ialottery blog

Buy Lottery Tix Monday At The Iowa State Fair & Meet Luka Garza At Our Tent!

We’ll be at the Iowa State Fair on Monday with a special guest you won’t want to miss!

Monday is Veterans Day at the Iowa State Fair, and as we’ve done for the past several years, the Iowa Lottery is the Day-Of-Fair sponsor to help spread the word about the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

The Iowa Lottery will take over the big white exhibition tent that day along the Grand Concourse. We’ll of course have our prize wheel that players can spin after their purchase for a chance to win merchandise prizes.

And from noon-3 p.m. that day, you can meet NBA center Luka Garza at our tent! Garza, the Iowa Hawkeye basketball star who now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, will take photos with visitors at the Iowa Lottery tent. And we’ll have autographed photos available while supplies last.

So, why will Luka be there with us? Check our website on Monday for details about the Prize Zone promotion starting that day for the chance to win tickets in a suite at the special pre-season NBA game Oct. 11 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. You could be there to see the Philadelphia 76ers take on the Minnesota Timberwolves!

The lottery’s tent on Monday is right in front of the Fair’s Service Center, and we’ll be there from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.

We’ll sell and cash scratch, lotto, and InstaPlay tickets and you can pay with cash or debit this year. We’ll have the games available that can be entries for our Kickoff to Kinnick™ and Cyclone™ Football promotions.

And most importantly, remember to thank the veterans that day at the Iowa State Fair.

Remember that a portion of each dollar spent on lottery tickets in Iowa goes directly to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. We’re proud to share that to date, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $40 million for that essential cause!

We look forward to seeing you Monday at the Iowa State Fair!

Crowd Packs Grand Concourse At The State Fair To See Live Lottery Game Show

A central Iowa man won the top prize of $500,000 in front of a huge crowd watching the live lottery game show tonight at the Iowa State Fair!

Steven “Jack” Stout of Indianola, the game show finalist, had a chance to win up to $5 million and came close to it. But he ultimately uncovered the game pieces in the show’s final round to win $500,000. He said it didn’t seem real.

Jack said that from the beginning, he could hardly believe he got a chance to be on the game show. He admitted he got pretty shaky as the show progressed and it became clear he’d win a big prize.

Jack said he doesn’t have firm plans for his winnings, but he may buy a house.

Nineteen other contestants on the game show won prizes ranging from $10,000 up to $100,000, and the Iowa Lottery also awarded three sizeable prizes to audience members watching the show on the 2024 State Fair’s opening day.

What Led Up To The Game Show

The game show was the finale of a summer-long initiative from the Iowa Lottery and the Iowa State Fair, which included the first scratch game named for the State Fair, Iowa’s largest event.

Players who didn’t win instant prizes on their Iowa State Fair scratch tickets could enter them into the lottery’s Fair Fever promotion for a chance to be one of the 20 game show contestants or win concert-ticket prize packages for the Iowa State Fair Grandstand. Lottery players made more than 67,000 entries into the promotion from mid-April through mid-July.

Here are the prizes won by the 19 other contestants on the lottery game show:

1. Craig Bergman of Cedar Rapids, $10,000	11. Jolene Murray of Cedar Rapids, $15,000
2. Michelle Cerwinske of Nashua, $25,000	12. Mary Olin of Des Moines, $100,000
3. Margo Fox of Johnston, $50,000	13. Dawn Petersen of Colfax, $10,000
4. Kristine Frye of Des Moines, $10,000	14. Timothy Roberts of Ottumwa, $15,000
5. Nicole Gulick of Des Moines, $25,000	15. Scott Stewart of Waterloo, $25,000
6. Ryan Habeger of Algona, $10,000	16. Christine Tatman of Orange City, $10,000
7. Gerald Johnson of Iowa City, $75,000	17. Rodney Tucker of Des Moines, $15,000
8. Gerald Kennicker of Dubuque, $10,000	18. Jeff Weiland of Dubuque, $25,000
9. Tamara McMahon of Council Bluffs, $20,000	19. David Wesley of Des Moines, $25,000
10. Steven Moore of Urbandale, $25,000

In addition, the Iowa Lottery gave three prizes to audience members at the show.

• Lori Wellman of West Des Moines won a $5,000 audience-member prize.
• Karen Bowder of Pocahontas won a $5,000 audience-member prize. 
• Mary Little of Brooklyn won a $50,000 audience-member prize.

Audience Members Can Win Prizes At Our Live Game Show At The Iowa State Fair!

Our live game show at the Iowa State Fair is just a week away, and we’ve got big news about it: If you’re in the audience that day, you’ll have a chance to win up to $50,000!

So how can you have a shot at the audience prizes? First, you’ll need to be at the 2024 Iowa State Fair on its opening day, Thursday, Aug. 8. Then, you’ll need to register to be an audience member. And most importantly, you’ll need to be at the Cash Fever game show when it's held live on the Grand Concourse.

The 20 lottery players who will be contestants on the Cash Fever game show are each guaranteed to win at least $10,000. And the final contestant that day will win at least $500,000, with a chance at a prize of up to $5 million.

Now we’re excited to announce that during the game show, we’ll give away two prizes of $5,000 and one prize of $50,000 to those in the audience!

As the game show begins at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday, we’ll give away a prize of $5,000 to an audience member. After the show’s first round, we’ll give away another prize of $5,000. And just before the show heads into its final round, we’ll give away a $50,000 prize to an audience member!

We’ll be registering audience members for the game show from 2-4 p.m. on Aug. 8 in front of the Fair Administration Building on the Grand Concourse. I’ve marked that spot on the map below, and it’s where the game show also will be held. We’ll keep registering folks until 1,200 audience members have been registered or time runs out, whichever comes first.

We’ll give each registered audience member a free ticket in our “Iowa State Fair” scratch game! You can only register once to be an audience member.

