ialottery blog

Thought Starter: Can My Charity Accept A Winning Lottery Ticket As A Donation?

Here’s a question we received that had a really nice outcome for the nonprofit involved: Can a charitable organization accept a winning lottery ticket as a donation?

The short answer is yes. The amount of the prize involved would ultimately be considered a cash donation to the group. And a lottery prize can be claimed by an organization as opposed to a person.

Here is the background about the particular inquiry we received.

The philanthropy director from a shelter in western Iowa said that a woman came to their location and handed an employee a winning lottery ticket as a donation to the organization. The woman didn’t give her name and said she wanted it to just be a gift.

We congratulated the group on receiving a very fun and creative anonymous donation! We also let them know that businesses and other organizations can and do claim prizes from the Iowa Lottery.

In those cases, the name and tax ID number provided on the prize claim form are those of the organization involved. We do request the ID of the person presenting the winning ticket, but they sign the claim form on behalf of the organization.

About a week after our email exchange, the shelter claimed a $2,000 prize. That’s a great ending, and a really generous gesture by the anonymous donor who started it all!

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!

FY 2024 Results: Thank You For An Incredible Year!

The Iowa Lottery’s latest annual results are out today, and we’re proud to say that with the support of our players, retailers and our entire team, it’s been a record year for ticket sales and prizes!

The preliminary figures show that the Iowa Lottery generated $106.6 million in proceeds to state causes in the fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s the lottery’s second-highest proceeds total, behind only the record $108.4 million in proceeds last year.

Annual lottery sales in FY 2024 were a record $489.9 million, while prizes to players totaled a record $312.6 million. Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell tickets totaled $31.9 million, a record for traditional lottery products.

What’s Behind The Numbers?

A couple big factors are behind those results. First, big jackpots.

You may remember that the jackpots in Mega Millions® and Powerball® topped $800 million at the same time back in March, and that the Powerball jackpot in particular exceeded $1 billion at three different points during the year.

Those big jackpots, combined with the November introduction of the Double Play® option in Powerball, led to an annual increase in Powerball sales of nearly 18 percent for the year.

Scratch games also had a very strong year. Sales of scratch tickets, which have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product, continued a strong run in FY 2024, growing 2.9 percent from the previous year and accounting for about 62 percent of the lottery’s overall sales.

It was a great year for lottery winnings as well. Iowa Lottery players claimed 14 prizes of at least $500,000 during FY 2024. And one more – a Powerball Double Play prize of $500,000 won in March in Mason City – was won during the year, but is still unclaimed.

Where’s The Money Go?

A common question we receive is how the money spent on lottery tickets makes a difference in Iowa. The image to the right shows you the breakdown.

For each $1 spent on a lottery ticket in our state, 64 cents goes right back to pay prizes. The next largest portion (22 cents on the dollar) goes to vital state programs, such as the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund that benefits our state’s veterans and their families.

Another 7 cents on the dollar is paid in commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell lottery tickets. And the final 7 cents goes to pay the daily costs of running the lottery.

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!

Truth or Myth: All the winners are from big cities/small towns, not my area

Here’s another entry in our Truth or Myth series to see if everyone has their thinking caps on! This is about a comment we get a lot, and it comes from people all over the state: All the big winners are from big cities/small towns, this county/that county, eastern Iowa/northern Iowa, etc., etc.

It’s definitely a myth, and it seems to be based upon the area the person is from, no matter where that is. I think the truth of the matter is that the people likely won’t truly be satisfied until they’re the big winner, but maybe you have another theory.

Here's an example of that myth in action, but on a national scale: We were talking one day with the folks from the DC Lottery in Washington. I told them about the comment we get that "no one from here ever wins." They laughed and said what they hear is that "it's always those people from Iowa who win the jackpot."

In reality, people all across Iowa – and all across the country – can and do win lottery prizes every day.

Now, it is true that there will be more winners in spots where more people are buying lottery tickets. Another way of putting that is that if 5 percent of lottery tickets are sold in a particular area, you can expect to find about 5 percent of the overall winners there.

That's always been the case with the Iowa Lottery. Everyone has the same chance of winning but there will be more winners in places where more tickets are being sold.

You want to know when you buy a lottery ticket that you have the same fair chance of winning as anyone else. And it’s our job at the Iowa Lottery to ensure that the case, with winners in our games being determined by nothing other than pure, random chance.

Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works. This Truth or Myth series is part of that effort.

See You This Weekend At The Iowa Speedway!

If you’re headed to the NASCAR® races in Newton this weekend, stop by and see us! The Iowa Lottery has a booth at the Iowa Speedway for all three days of racing.

We’re on the concourse near Ticket Booth 2, just across from the Newton Club! We’re selling and cashing tickets at our booth, there are merchandise prizes you can win in the wheel spin, and we’ve got staffers handing out free pull-tab tickets from time to time along the concourse.

Full details, including our booth hours, are in the video!

NASCAR®, NASCAR Cup Series Championship Weekend™ and NASCAR Cup Series™ are trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC, and used with expressed permission. Iowa Speedway® is a registered trademark of Iowa Speedway, LLC.

Do Iowa Lottery Winners Really Get to Keep Those Big Checks?

Here’s a new question that just came our way: Do Iowa Lottery winners really get to keep those big checks you see in all the photos? The answer is: Yes, absolutely!

When a winner comes to one of our offices to claim a big prize, we do our best to make it a memorable time. We’re of course paying the person a significant sum, which makes it a notable moment. But we add in other special touches to help them celebrate!

Those oversized, ceremonial checks are of course part of the mix. For our very biggest winners, we custom-print a check that includes their name and details including the store where they bought their winning ticket. Other winners receive slightly smaller ceremonial checks made out in their names.

We send the oversized checks home with the winners along with their real checks, of course. We often say that the oversized checks are their evidence because they have to cash or deposit the real check.

It’s fun when we catch up with big winners later to hear what they did with their oversized checks. Some are framed and hung on the wall at home, some get taken to work, some have even been put up at the winner’s favorite local watering hole.

It’s pretty amazing the life that those oversized checks take on!

So yes, when you win big, the Iowa Lottery definitely will make an oversized check for you. And you’ll get to take it home, provided that it fits in your car!

The State Where You Bought Your Ticket Determines Where You Can Claim A Prize

Lottery players who bought tickets in Minnesota and Wisconsin contacted us this week, wanting to know if they could cash those tickets in Iowa.

The short answer is no. You have to claim any prize you win from the lottery in the state where you bought your ticket.

Here is the background involved:

If you buy a lottery ticket in Iowa, you’ll need to claim any prize you win on that ticket here in Iowa. And if you buy a ticket in another state, you’ll need to claim any prize you win from it in that state.

There’s an enormous amount of technology that goes into running a lottery, and each state lottery has its own computer system to track the tickets it produces and sells. Because each state lottery individually tracks its own tickets, sales and prizes, the computer systems involved are independent from each other.

That means the lottery equipment here in Iowa can’t read tickets from another state, and vice versa. In addition, the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to support valuable causes there.

If visiting an Iowa Lottery retail location or one of our offices just won’t work for you, remember that we always offer players the option of claiming most prizes through the mail. (There are a few exceptions to that. For example, if you win a jackpot, that prize has to be claimed in person at our headquarters location in Clive.)

Many other state lotteries also offer players the ability to claim prizes by mail. Check with the respective state lottery from which you bought your ticket about those details.

Safe travels while you are out and about! And good luck on any lottery tickets you buy along the way!

Truth or Myth: Iowa's Age Limit To Buy Lottery Tix Is Higher Than In Most States

Here’s another entry in our Truth or Myth series to see how well you know the lottery. 

Truth or Myth: The minimum age to buy lottery tickets in Iowa is higher than for most other U.S. lotteries.

That one is true … but it wasn‘t always.

Today in Iowa, you have to be at least 21 years old to buy a lottery ticket. There are three other U.S. lotteries where that’s also the case: Arizona, Louisiana and Mississippi. And in Nebraska, the minimum legal age to buy lottery tickets is 19. The other 44 U.S. lotteries all have a minimum purchasing age of 18 for lottery tickets.

When the Iowa Lottery started in 1985, the legal minimum purchasing age was 18 for lottery tickets in our state. That remained the case for nearly a decade.

But in March 1994, as part of legislation involving several gambling issues, lawmakers raised the minimum purchasing age to 21 for lottery tickets in Iowa so there would be a universal age for all forms of gambling in our state. That age limit still applies today.

We’ll have another Truth or Myth update next month! It’s part of our efforts to keep you up on lottery details. Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works.

