than those set by the lottery. Players also can electronically self-exclude themselves from playing online for a period of time or even permanently if they’re concerned about problem gambling.

The future will be here before we know it! So here at the lottery, we’re doing our best to be ready.

Iowa Lottery Wins International Gaming-Compliance Award For Work In Investigation

The Iowa Lottery has won an international gaming-compliance award for its work in the long-running lottery jackpot investigation that uncovered fraud against U.S. lotteries and resulted in confessions and guilty pleas from three men.

Yesterday, GamblingCompliance named the Iowa Lottery its 2018 recipient for outstanding achievement in compliance. The organization’s annual awards that recognize excellence in 11 categories were presented in London. The lottery was one of five worldwide finalists for the gaming-compliance award.

We’re enormously proud of the work we put in and the perseverance investigators showed through the years in bringing the long-running case to a successful conclusion. We believed the case was a crucial opportunity for our lottery to pinpoint security enhancements and new technologies we could bring to our operations. I’m confident in the integrity of our games, and if anything, we’re even more aware today that we have to aggressively monitor and “trust but verify” in all areas of our operations if we’re going to stay ahead of those who would try to commit crimes.

GamblingCompliance is headquartered in London and has its U.S. hub in Washington, D.C. It provides independent legal, regulatory, and business intelligence to the global gambling industry.

The jackpot investigation case began with a lottery ticket purchased in December 2010 in Des Moines and culminated in 2017 with guilty pleas from three men who admitted they illegally claimed prizes by rigging lottery drawings in five states. Eddie Tipton, the man at the center of the investigation, installed malicious computer code that allowed him to predict winning numbers in some lottery drawings.

The Iowa Lottery noticed that something was amiss from the group’s earliest attempt to claim the jackpot won in Des Moines, and requested that the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation open an investigation.

Tipton pleaded guilty to three felony charges in Iowa and Wisconsin and was sentenced in August 2017 to up to 25 years in prison. He had conspired with friends and family to claim lottery prizes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin and attempt to claim a lottery jackpot in Iowa, which ultimately was not paid.

Tipton’s younger brother, Tommy Tipton, also pleaded guilty in the case, as did Tipton’s long-time friend, Robert Rhodes.

Yep, We’re Getting A New Look…

In the next couple weeks, you’ll  see a new look for us here at the Iowa Lottery.

We’ve entered our fourth decade in business, so it’s perfect timing for the debut of our fourth logo. The new look maintains the shooting star that’s been central to the lottery’s identity since its start, but the logo also will now abbreviate the lottery’s name in a nod to today’s shortened communications style.

The new logo will officially debut on July 1, and we’ll phase in the new blue-and-white look as current supplies run out. Like the address for our website (www.ialottery.com), our new logo identifies us as IALottery.

We think the new look has a punch to it. It’s energetic and forward looking, but also maintains the themes that have been at the lottery’s core since it started in 1985.

The image above shows how the lottery’s logo has evolved through the years. Our original logo when we began in August 1985 was mostly green with four shooting stars on either side of the words “Iowa Lottery.” That logo was used until August 1994 when the lottery celebrated its 10th anniversary.

The second logo maintained the shooting stars, but circled them around the words “Iowa Lottery.” That version of the logo, with green letters, yellow stars and red streaks of light behind them, was used until September 2002 when it was updated. The new version of that image, with white letters in the center surrounded by graduated red, orange and red stars, has been used since that time.

The shooting star has always been central to our lottery. It’s a symbol of luck but also represents celebration. We see it as aspirational in terms of the vital difference lottery proceeds have made in our state. 

We also are debuting a new tagline. For several years, we’ve used a distinctive “Woo-hoo!” sound in our ads and as the audio that plays from lottery terminals in Iowa when a winning ticket is scanned. The new logo incorporates a “Woo Hoo for You™” tagline that, like the shooting star, references luck and excitement.

Thank you for being part of the fun with us since 1985. We hope YOU get to see the new logo on a prize check from us soon!