Then, to be eligible to win an audience prize, you’ll need to be on the Grand Concourse for the game show. When we announce an audience member’s name as a prize winner, that person will have 2 minutes to identify themselves to a lottery representative at the show. We expect it will be pretty easy to see the winner as they’re smiling and celebrating! But in any case, we’ll have lottery folks with flags around the perimeter of the audience section, so the winners can see them.

If the winner doesn’t come forward within the 2 minutes allowed, we’ll move on and call another audience member’s name for the prize. We’ll try a maximum of three times to award each prize.

We hope this added excitement gets you even more amped up to join us next week at the Iowa State Fair! See you there!

These 20 Contestants Will Compete On A Live Game Show At The Iowa State Fair!

We now know the 20 contestants who will compete on a live lottery game show at the 2024 Iowa State Fair for a chance to win up to $5
million!

Iowa Lottery players made more than 67,000 entries into the “Fair Fever” promotion that will conclude with the live game show on opening day of this year’s Iowa State Fair.

Here are the 20 players who beat the odds to make it on the show:

1. Craig Bergman, Cedar Rapids	11. Jolene Murray, Cedar Rapids
2. Michelle Cerwinske, Nashua	12. Mary Olin, Des Moines
3. Margo Fox, Johnston	13. Dawn Petersen, Colfax
4. Kristine Frye, Des Moines	14. Timothy Roberts, Ottumwa
5. Nicole Gulick, Des Moines	15. Scott Stewart, Waterloo
6. Ryan Habeger, Algona	16. Steven Stout, Indianola
7. Gerald Johnson, Iowa City	17. Christine Tatman, Orange City
8. Gerald Kennicker, Dubuque	18. Rodney Tucker, Des Moines
9. Tamara McMahon, Council Bluffs	19. Jeff Weiland, Dubuque
10. Steven Moore, Urbandale	20. David Wesley, Des Moines

It’s been years since the lottery has given away a prize of this size at a live event. The image you can see below is from the last time that happened, during a live game show at the 2012 Iowa State Fair! A retired police officer won the $1 million prize at that event. This year’s push began in April, when the Iowa Lottery and the Iowa State Fair celebrated the release of the “Iowa State Fair” scratch game, the first lottery product to be named for Iowa’s largest event.

Players who didn’t win instant prizes on their Iowa State Fair scratch tickets could enter them into the lottery’s Fair Fever promotion for a chance to be one of the 20 game show contestants or win concert-ticket prize packages for the Iowa State Fair Grandstand.

The promotion’s final drawing date was yesterday, including selection of the game show contestants.

What To Expect At The Game Show

The live game show is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 8 on the Grand Concourse in the heart of the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Through a series of games, the contestants will gradually be eliminated until just one remains.

Each contestant will win at least $10,000 and the finalist will take home at least $500,000 with a chance to win up to $5 million.

In addition, the Iowa Lottery is finalizing plans to award several prizes to members of the audience watching the game show. Details about that will be announced soon!

Here’s Where You Can Walk Down Memory Lane With 40 Years Of Iowa Summers

There’s a new spot where you can look back at 40 years of the best of summer in Iowa.

Today, we had the honor of putting up a new installation in the Iowa State Fair Museum. Photos going back to 1985 show the many times the Iowa State Fair and Iowa Lottery have worked together through the years to amp up the fun for fairgoers.

Did you know that some of the very first lottery tickets in Iowa were sold at the Iowa State Fair? It was a rainy day for the inaugural day of Iowa Lottery sales on Aug. 22, 1985, but people still lined up to buy tickets during the kick-off celebration on the State Fairgrounds. (If you want to see 1985 fashion in Iowa, you’ll find it in that display!)

Fast forward a few years, and you’ll see that Iowa Lottery proceeds were used to renovate and save the iconic Iowa State Fair Grandstand we all know and love.

Other highlights of the display:

• A Powerball drawing was held live on the Grand Concourse at the 2006 Iowa State Fair.
• The lottery helps to celebrate our state’s veterans each year at the State Fair.
• The lottery introduced the first scratch game named for the Iowa State Fair.
• And next month, someone will have the chance to win a lottery prize of up to $5 million in a live game show on opening day of the 2024 Iowa State Fair!

The Iowa State Fair Museum is in the Heritage Village area of the State Fairgrounds, up near Pioneer Hall. The new display is on the museum’s feature wall, so it’s prominent and easy to find once you’re inside.

The display will remain up in the museum for the next year, so lots of folks will have the chance to see it as they take tours of the State Fairgrounds. And a bonus if you visit the museum during the Iowa State Fair: It’s one of the few air-conditioned buildings on the State Fairgrounds, so it’s a great spot to pause and cool off as you learn some interesting history!

Sneak Peak Of Live Lottery Game Show With Top Prize Of Up To $5 Million

The buzz has started, and we’re getting questions about the live lottery game show at this year’s Iowa State Fair where someone will win the top prize of up to $5 million.

The video above gives a sneak peek of the fun. We break down how the 20 game show contestants will be chosen, the prizes they’ll win (hint: at least $10,000) and your chance to be part of it.

You have until the morning of July 16 to enter the Fair Fever promotion for a shot to be on the game show! The drawing to select the contestants will be held July 18.

And then we’ll all wait for opening day of the 2024 Iowa State Fair!

Iowa Lottery, Iowa State Fair Celebrate Years Of Partnership With Scratch Game, Promotion & Live Game Show

An internationally acclaimed Iowa event is being celebrated with a new lottery scratch game and promotion offering prizes of up to $5 million and ticket packages to some of the most sought-after performances in the state.

Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn (on the left), Iowa State Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons were joined by Iowa State Fair mascots Fairfield (the blue ribbon) and Rosetta as they made the announcement this afternoon: Tickets in the “Iowa State Fair” scratch game have begun arriving in stores today and will be available statewide by Friday! The $5 tickets feature iconic Iowa State Fair images, including a Ferris wheel, food on a stick, and livestock, all celebrating the Fair’s 2024 theme, Fair Fever.