Gambling Affects People In Different Ways. Help Is Available 24/7 In Iowa If You Have Questions.

This month, we’re highlighting an issue that can affect people at any time. Help is available 24/7 in Iowa if you have questions.

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month. During the next few weeks, you’ll see our reminders about it across the state. Whether you’re in a store, driving by an outdoor billboard, watching TV, listening to the radio, using a streaming service or going online, you’ll likely see one of the public service announcements we produced along with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

At the Iowa Lottery, we hope that by providing this information, we’ll get the right message at the right time to someone looking for answers.

Remember that people with gambling disorders can come from any background and live anywhere. A gambling disorder can have periods where symptoms subside, and times where it’s more severe.

The universal truth is that gambling disorders are treatable.

If you have questions about problem gambling, free and confidential help is available 24/7 in Iowa by visiting yourlifeiowa.org or calling 1-800-BETS OFF. You can reach someone who cares through text, secure chat, email, telephone or in person.

The hashtag you’ll see this month is #PGAM2024, with messages from health officials and treatment experts across the country. We’re emphasizing that every story matters as we work to build support and understanding within our communities. Together we can amplify awareness!

I’m a snowbird, can I use my VIP Club free play where I am for the winter?

Here’s a question we just got from a member of our VIP Club who’s enjoying warmer weather for the winter. Other folks may also be out of state at times and have the same question.

The woman said she’s a snowbird currently in Florida, and she wondered if while she’s there she can use the free lottery play she gets each month for being a member of the Iowa Lottery’s VIP Club.

The short answer is no, but here’s the background involved:

We send free plays by email to our VIP Club members each month, and in this instance, the woman was checking her email from another state. We’re all often on the go these days, so we understand that you may check your email from many different places.

But in the case of our free plays, they can only be redeemed at lottery retail locations in Iowa. The free play is from the Iowa Lottery, not a lottery in another state.

From an operational perspective, lottery terminals outside of Iowa can’t redeem our free plays because they’re not programmed to read them. And from a cost perspective, we’re not asking another lottery to cover the expense of the free plays we send out. That wouldn’t be very neighborly of us!

So please know that we’ll continue to send our VIP Club members free plays each month. It’s a thank you from us to show our appreciation for you as a lottery player. You can redeem your free play anywhere in Iowa that lottery tickets are sold!

Calendar Invite: Tomorrow We’ll be at Veterans Day at the Capitol

Tomorrow is an event we look forward to every year for the opportunity to interact with those who have given so much for our country.

It’s the annual Veterans Day at the Capitol event. Tomorrow morning, our state’s veterans and their families will gather at the Statehouse in Des Moines to talk with Iowa lawmakers and advocate for ideas to help support the veterans community.

The lottery will have a booth at the event to provide information about the proceeds that we raise for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. We’ll add lottery fun to the day by giving away some lottery prize packs in contests we’ll hold at our booth in the Rotunda on the Capitol’s first floor.

Everyone during the event from 9 a.m. until about noon tomorrow is welcome to enter our contest for a chance to win a prize pack. We’ll also have lottery and veterans-themed swag at our booth to help lift people’s spirits on a cold winter day!

Since 2008, when lottery proceeds were first dedicated to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, the Iowa Lottery has now raised nearly $40 million for the cause. A portion of the money raised from the sale of all lottery tickets in Iowa goes to the Veterans Trust Fund to directly help veterans and their families.

It’s another way for us all to say: Thank you, veterans!

Being A Nudge: Please Reserve Lottery Tickets For The Adults On Your Gift List

With the holiday season underway, I’m going to be a nudge about something because it matters.

At the Iowa Lottery, we know that lottery tickets will be among the items given as gifts and put in stockings in the next month or so. And hey, we’re all about that fun!

But please remember that our tickets – while colorful, entertaining and affordable – are something that should be purchased by adults for adults.  

That’s true for a lot of products: The content of some video games and movies is not appropriate for all ages. Alcohol and tobacco-related products have age restrictions. Even toys have age-recommendation guidelines.

In Iowa, you have to be at least 21 years old to buy lottery tickets, and we’ve always considered our products something for adults. After all, you are gambling when you play the lottery.

Problem gambling can begin in adolescence when impulse and attention control are still developing. We want our products to go to those who are mature enough to enjoy that entertainment.