You Guessed It: Powerball Hub-Bub Means Records Here In Iowa

All that hub-bub over last month’s world-record Powerball^® jackpot has led to some big lottery numbers here in our state. The Iowa Lottery smashed several long-standing records in January.

Our financial figures for January are out today, showing that the lottery set records for its highest monthly sales, highest monthly proceeds to state causes and highest monthly prizes to players since its start in 1985.

The Jan. 13 Powerball drawing was a historic moment, and we thank our players and retailers for being part of it with us. It was definitely a busy time, but we had a lot of fun, too. And our joint efforts have made a big difference right here at home by raising additional lottery proceeds for state causes while at the same time bringing a record amount in prizes to players.

The Powerball jackpot grew for more than two months before it reached a world-record level of nearly $1.6 billion annuity ($983.5 million lump-sum option) and was split in the Jan. 13 drawing by three tickets purchased in California, Florida and Tennessee. During that jackpot run from Nov. 5, 2015, to Jan. 13, 2016, the Iowa Lottery sold about $34.2 million in Powerball tickets. That compares to a total of $52.2 million in Powerball sales in all of fiscal year 2015.

With the world-record jackpot drawing occurring in January, total monthly sales for the Iowa Lottery hit $54.1 million, topping the previous monthly sales record of $42.2 million set in February 2006. Monthly lottery proceeds to state causes also were a record, totaling $17.3 million. The previous monthly proceeds total of $11.6 million had stood since February 2006.

Prizes to players also set a record for the month, totaling $30.2 million. That surpassed the previous record of $20.3 million set in March 2013.

During the course of the month, the lottery also saw its highest Powerball sales for one day ($6.3 million on Jan. 13), its biggest sales week ($19.5 million for the week ending Jan. 9), and its highest monthly sales for instant-scratch tickets ($20.8 million).

We know that things will continue to fluctuate in the months ahead, but the lottery is well positioned to meet its budget targets for the year, with sales and proceeds through January both ahead of budget and the lottery’s five-year average.

Our strong performance last month also sent total prizes to players past a historic mark. Since the Iowa Lottery’s start in 1985, players have now won more than $3.6 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.6 billion for state causes.

Yep! We’re Powerball Warriors Here In Iowa!

It’s been a few weeks now since we all were buzzing about the world-record Powerball® jackpot that reached nearly $1.6 billion! Whew! It was an intense and exciting time for us here at the lottery, our players, and of course, our retailers, who saw long lines of folks buying tickets all across the state.

At their peak, Powerball tickets in Iowa selling were at $13,800 per minute the night of the epic drawing on Jan. 13. And our 2,400 lottery retailers around the state were doing their best to keep pace with the demand.

As a way to celebrate and commemorate the momentous event, we designed a Powerball T-shirt as a way to say, “Thank you!” to our retailers for their hard work. Shown here is a cashier at a convenience store in the Des Moines area proudly wearing her new “World-Record Powerball Warrior” T-shirt. Looks like they’re a hit!

And even though things have calmed down, Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $136 million. As we like to say, the jackpot’s always big! Got your ticket?

We’re off to a very fun start in 2016. Thank you for being part of this ride with us! 

Veterans Day At The Capitol

Yesterday was Veterans Day at the Capitol here in Iowa, and there was a huge crowd of veterans at the Statehouse!

The lottery had a booth there to provide information about the proceeds that we raise for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. And we added to the fun of the day by giving some lottery prize packs away in contests we held at our booth. Here are shots of some of the lucky contest winners! We hope they have fun playing the scratch tickets in their prize packs and enjoy the lottery swag we included, too.

Since 2008, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $20 million for the Veterans Trust Fund to help Iowa veterans and their families. We proud to be able to help such a noble cause and truly mean it when we say: Thank you, veterans, for your service!

Why Do States Have Lotteries, Anyway?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucky Clovers Have Sprouted Here At The Lottery

 

 

When you drive up to lottery headquarters, you’ll notice some shiny new clovers on the grounds around the building! There are 15 of them in all, and they’re part of the Art in State Buildings project we’ve been working on for about a year.