Players who buy tickets in the Iowa State Fair scratch game have a chance to win instant prizes from $5 up to $50,000. But that’s just the start!

Nonwinning tickets in the game can be entered into the Iowa Lottery’s Fair Fever promotion that began this afternoon and will offer prizes of up to $5 million along with dozens of concert prize packages for performances at the 2024 Iowa State Fair, where the Iowa Lottery is the Grandstand sponsor.

The promotion will conclude with a live lottery game show on opening day of this year’s Iowa State Fair, where 20 contestants will compete for a total of $1 million in guaranteed prizes. The final contestant on the game show will win at least $500,000 and have a chance at a prize of up to $5 million!

The game show will be held Aug. 8 on the Fairgrounds Grand Concourse. Contestants that day will gradually be eliminated through a series of contests, with each competitor winning at least $10,000.

Going All The Way Back to 1985 …

The decades-long relationship between the Iowa State Fair and the Iowa Lottery began 39 years ago on the very first day of lottery ticket sales in Iowa. There was a kick-off celebration on Aug. 22, 1985, at the Iowa State Fair to mark the Iowa Lottery’s inaugural day.

In the mid-1990s, Iowa Lottery proceeds were dedicated for four years to funding capital improvements on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Among the projects that received lottery funding was the extensive 1997 renovation of the Iowa State Fair Grandstand.

The Iowa Lottery has held many events at the Iowa State Fair through the years, including hosting a Powerball® drawing on the Grand Concourse in 2006. And in recent years, the Iowa Lottery has been the Day of Fair sponsor on the annual Veterans Day at the Iowa State Fair.

How To Enter The Promotion

To enter the Fair Fever promotion, Iowa Lottery players need to join or already be members of the lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opens this afternoon and runs through 9:59 a.m. on July 16.

There will be two drawing dates in the promotion to select the contestants for the live game show at the Iowa State Fair along with the winners of concert-ticket prize packages for performances at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand.

The Prizes To Win

Up for grabs on the promotion’s first drawing date on June 6 are 27 ticket prize packages for each of these four Grandstand concerts:

• Thursday, Aug. 8: Lauren Daigle with special guest Blessing Offor.
• Friday, Aug. 9: Foreigner Historic Farewell Tour with special guest Melissa Etheridge.
• Saturday, Aug. 10: Jelly Roll with special guest DAX.
• Sunday, Aug. 11: Greta Van Fleet Starcatcher World Tour with special guest The Beaches.

In the promotion’s second drawing date on July 18, the game-show contestants will be selected along with the winners of 27 ticket prize packages for each these five Grandstand concerts:

• Monday, Aug. 12: Brett Young with special guest NEEDTOBREATHE.
• Tuesday, Aug. 13: Thomas Rhett.
• Wednesday, Aug. 14: Mötley Crüe with special guest Pop Evil.
• Friday, Aug. 16: The Avett Brothers with G. Love & Special Sauce.
• Saturday, Aug. 17: Ne-Yo with special guest Eric Bellinger.

There will be 4 ticket-level options available: pit standing area, club seats, Grandstand seats, and VIP spectator deck. Players will select the concert they want to attend and the level of tickets they want to win at the time they enter the promotion.

All concert prize packages will include 2 tickets to the show involved, admission tickets to the Iowa State Fair, parking and $100 spending money from the Iowa Lottery.

We’ll Be At The State Fair Monday & Next Saturday

We’ll be at the Iowa State Fair for two days next week, so please stop and see us if your schedule matches up!

On Monday, the Iowa Lottery will take over the big white exhibition tent along the Grand Concourse to help celebrate Veterans Day at the Fair. The tent is right in front of the Fair’s Service Center, and we’ll be there from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.

We’ll be selling and cashing scratch, lotto, and InstaPlay tickets, and we can help you enter our promotions if you need those details. We’ll have the games available that can get you entries into our Kickoff to Kinnick™ and Cyclone Football® promotions. With a lottery purchase that day, you can spin the prize wheel for merchandise prizes.

Remember that a portion of each $1 spent on lottery tickets in Iowa goes right into the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. We’re proud to share that to date, the Iowa Lottery has raised more than $37 million for that meaningful cause!

And then next Saturday (Aug. 19), the Lottery will have a booth inside the Varied Industries Building at the Fair. We’ll be there from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day as well, and we’ll have the all the games and give-aways there that we had earlier in the week.

We look forward to seeing you at the State Fair!

Lottery’s Summer of Music = Your Chance to Win Tix to Big-Name Concerts in Iowa

We started off the season by giving you a chance to win prize packages to some of Iowa’s top auto-racing events, and now we’re turning our attention to music. And specifically, giving you the chance to win ticket prize packages to big-name concerts this summer in Iowa.

The Iowa Lottery’s eight-week Summer of Music promotion opened for entries this morning. Players can enter it with nonwinning tickets in the $10 “Wild Cherry” scratch game for a chance to win prize packages to 14 Iowa concerts by headline artists at the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend in Newton and the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

The promotion will have two entry periods, with the first for race-and-concert packages at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, and the second for Iowa State Fair concert packages.

Up for grabs in the promotion’s first drawing date on July 6 (from entries accepted through 9:59 a.m. July 5) will be 95 prize packages to the IndyCar race and Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney performances on July 22, and 95 prize packages to the IndyCar race and Zac Brown Band and Ed Sheeran shows on July 23 in Newton. Players will select the Race Weekend concert of their choice when they enter tickets in the promotion.

For each day of the IndyCar Race Weekend, 20 prize packages will be in a VIP suite and 75 will be grandstand prize packages. Winners will receive tickets for that day’s IndyCar race as well as the pre- and post-race concerts at the Speedway.

The promotion’s second drawing period runs from 10 a.m. July 5 through 9:59 a.m. July 31. Up for grabs in the promotion’s second drawing date on Aug. 1 will be 20 VIP grandstand concert prize packages at the Iowa State Fair for these artists:

• For King + Country
• Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line
• New Kids on the Block
• Eric Church
• The Black Keys
• Lindsey Stirling
• Maren Morris
• Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges
• The Chicks
• Jason Aldean

Players will select the Iowa State Fair concert of their choice when they enter tickets in the promotion.