And as always, if you or someone you know has questions about problem gambling, please know that help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can text and live chat by visiting Your Life Iowa or you can call 1-800-BETSOFF (1-800-238-7633).

I’m Clearly Not 21, But They Still Carded Me

Here’s a question that just came our way from a player who wondered why he was carded at a local convenience store as he was buying lottery tickets.

The man said he’s clearly not 21 – in fact, he’s over 50 – and he still had to show his I.D.

There’s a real-world reason behind that workplace policy: Stores ask customers to verify their age before buying certain products as a way to protect their ability to do business.

Lottery tickets are an age-controlled product, meaning that you have to be a certain age before you can purchase them. Here in Iowa, the minimum purchasing age for lottery tickets is 21.

Retail locations receive licenses to sell age-controlled products, and one of the requirements of those licenses is that they enforce the minimum purchasing age. A business license will be suspended or even revoked if they violate its terms, and some stores therefore choose to I.D. everyone, not just those they think may be under 21.

Losing any business license would have a huge financial impact on the location involved, likely limiting for an extended period of time the products it can sell.

We support our retailers’ decisions to take a careful approach!

So if you’re asked for an I.D. when you buy lottery tickets, know that the store is doing the right thing. (And if you think it’s obvious you don’t look 21, maybe just have fun in that moment!)

Be Aware: We’re Hearing About Scam Attempts Nearly Every Day

For whatever the reason – maybe it’s a hold-over effect from this summer’s giant jackpots – we’re hearing nearly every day about lottery scam attempts. It’s an important signal that we all need to protect ourselves and our personal information.

In some instances, we’re seeing scam attempts directly through our social media channels. In other cases, members of the public have contacted us after seeing something that made them suspicious.

The folks who reached out to us absolutely did the smart thing. First and foremost, they didn’t fall for the scammers’ claims. And second, they contacted us to report what happened and verify that it was a scam.

The scary part is that for every person who contacts us, there could be so many more who also have been contacted by scammers and may have fallen victim. And even some of those who reach out to us want to believe the scammers so badly.

Many of the scams bogusly use the names of popular lottery games such as Mega Millions® and Powerball®. And we know it can be tempting. Who doesn’t want to dream that they’ve won big?

But it’s important to know these simple truths: Games like Mega Millions and Powerball are sold only in the United States, and the ONLY way to win prize in them is to purchase a ticket from a licensed retail location and then match some or all of the winning numbers for that specific drawing.

There are no random Powerball or Mega Millions prizes awarded anywhere in the world simply based on telephone numbers, email addresses or social media accounts. Scammers also often impersonate lottery winners and claim to be randomly giving away a portion of their prize money. Those instances also aren't real.

And, most importantly, there is NEVER a fee to claim a real lottery prize. If you are asked to pay money, it is a scam.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has great details on its Consumer Advice page about the warning signs of fake prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries. The page includes tips for reporting a scam if you’ve been targeted or have been a victim.

Here in our state, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office has a Consumer Protection Division that can help.

But the very best thing that any of us can do is to remain vigilant and continue to protect ourselves.

FY 2023 Results: Iowa Lottery Sales, Proceeds, Prizes to Players All Set Records

The Iowa Lottery’s latest annual results are out, showing that its sales, proceeds to state causes, prizes to players, and commissions paid to local businesses across the state all set records in fiscal year 2023.

At the lottery, we offer huge thanks our players, our business partners and our hard-working team who all were a part of this record moment. The bottom-line result is more proceeds for the good causes in Iowa that benefit from lottery support.

That’s the “Iowa” part of the Iowa Lottery, and we never forget it.

Diving Into The Numbers

The preliminary figures released today show that the Iowa Lottery generated a record $108.2 million in proceeds to state causes for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. Annual lottery sales in FY 2023 were a record $481.5 million, while prizes to players totaled a record $305.3 million.

Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell tickets totaled $31.3 million, a record for traditional lottery products.

The unaudited results show that Iowa Lottery sales in FY 2023 increased 11.3 percent from the previous year’s total of $432.7 million.

Lottery proceeds to state causes in FY 2023 increased 10.5 percent from the previous year, and prizes to players increased 11.3 percent from the previous year’s total. Lottery sales commissions to Iowa businesses increased 10.8 percent from the previous year.

What Led To The Record Year

The lottery’s results in the past year were positively impacted by two main factors: a rebound in sales of scratch games and significant jackpots in national lotto games.