The metal sculptures were designed by Des Moines artists TJ Moberg and Dennis Reynolds. As soon as we saw their idea, we thought: lottery luck!

The clovers range in size from 12 inches up to 5 feet in diameter. Moberg and Reynolds selected a variety of materials and finishes that bring additional depth of meaning to the project.

We think the end result is an installation that tells not only the lottery’s story, but that of Iowa as well.

The Way Things Were ...

As I was pulling together details for Monday’s announcement about the lottery’s 30th anniversary, the very first lottery tickets in Iowa caught my eye, in terms of how different things look today!

Here’s a picture to show what I’m talking about – check out “Scratch, Match & Win” compared to today’s games! Even the smallest tickets we have on the market today are much bigger than those in Scratch, Match & Win, which made its debut back on Aug. 22, 1985. It takes five tickets in that game to match up with those in a lot of our games today.

And the world has apparently become a lot more colorful through the years, too. (In reality, I think printing techniques have just improved a lot since 1985, but it IS interesting to see how far things have come.)

Can’t wait to see what lottery tickets will look like 30 years from now!

We’re Turning 30 – And Celebrating With A New Game & Promotion

Time really does fly! The Iowa Lottery is turning 30 this year, so I’m using today’s blog entry to take a look back and see what how it’s all added up.

Legislation authorizing a lottery in Iowa was signed into law on April 18, 1985, and Iowa Lottery sales began with a kick-off celebration on Aug. 22, 1985, at the Iowa State Fair. But did you know that the push for a lottery in our state goes back a lot further than that?

It was in 1972, the same year that we put Iowa in the win column for President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign, that Iowans voted by greater than a 2-to-1 margin to amend the state Constitution to repeal a lottery prohibition.   

Through the years, the lottery has created life-changing moments for prize winners, provided valuable help in the form of sales commissions to the thousands of Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets, and raised significant proceeds for the state causes that benefit all Iowans.

There’s been an interesting constant that entire time: An instant-scratch game was the first product offered by the Iowa Lottery back in 1985, and scratch tickets are still our top-selling product today. In fiscal year 2014, scratch tickets accounted for 60 percent of lottery sales, lotto games made up 35 percent of sales, and pull-tab games were 5 percent of annual sales.

To celebrate our 30th birthday, today we’re launching the “30 Somethings” game. It’s a $5 scratch game tied to a promotion by the same name. Understanding today’s emphasis on “green” products, tickets in the 30 Somethings game are printed on paper stock made from 60 percent recycled fibers (35 percent post-consumer). You’ll notice the tickets’ unique look and feel – they’re a lot like brown sack paper used for things like grocery bags or lunch sacks.

Nonwinning tickets in the 30 Somethings game can be entered in a Play It Again promotion offering a total of 91 prizes, including a grand prize of $30,000. The promotion just started at noon today and concludes with a grand-prize drawing on Aug. 3.

Here is a look by the numbers at 30 years of lottery history in Iowa (figures current through March 31, 2015, unless otherwise noted):

• $6.3 billion   Total Iowa Lottery sales

• $3.4 billion   Total prizes won by Iowa Lottery players

• $1.6 billion   Total lottery proceeds to Iowa causes

• $474.7 million Total lottery sales commissions paid to Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets

• $241 million   Largest lottery prize won in Iowa to date. The Shipping 20, a group of co-workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, claimed that Powerball® jackpot on June 20, 2012.

• 6.4 million  Number of lottery tickets sold during the lottery’s first week of sales

• 2,391 Number of retail locations in Iowa that sell lottery tickets (current as of April 30, 2015)

• 1,570 Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $100,000 or more (through April 2015)

• 127  Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $1 million or more (through April 2015)

• 900  Number of instant-scratch games sold in Iowa from 1985 through present

• 237   Number of pull-tab games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1987 through present

• 19 Number of lotto games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1986 through present   

• 9 Number of Hot Lotto® jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date

• 8 Number of Powerball jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date