Entries will not carry over from the first entry period to the second. However, a player could win a concert prize package in each category drawing they enter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See You Next Monday At The State Fair!

We’ll be at the Iowa State Fair next Monday, and hope to see you there!

The first Monday of the Fair is known as Veterans Day at the State Fair, and it will be our chance to join all Fair-goers in honoring veterans while we spread the word about one of the most important beneficiaries of Iowa Lottery proceeds: the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

The Veterans Trust Fund is truly an Iowa success story, and not every state has something like it. The Trust Fund was established here in Iowa to provide state help to veterans and their families over and above the federal veterans benefits. Iowa veterans and their families who can’t find help through other programs can apply for help through the Trust Fund for things like dental care, job training, individual or family counseling, and emergency housing and car repairs.   

To date, the lottery has raised nearly $32.4 million for the Veterans Trust Fund. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of all Iowa Lottery tickets is dedicated to the Trust Fund, and that’s money specifically for Iowa veterans and their families. 

The Iowa Lottery will be at the State Fair on the Grand Concourse on Monday, Aug. 16, in the big white exhibition tent in front of the Service Center. Our booth will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day, and we’ll be selling and cashing tickets in our scratch games, lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions, and InstaPlay games. If you buy at least $10 in tickets that day, you can spin the prize wheel to win merchandise prizes.

We’ll have all 15 scratch games available that are eligible for our Million Dollar $ummer promotion, which has a top prize of $1 million, just like the name says! We’ll also have the games eligible for our Prize Zone promotions for a Brett Young concert package or tickets at the Iowa Lottery Ironmen Patio for the Hawkeye football game Oct. 9 vs. Penn State or Nov. 13 vs. Minnesota.  

We’ll be able to help folks that day who want to enter the promotions through our VIP Club.

And if you’re an Iowa veteran or the family member of a veteran looking for more information about the Veterans Trust Fund, here is quick background about how the Trust Fund process works: The Iowa Lottery raises proceeds for the Trust Fund, but it’s the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs that makes decisions about the grants that are given out from the fund.

Anyone who wants to apply for help from the Trust Fund will need to fill out an application at their county Veterans Service Office (there’s a service office in each of Iowa’s 99 counties).

You can learn more by going to va.iowa.gov, the website for the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, and clicking on the “Benefits” tab. Or you can call the VA in Johnston at 800-838-4692.

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!

Charge Up At The State Fair & Walk With Us!

The 2016 Iowa State Fair starts tomorrow, and you’ll be able to charge up on us at the Fairgrounds – and get in a walk, too!

The Iowa Lottery is sponsoring Powerball® Power Stations at the iHeart Studios building at the Fairgrounds. (The building is just west of the Varied Industries Building along the Grand Concourse.) There will be multiple charging stations for mobile devices there, so stop by and power up, courtesy of Powerball and the Iowa Lottery.  

And each weekday at the Fair, you’ll be able to join us in a half-hour walk as part of the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative! Tomorrow – the Fair’s opening day – we’ll lead a 30-minute walk that highlights the history of the Fairgrounds going all the way back to 1886. That Historical Walking Tour starts at 8:15 a.m. outside the Administration Building on the Grand Concourse. The first 50 people participating in tomorrow’s walk will get a lottery tote bag and T-shirt! Some of those you can expect to see on the Opening Day walk include WHO Radio morning host Van Harden, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, all 99 State Fair queen candidates, members of the State Fair Board, and Fairfield, the State Fair mascot! Tomorrow’s walk will conclude at the Opening Ceremonies for the Fair.

On all other weekdays at the Fair, our 30-minute morning walk will start at 9:15 a.m. outside the iHeart Studios. Van Harden will join us on each of those walks as we start the day off on the right foot!

(And now for the fine print: The walk is open to all fairgoers. You must have a ticket to enter the Fairgrounds.)       

Enjoy your time at the State Fair!

Charge Up At The State Fair – On Us

The 2015 Iowa State Fair starts Thursday, and you’ll be able to get a charge while you’re at the Fairgrounds – on us!

The Iowa Lottery is sponsoring the Powerball Power Deck at the WHO Crystal Studios on the Fairgrounds. (It’s just west of the Varied Industries Building on the Grand Concourse.) There will be charging stations for mobile devices there, so stop by and power up, courtesy of Powerball and the Iowa Lottery. Can’t have your battery life getting down to the warning level!

The lottery also is sponsoring IPTV’s hour-long State Fair highlight shows that air Aug. 17-23, so tune in for that nightly coverage. 

A bunch of our players and their friends and family will be having fun as they head to the Fair next Friday, Aug. 21. Thirty members of our VIP Club won State Fair prize packs in a contest we held a few weeks ago. Each winner got two concert tickets to “The Fray with special guest Andy Grammer” plus admission tickets to the Fair, paid parking and $30 in food tickets.

We’ve had a booth at the Fair in years past, but last year we decided to be the opening-day sponsor of the Fair and this year, we’re adding the special touches to the event I’ve described here. Enjoy your time at the State Fair!

Happy Winners In Our State Fair Contests Today!

It was a little rainy for this morning’s start of the Iowa State Fair, but huge crowds still came out to see us there and entered our contests for $100 cash prizes and prize packages to the Lady Antebellum concert Aug. 16 at the State Fair Grandstand.

In the end, eleven Iowans and one Wisconsin visitor to the State Fair won the prizes we were giving away this morning – 10 prizes of $100 each and the two Lady Antebellum prize packages.