The jackpots in Mega Millions® and Powerball® simultaneously topped the $400 million mark in October 2022, with the Powerball jackpot ultimately hitting $2.04 billion for that game’s drawing on Nov. 7, 2022. That’s the world record for a lottery prize.

The simultaneous huge jackpots generated a corresponding surge in sales in both games.

Lotto America, a smaller multi-state game than Powerball and Mega Millions, also saw a sales surge for the year. Its jackpot reached $40.04 million, a record for that game, in its drawing on April 1 of this year. A Dubuque man won that jackpot.

Sales of scratch games, which have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product, rebounded in FY 2023 after falling the previous year amid surging fuel prices and inflationary pressures. Increased fuel costs historically have had the most direct impact on the sale of scratch games among the lottery’s products.

As fuel prices and other economic pressures eased in FY 2023 and new games were introduced, scratch-ticket sales gradually rebounded in Iowa. The product category finished the year up slightly, with scratch-ticket sales representing about 61 percent of total Iowa Lottery sales.

Biggest Prizes, Top Retailers For The Year

Eleven Iowa Lottery prizes of at least $500,000 were won during FY 2023. One of those, a $1 million Mega Millions prize won in September 2022 in Ames, is still unclaimed.

The biggest prize won in Iowa during the year was a $40.03 million Lotto America® jackpot claimed by a Dubuque man.

Lottery players in Iowa also claimed 3 prizes of $2 million, 4 prizes of $1 million, and 2 prizes of $500,000 during the year.

The Top 10 retailers in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2023 were in 5 different communities: Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Marshalltown. The No. 1 retailer on the list is the Hy-Vee at 1843 Johnson Ave. in Cedar Rapids. That store sold more than $1.3 million in lottery tickets during the year.

Where The Money Goes

A highlight for FY 2023 was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised nearly $37.4 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.

Full details about how lottery proceeds help Iowa are available on our Lottery Gives Back page.

Player Question: Does The “Woo-hoo!” Sound Play For Nonwinning Tickets?

A player who was worried that she may have missed a prize reached out to us about the recording that an Iowa Lottery terminal plays when a winning ticket is scanned. The player wanted to know if the terminal plays the same message for winning AND nonwinning tickets.

The short answer is no. But here is the background involved:

Whenever a winning lottery ticket is scanned on a lottery terminal in Iowa, the machine plays a recorded message. A voice from the terminal says, “You’re a winner!” followed by the lottery’s signature “Woo-hoo!” sound.

The sound is the same for any prize you win, whether it’s $1 or $100 million. It’s not possible for retail employees to adjust the sound level on a lottery terminal, so the recorded message will come through for a winning ticket. The terminal does not play the sound when a nonwinning ticket is scanned.

(The lottery’s self-checkers, self-service kiosks and mobile app display a message on the screen with the amount of any prize won rather than playing a recording.)

And remember that customer receipts also are printed from the lottery terminal for any ticket that is checked or cashed. The receipts are available to you as the customer if you have a question about what you may have won.

No Judgment, Just Help: Problem Gambling Awareness Month

This month, we’re highlighting an issue that can affect people at any time, and for which help is always available in Iowa.

March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. During the next few weeks, you’ll see reminders about it across the state. At the Iowa Lottery, we hope that by providing the information, we’ll get the right message at the right time to someone who might need help.

Whether you’re buying a lottery ticket at a store, watching TV, listening to the radio, using a streaming service or going online, you’ll likely see one of the public service announcements we produced along with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Remember that problem gamblers can come from any background and from anywhere. And problem gambling is treatable.

If you ever have questions about problem gambling, free and confidential help is available 24/7 in Iowa by visiting yourlifeiowa.org or calling 1-800-BETS OFF. You can reach someone who cares through text, secure chat, email, telephone or in person.

The hashtag you’ll see during the next month is #PGAM2023, with messages from public health officials, treatment experts and lotteries across the country. By working together, we’ll emphasize that through awareness plus action, help can be provided to those who need it.

Scheduling Note: Iowa Lottery Offices Closed For A Few Upcoming Holiday Dates

A quick scheduling reminder: Iowa Lottery offices will be closed for a few holiday dates in the next two weeks.

Lottery offices will be closed tomorrow (Dec. 23) and Monday (Dec. 26) for the Christmas holiday weekend. And on Monday, Jan. 2, lottery offices will be closed for the New Year’s holiday.