Things I learned today:

1. It’s REALLY dark on the Fairgrounds at 5 a.m., but with a little help from smartphone light apps, people were able to see well enough to fill out their contest entries! 2. Lottery rain ponchos are very popular when dark clouds are overhead. A little mist coming down makes them an even hotter item. 3. Warm, gooey cinnamon rolls definitely were today’s breakfast choice for a lot of State Fair visitors! Now you’re hungry, huh? 4. No matter the weather, we Iowans remain a friendly bunch, and we smile through just about anything. A good attitude makes everything better!

We'll See You THURSDAY At The State Fair!

We gave you a head’s up back in June about our plans for this year’s Iowa State Fair, and here’s a reminder about all the fun to come on Thursday!

The Iowa Lottery will be the opening-day sponsor of this year’s Fair, so we’ll be at four the main admission gates Thursday morning to hand out coupons for a free play in our All or Nothing™ lotto game. (The fine print: Coupon giveaways are scheduled for 5-9 a.m. Coupons can only be given to fair-goers at least 21 years old, one coupon per person, while supplies last.) There also will be discounted admission at the gates from 5 a.m. to noon that day, so visit www.iowastatefair.org for more details.

Here’s a list of the gates where we’ll be giving out coupons for free plays: Gate 4, at the campgrounds on the Fairgrounds’ east side; Gate 8, at Rock Island Avenue on the south side of the Fairgrounds; Gate 11, at the Grand Concourse on the west side of the Fairgrounds; and Gate 15, at the north parking lot. Lottery signs will mark the gates where coupons are being given away, so look for one of the signs to ensure you’re entering a gate where you can receive a coupon for a free play.

We’ll also have fun that morning with WHO Radio’s Van & Bonnie as they broadcast live from Expo Hill on the Fairgrounds. While their show is on the air from 5 to 9 a.m., fair-goers can sign up for a chance to win one of 10 prizes of $100 cash or one of two Lady Antebellum concert prize packs from the lottery. Join us at Expo Hill that morning to fill out a contest form and get in on the action.

One other thing for you to note: The lottery will not have a booth in the Varied Industries Building during this year’s State Fair. With the upcoming move to our new headquarters location, we need to dedicate additional resources to that project, so we couldn’t do a booth this time around. But we’re excited to see everyone on the Fair’s opening day and know we’ll have a good time Thursday morning!

And while you’re at the Fair, don’t forget the “History on a Stick” walk you can take to learn about the Fair’s historic sites while getting in a little cardio. Leaders of the Healthiest State Initiative, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and other state leaders will head up the first official version of the 1K walk at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, with the Department of Natural Resources Building serving as the starting line on the Grand Concourse.

The Fair’s historic walking tour is a tune-up for the annual Healthiest State Walk on Oct. 8. Remember, the goal is to make this year’s walk the biggest ever, so we’ll need more than 300,000 Iowans to participate this time around!

We’ll Be Opening-Day Sponsor At 2014 Iowa State Fair!

State Fair time will be here before you know it, and I’m excited to announce that the Iowa Lottery will be the opening-day sponsor of this year’s Fair! And even before that, we’ll have some great contests with radio stations around the state to give away prize packages to the Lady Antebellum concert Aug. 16 at the State Fair Grandstand. Let’s get this party started!

In the weeks leading up to the Fair, the lottery will have contests on radio stations across the state to give away Lady Antebellum concert prize packages. Each prize pack will include two concert tickets to the Aug. 16 Grandstand show, two admission tickets to the Fair, a parking pass, $30 in Fair food tickets, and a sweet lottery swag bag! A list of participating radio stations is available on our promotions page.

Then on Aug. 7, the Fair’s opening day, lottery staff will be at four of the main admission gates that morning to hand out coupons for a free play in our All or Nothing™ lotto game. (The fine print: Coupon giveaways are scheduled for 5-9 a.m. Coupons can only be given to fair-goers at least 21 years old, one coupon per person, while supplies last.) There also will be discounted admission at the gates from 5 a.m. to noon that day, so visit www.iowastatefair.org for more details.

And we’ll have fun that morning with WHO Radio’s Van & Bonnie as they broadcast live from Expo Hill on the Fairgrounds. While their show is on the air from 5 to 9 a.m. that day, fair-goers can sign up for a chance to win one of 10 prizes of $100 cash or a Lady Antebellum concert prize pack from the lottery.

It will be a busy morning!

One thing for you to note: The lottery will not have a booth in the Varied Industries Building during this year’s State Fair. With the upcoming move to our new headquarters location, we need to dedicate additional resources to that project, so we couldn’t do a booth this time around. But we’re excited to see everyone on the Fair’s opening day and know we’ll have a good time that morning!

Which are the gates where we’ll be giving out coupons? Here’s the list: Gate 4, at the campgrounds on the Fairgrounds’ east side; Gate 8, at Rock Island Avenue on the south side of the Fairgrounds; Gate 11, at the Grand Concourse on the west side of the Fairgrounds; and Gate 15, at the north parking lot. Lottery signs will mark the gates where coupons will be given away, so look for one of the signs to ensure you’re entering a gate where you can receive a coupon for a free play.

Come See Us At The Fair

I’m working at the lottery’s booth at the State Fair today! Come see us! Maybe we’ll sell you a BIG winner…

And The Big 'Mystery Millionaire' Winners Are…

There’s no mystery left in our “Mystery Millionaire”! We now know exactly who the big winners were in our live finale event on Extreme Sunday at the Iowa State Fair. It was a sea of yellow Mystery Millionaire T-shirts out there!

Click on the video above to see all the fun from yesterday’s give-away on the fairgrounds’ Grand Concourse. And, a complete list of all the prizes won by contestants, audience members and retailers is available here.

Mystery Millionaire: The Final Details For Sunday!

We’re busy today ironing out all the final details for our “millionaire at the Fair” event Sunday in Mystery Millionaire! We’ve been getting questions from folks about how they can get in on the fun that day, so here’s what you need to know:

The stage for our Mystery Millionaire finale event will be on the Grand Concourse of the Iowa State Fairgrounds, right in front of the Varied Industries Building. It will be hard to miss us – just look for the big stage and all the people wearing green “lottery staff” T-shirts!

We’ll start registering people at 9 a.m. that morning to be in the audience. You’ll line up in front of the stage to get your audience T-shirt and have a shot at our audience prizes that day. (Please remember that you must be at least 21 years old to register as an audience member.)

The big finale will kick off at 1 p.m. Sunday and someone will win a million dollars before we’re done! We’ll give away a total of more than $1.6 million that afternoon to our 15 Mystery Millionaire contestants on the stage, the 15 retail locations where they bought their lucky tickets, and 15 lucky folks in the audience!

Our audience prizes will range from $250 up to $1,000. So not only will you get to be part of the fun, you could take home a prize, too.

We’ll have all the Mystery Millionaire results here Monday, so be sure to check back!

Our Busy State Fair Booth Is Creating Winners!

With the Powerball® jackpot climbing more than $300 million, things are REALLY hopping at our booth at the Iowa State Fair. Seems like everybody wants one of those tickets!

Players also are having fun with our scratch tickets and pull-tabs. And that, in turn, means we're seeing big winners at the Fair! Joe Dooley of Norwalk won the top prize of $50,000 on a "7" ticket he bought at the Fair, while Nick Amadeo of Des Moines won $1,000 in that same game! We’ve seen lots of $100 winners on pull-tabs and of course, even more dot-prize winners from those tickets.

Check out the video above to see all the details about this year's lottery booth at the State Fair and learn how you can be a part of our "Mystery Millionaire" finale event on Extreme Sunday (Aug. 19)!

Your Time Is Almost Up! Mystery Millionaire Promotion Ending Soon

Entries for our current "Mystery Millionaire" promotion continue to roll in, but players only have a few more days to purchase their tickets.

You have until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, which is July 28, to purchase a special $5 Mystery Millionaire pack from your favorite Iowa Lottery retailer. So far we've seen over 100,000 entries, but we won't know final numbers until the end of the promotion.

In case you haven't purchased the pack yet, here's a reminder of what you'll get: an easy-pick Powerball with Power Play ticket, an easy-pick Hot Lotto Sizzler ticket, and along with those, a bonus Mystery Millionaire entry ticket with a code you'll enter on the lottery's website at www.ialottery.com.

If you do make an error, we cannot change the entries after they have been submitted for security purposes. But we will post the winners' information exactly as it was received when they entered. So if your name is selected, you should recognize the information when it is posted to our website.

On Aug. 2, the lottery will select 49 winning tickets in the promotion. Thirty-four of players whose entries are selected will win prizes of $10,000 each. The other 15 will advance to the Mystery Millionaire Giveaway on Aug. 19 at the Iowa State Fair. Each of the contestants at the Fair will win at least $25,000 and could win the grand prize of $1 million!

But lottery players aren't the only ones who can win big in the promotion - we'll also have prizes for the retailers that sell the winning tickets and the audience members at our live event.

The 15 semifinalists who attend the State Fair event each will receive four admission tickets to the Fair; two parking passes; hotel stay for two; admission for two to an exclusive dinner on Saturday, Aug. 18; and spending cash.

Here’s the run-down on our event at the Fair: The first 1,000 audience members who check in at the live show site on the Grand Concourse will get tickets to attend the give-away. Fifteen people in the audience that day will win prizes ranging from $250 to $1,000. And the retailers whose locations sell the winning tickets to the 15 semi-finalists on the stage at that live give-away show will win prizes from $500 up to $2,000.

The clock is ticking! Get your entries in today!

Common Questions About "Mystery Millionaire"

Now that we’ve kicked off our "Mystery Millionaire" promotion, we've gotten some great questions through our Webmaster email account as well as Facebook and Twitter.
 
When any of us is entering information online, sometimes our eyes can skip over slight mistakes. We've had a few players write or call in to us and ask if we can correct mistakes in spelling, phone numbers or addresses they made when entering Mystery Millionaire on the lottery’s website.
 
The short answer is no, we cannot do that. And here's why: As part of the security and integrity of the Iowa Lottery, we help protect our players by keeping their information private. Because of that, we cannot change your Mystery Millionaire entries after they have been submitted.
 
However, after the drawing has occurred, we will post the winners’ information exactly as it was received when it was entered. So if your name is selected, you should recognize the winners' list when it is posted to our website. If your name is selected, feel free to contact Lottery headquarters at 515-725-7900.
 
While we do make efforts to contact our winners, ultimately it is their responsibility to contact the Lottery to claim their prizes.
 
We've also had a few players tell us the website is not accepting their 13-digit Mystery Millionaire code. It's important that you take your time entering the code, as it can be easy to transpose numbers.
 
Finally, we had a great question come in about entering your personal information. When you enter promotions through the Lottery's VIP Club, your information will automatically populate in the entry form for you. Some of you have noticed that is not the case with Mystery Millionaire. That is because this particular promotion is not being run through the VIP Club. However, if you have more than one code to enter at once, there is a link at the bottom of the entry form that says "Enter more codes." Just click on that so you don't have to enter your information each time.
 
Just a reminder: You have until July 28 to purchase your $5 Mystery Millionaire pack and we're accepting entries until noon on July 31. You can check out all the rules and information on our website. Good luck!

UPDATED April 6, 2012 Our Upcoming Promo To Give Away That Jackpot Money

You heard it here first: We’re releasing the initial details today for the summer promotion we’re planning to give away the prize money from those two big jackpots that expired without being claimed late last year.

Now, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about one of them. It was that Hot Lotto® jackpot won with a ticket purchased in Des Moines that made international headlines when lawyers representing a trust withdrew the claim for the prize after the ultimate winner or winners refused to answer basic lottery security questions. The winning ticket had been turned in Dec. 29 here at the lottery with less than two hours to go before the big prize would have expired, but the claim was withdrawn on Jan. 26, sending that prize into the ranks of the unclaimed.

And just before all that hub-bub started, an even bigger prize – that one a $77 million Powerball® prize won in Georgia – also had expired without being claimed. That big prize officially expired Dec. 26.