I hope that in the coming days you can relax, spend time with family and friends, and celebrate the things you enjoy.

Happy, happy holidays!

A Reminder for the Season: Is That the Right Gift?

With the holiday season underway, we offer this gentle reminder as you’re shopping.

We know that lottery tickets will be among the items that you may give as presents and put in stockings. And here at the Iowa Lottery, we’re glad to be included in the fun!

But please remember that our tickets – while colorful, entertaining and affordable – may not be something you want to give to those underage.

That’s true for lots of products: The content of some video games and movies may not be appropriate for all ages. Alcohol and tobacco-related products have their own age restrictions. Even toys have age-recommendation guidelines.

In Iowa, you have to be at least 21 years old to buy lottery tickets, and we’ve always considered our products something for adults. You are gambling when you play the lottery.

To minimize the risks associated with youth gambling, be sure to give youngsters age-appropriate gifts. And when you give lottery tickets as presents, please keep the person's age in mind.

As always, if you or someone you know is being impacted by problem gambling, help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by text, live chat or calling 1-800-BETSOFF (1-800-238-7633) or visiting https://yourlifeiowa.org/gambling.

He’s Always Working: Meet Dave, The Iowa Lottery’s Newest Team Member

A new team member has joined the Iowa Lottery, and you may have already been helped by his work.

His name is Dave and he’s a chatbot. When you visit ialottery.com, you now see a blue chat symbol in the lower right corner of the screen. The symbol tells you that the Iowa Lottery has a digital assistant available to help answer questions.

If you click on the symbol, the chatbot screen opens. Five popular search topics come up, or you can use the screen to type in your own question.

Now, Dave obviously isn’t a real person. Chatbot software uses artificial intelligence to mimic a conversation. Statistics show that nearly 70 percent of global consumers have used a chatbot in the past year, and the use of chatbots continues to rise.

Best-practice tips say that a chatbot should have a name and personality in line with the organization it represents. We wanted our chatbot to be friendly and engaging with an obvious Iowa connection.

So, you’ll notice that Dave is definitely an Iowa bot, and he’s got a happy smile.

Dave can already answer more than 200 questions about the Iowa Lottery and its products. As we see new questions being asked through the chat screen, we add in more answers.

Our goal in adding a chatbot to our website is to help you easily find information about the Iowa Lottery and its products. The bot helps us deliver customer service 24/7, even at times when our offices are closed.

So why is our chatbot named Dave? Go ahead, ask him. He can tell you. He’s got thoughts about the weather, too. But Dave's main purpose is that he knows a lot of in-depth details about the Iowa Lottery.

Welcome to the lottery team, Dave!

Scheduling Note: Iowa Lottery Offices Closed Until Monday For Thanksgiving

A quick scheduling reminder: Iowa Lottery offices will be closed until Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I hope that you can take some time to relax this weekend, spend time with family and friends, and just be in the moment.

If you have a ticket winning a prize of more than $600 or need our assistance with anything else, our offices will open again for business at 8 a.m. Monday (Nov. 28).

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Veterans Day: We’re Grateful For This Extra Help For Iowa Veterans

This Veterans Day, we’re thankful for some additional help that Iowa provides to those who have served. It’s an Iowa success story that not every state has.

I’m talking about the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund (IVTF), which was created here in Iowa to provide additional help to veterans and their families beyond federal veterans benefits. It feels good to know that Iowa has a solution like this in place and we have the opportunity to be a part of it.

A portion of the proceeds raised from the sale of lottery tickets in Iowa goes to the IVTF each year. Since lottery proceeds were first dedicated to that cause in 2008, the Iowa Lottery has raised nearly $37.4 million for the IVTF.

If you’re an Iowa veteran or the family member of an Iowa veteran and you’re looking for more information about the IVTF, you can visit va.iowa.gov and click on the Trust Fund link under the Benefits tab.

There, you’ll find the categories for assistance through the fund as well as a copy of the application form. You’ll need to start an application for assistance from the Trust Fund at your local County Veterans Office. (There is a veterans office in every county in Iowa.)

While the Iowa Lottery raises money for the Veterans Trust Fund, applications for assistance through the fund are approved by the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs. Click on the video above to hear two long-time members of the commission share the story of their own service and why the IVTF matters so much to them.