With Hot Lotto and Powerball both being multi-state games, the money from these two unclaimed jackpots will go back to the individual lotteries that sell the games in proportion to the percentage of sales that came from each state. Iowa’s share of the unclaimed Hot Lotto jackpot is about $1.4 million, while our share of the unclaimed Powerball jackpot is about $600,000. So, we’re planning to give away about $2 million to Iowa players this summer.

Here in Iowa, the money from unclaimed prizes goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not those particular prizes that have expired.

This is a very unusual situation. None of us here at the lottery can ever remember a time when two big jackpots expired back-to-back like this. That money was bound for players, and that’s where it ultimately will go through this promotion. The state received its share of the money from lottery proceeds back when the tickets were sold.

The final details are still being ironed out, but we’re looking at a promotion that will start in July and be capped off with an event in August at the Iowa State Fair to give away prizes of up to $1 million cash. We’re focusing on a promotion designed for those who play Hot Lotto and Powerball, since those are the two games involved. Maybe we’ll call it “Millionaire at the Fair.” What do you think?

In addition to prizes for lotto players, we’re also talking about giving audience members that day at the Fair a chance to win prizes, as well as the retailers that sell the winning tickets in the promotion. Whatever it is, it should be a fun way to cap off the summer!

Hi again, gang! We have gotten a ton of comments to this blog entry, and we love to hear from you, so keep ‘em coming! I’m afraid, however, that a lot of folks are posting to this entry without reading our previous responses in the comments chain. So, I’ve posted another response in the comments section, but I’m updating this blog entry today, too, so everyone can see what’s being discussed. 

UPDATED April 6, 2012 

The plans for our upcoming summer contest aren’t finalized yet, but we are going to be selecting a lot of winners to give away nearly $2 million! Here’s the information we have so far, but as I’ve already said, please understand that we’re still putting together the final details. We’ll have more to share as the time gets closer. What we’re talking about is a lot like the raffle concept some of you have mentioned here in your comments, so great minds think alike!

We anticipate having a contest that will begin sometime in July. To be eligible to enter, you’ll make a special $5 lotto purchase in Powerball® and Hot Lotto®. We’ll have a special button added to our lottery terminals to generate the plays. You’ll get one $2 Powerball ticket with the Power Play option (for a total of $3) and one Hot Lotto ticket with the Sizzler option (for a total of $2). Along with that will come what we call a “trailing ticket” that will contain an entry code for the contest. You’ll go to www.ialottery.com and enter that code to be eligible for the contest drawing.

Anyone who makes one of those purchases anywhere in Iowa and then enters their code can be part of the fun! And those tickets you’ll buy will of course give you the chance to win Powerball and Hot Lotto prizes along the way, too!   

Then in early August, we’ll hold a drawing to determine 49 semi-finalists. Thirty-four of those folks will each win a $10,000 prize in that drawing. But 15 of those lucky winners will get to be part of a big reveal, which is slated for the last day of the Iowa State Fair. Those 15 people will each win a prize ranging from $25,000 up to $1 million at that event!

And if you are one of the folks eligible for that State Fair event, the lottery is putting together what we hope will be a really fun trip for you and a guest. We’re planning a celebration dinner, we’ll put you up in a hotel for the night and give you Fair admission tickets and parking passes. We’ll also give each of the Lucky 15 some cash to cover travel expenses they might have.

If you don’t want to make the trip yourself or have a scheduling conflict, you can always appoint a proxy to be there in your stead or we can appoint one for you. No worries there!     

We chose the Fair as the location for the big reveal because we want there to be a huge audience to cheer our winners on. And we’re planning some small prizes for some of the folks in the audience that day just to add to the fun and keep things interesting!  

Yep, this is a lot like a raffle, but with a lot more hoop-la. We like hoop-la. ☺

 

Are You In For a “Fair” Contest?

Even though the Iowa State Fair is almost over, we’re not ready to stop celebrating fairs this year!

The Clay County Fair opens its doors to fairgoers in a few weeks, and we want you to be part of it. So we’re holding a Twitter contest to keep you in a “fair” mood!

The Clay County Fair, dubbed the “World’s Greatest County Fair,” is in Spencer, Iowa. Its opening day is scheduled for Saturday, Sept.10. The Fair runs for nine days, wrapping up on Sunday, Sept. 18.

So, in our Twitter contest next Tuesday (Aug. 23), we’ll give away three Clay County Fair prize packs! Our contest winners will be fully equipped with: two admission tickets to the Fair, two tickets to one of three awesome concerts in the Fair’s line-up this year, two Iowa Lottery T-shirts and two special bonus prizes!

The Fair’s theme this year is “Can’t Get Enough,” and it’s got a ton of entertainment scheduled for fairgoers. The concert tickets we’ll be giving away are for the shows on Sept. 10, 11 and 13.

To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account. Then give us the correct answer to our super easy, contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the prize packages.   

At 10 a.m. next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

We’ll put all the eligible entries in a bucket and select three winners. After that, we’ll choose one floating duck out of a pool of water. The colored dot on the bottom will indicate which bonus prize each winner will receive. (Hey, we’re going with a Fair theme, so you just KNOW we have to play a carnival game!)

We’ll videotape the contest results, then post the video on our website and YouTube. We’ll also post a list of the winners’ names here on our blog, and a link to that blog on Twitter.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize. We’ll also select alternate names in case any of the winners don’t contact us within the specified amount of time.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

Get Your Lottery Tickets Here!

It’s going to be another great year at the Iowa State Fair. And you’ll find the Lottery’s booth in our usual spot inside the air-conditioned Varied Industries Building!

We’ve got a lot of great things in store for this year. We’ll be highlighting our current “Great Iowa Getaway” promotion. Enter non-winning MONOPOLYTM scratch tickets in the VIP Club online and you’ll have a chance to win one of eight Great Iowa Getaways!

We’ll also be giving away a special scratch promotion card to current and future VIP Club members. Hint: The card will reveal something you’ll be able to use in the VIP Club Points for PrizesTM program.
 
Come and check out our new ticket self-checkers! That’s right, you can now scan your own lotto and scratch tickets to see if you’re a winner. But that’s not all.

We’ll have dots on our pull-tab tickets again -- you’ll have a chance at seven new prizes. Then there will be tickets on a stick. Who wouldn’t love some luck on a stick at the Fair? And, if you spend $20 on scratch tickets, you’ll get a new lottery “Dream” T-shirt. Ooh, Ahh.

And finally, for you Lotto 12-Pack lovers out there, we’re offering a special deal only available in our booth at the State Fair. You’ll be able to get the usual $12 Lotto 12-Pack deal for only $10! This special includes a ticket with two Powerball® with Power Play® plays, a ticket with two Mega Millions® with Megaplier® plays and a ticket with two Hot Lotto® with Sizzler® plays, all for only $10!

Don’t miss out on all of the great fun we have planned in our booth this year at the Iowa State Fair. See you there!

Here Are The 25 Winners …

Thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday at the Iowa State Fair for the grand finale in our summer travel celebration! It was hot, but hey, that’s summer in Iowa, right? And we weren’t about to let some little ol’ heat stop us!

We gave away a lot of free scratch tickets in front of the Fair’s Administration Building, and then 25 lucky players in “The Silver Ticket” scratch game won $100 prizes in our final Cash Stop contest of the summer.

We had fun catching up with the Hog Hut Friends, those State Fair fans who won $1 million with a Powerball ticket they bought while they were camping at the 2009 Fair. The four friends were back at the Fair this year and they helped us pick the winning tickets in yesterday’s contest.   

So how has life changed for the Hog Hut Friends since their big win? Well, Rick Hamilton and Sharon Sulser recently got married, Vickie and Terry Chambers bought a Harley, and both couples said they’ve enjoyed the feeling of paying off some bills. They all said their lottery win has made life easier!

In alphabetical order, here are the 25 $100 winners in yesterday’s contest, which was conducted on the exact date of the Iowa Lottery’s 25th anniversary:

Lisa Beaty, Marshalltown

Sharon Brimmer, Marshalltown

Ed Christensen, Greenfield

Matt Crozier, De Soto

Jeff Current, Tipton

Fran Doll, Norwalk

Mark Dugan, Bagley

Ginger Eilers, Monticello

Patricia J. Yost-Emery, Johnston

Tiffany Helm, Des Moines

Sue Howard, Maynard

Aaron Knapp, Des Moines

Rachel Leach, Kellogg

Nick Liles, Bloomfield

Julie Mahoney, Bondurant

Christina Mathews, Pleasant Hill

Tim McFadden, Des Moines

Machele Powell, West Des Moines

Jimmy Quick, Altoona

Jason Richards, Newton

Cheri Roberts, Ankeny

Jeri Robinette, Des Moines

Carol Smith, Newton

Roland Stahl, Galva

John Wallace, West Branch

For a complete list of all the daily Cash Stop $100 winners during the 2010 State Fair, click here.  

That’s One Grand Finale!

Here’s your reminder: mark your calendars for the grand finale of our 25th anniversary! As you know, we’ve been set up in our booth at the Iowa State Fair since August 12.

Each day, we’ve been collecting your nonwinning tickets in “The Silver Ticket” scratch game and selecting five winners of $100 every evening. Well, it’s time for the finale!

On the final day of the Fair, we’ll be giving away 25 prizes of $100 cash! You can find us on the roof of the Fair’s Administration Building at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22. Don’t forget that’s “Extreme Sunday” at the Fair, so you can get in for half price and there’s free parking for car loads of five or more.

We start collecting tickets after 5:30 p.m. for the next day’s drawing, so you must submit your nonwinning tickets in The Silver Ticket game between 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 4:30 p.m. Sunday to be eligible.

We’ve had a great time at the Fair and look forward to seeing you on Extreme Sunday!

Twitter Contest Winners Today

So, do you know where the first Iowa Lottery tickets were sold? A lot of our Twitter followers do – and they put their knowledge to work today in our contest! The answer of course is: in 1985, at the Iowa State Fair. Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest, and thanks for including us in your social media universe!

This time around, we gave away tickets to this year’s Iowa State Fair, some of our cool Fair T-shirts and some special “dot” prizes as well. Click on the video above to see all the details.

Congrats to our winners:
• @Tasha_Kline
• @ialottofan
• @jackhwk

You'll need to contact Kim Vore at the lottery at 515.725.7890 by the close of business next Wednesday (4:30 p.m. on Aug. 18) so she can take down your information and send out your prize package!

Be sure to watch for what we’ll be up to next on Twitter!

This Month Marks 25 Years Of Lottery In Iowa

The Iowa Lottery’s 25th birthday is coming up this month, so we’re taking some time to look back at a quarter-century of lottery in Iowa and what that has meant.

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.

Over 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. Here are some quick figures from 25 years of lottery history in Iowa: 
 

$2.6 billion	Total prizes won by Iowa Lottery players
$1.2 billion	Total lottery proceeds to Iowa causes
$379.2 million	Total lottery sales commissions paid to Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets
$200.8 million	Largest lottery prize won in Iowa to date. Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge claimed that Powerball jackpot on Oct. 4, 2006.
6.4 million	Number of lottery tickets sold during the lottery’s first week of sales
2,374	Number of retail locations in Iowa that sell lottery tickets (current as of August 2010)
4,510	Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $10,000 or more (through August 2010)
1,089	Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $100,000 or more (through August 2010)
110	Number of Iowa Lottery tickets that have won prizes of $1 million or more (through August 2010)
686	Number of instant-scratch games sold in Iowa from 1985 through present
155	Number of pull-tab games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1987 through present
17	Number of lotto games sold in Iowa from the product’s introduction in 1986 through present
6	Number of Powerball® jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date
6	Number of Hot Lotto® jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players to date