FY 2022 Results: Lottery Proceeds Top $97 Million, Near Previous Year’s Record

The Iowa Lottery’s annual results are out today, with sales, proceeds to state causes, and prizes to players all finishing near the previous year’s record highs despite strong inflationary headwinds in recent months. Fiscal year 2022 ultimately yielded the lottery’s second-highest results in its 37-year history.

The preliminary figures show that the Iowa Lottery generated $97.9 million in proceeds to state causes in the fiscal year that ended June 30. Annual lottery sales in FY 2022 were $432.7 million, while prizes to players totaled $274.2 million. Lottery sales commissions paid to the local Iowa businesses that sell tickets totaled $28.3 million for the year.

FY 2022 is just the second time that annual Iowa Lottery sales topped $400 million and the third time that its total proceeds to state causes exceeded $90 million.

High fuel costs have historically had the most direct impact on the sale of lottery scratch games, and that was evident again in FY 2022. Fuel prices in Iowa began to climb in the spring and by mid-May, the average retail diesel price was above $5 a gallon and retail unleaded gasoline had topped $4 a gallon.

Scratch-ticket sales in May were down 17.5 percent compared to the same month in 2021, and down 14.7 percent in June compared to the same time period the previous year.

Annual scratch-ticket sales were down 7.5 percent in Iowa, with the product category representing about 2/3 of total Iowa Lottery sales.

At the same time, the lotto category was positively impacted by the Powerball® and Lucky for Life® game groups’ decisions to increase the number of weekly drawings in those games. In July 2021, Lucky for Life moved from two drawings per week to daily drawings. In August of that year, Powerball moved to three drawings per week with the addition of Monday drawings.

Both games saw marked sales increases in FY 2022, with Lucky for Life sales increasing 45.3 percent and Powerball sales increasing 22.2 percent.

The biggest prize won in Iowa for the year was a $2 million Powerball prize claimed in January by a New Hampton woman.

The Top 10 retailers for lottery sales were in seven different communities, with the Hy-Vee on Johnson Avenue in Cedar Rapids topping the list. That store sold more than $1.2 million in lottery tickets during FY 2022.   

Another highlight for the year was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised more than $34.8 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008. The lottery also raises proceeds for the Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund and Department of Corrections Survivor Benefits Fund, which help with insurance costs for the families of Iowa peace officers, fire fighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty.

Here is a year-to-year comparison of annual sales by lottery product.

Product	FY 2022 Sales	FY 2021 Sales
Scratch games	$293.1 million	$316.9 million
InstaPlay games	$23.4 million	$23.5 million
Pick 3	$9.3 million	$9.5 million
Powerball	$53.1 million	$43.4 million
Mega Millions	$20.4 million	$29 million
Pick 4	$5.6 million	$5.5 million
Lucky for Life	$8.1 million	$5.6 million
Lotto America	$7 million	$6.4 million
Pull-tab games	$12.7 million	$12.8 million

We Hope To See YOU While We’re Out And About This Summer

We’re spending this spring and summer getting out to celebrate Iowa, and we hope to see YOU at one of our stops!

The Iowa Lottery will be at a number of locations around the state in the next couple months. Some of the events will be at retail locations while others are at football games, baseball games, and auto races.

We’ve already been to Des Moines and Mason City. Today we’re in Council Bluffs, and on Sunday, we’ll be in Davenport.

We keep a list of events in the next couple weeks on our website’s Promotions page and we’ll update that list as the summer goes on.

We sell tickets in our Explore Iowa scratch game at each stop, and all lottery products are available at the events at retail locations. And yes, we’ll have our prize wheel at the events! With a qualifying purchase, you can spin the wheel to win lottery merchandise.

Hey, I Didn’t Get My Coupon For A Free Play This Month

It’s a fact of life that email systems these days can block messages from going through, and every month that trips up some members of our players club who are looking for their free-play coupon.

The good news is, there’s an easy work-around in case our email to you ends up getting stuck out there in cyberspace.

When you log into your VIP Club account, you have access to a few months of the VIP Connection, our players club newsletter. The most recent month’s edition will contain your monthly coupon for a free play and you can print it from there. We still send out the newsletter by email as well, but this offers you another option to easily find it. 

As you likely already know, one of the perks of being a VIP Club member is that you get a coupon every month from us here at the lottery. The coupon is good for a free play in one of our lotto games – Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto America, Lucky for Life or in one of our InstaPlay games.

The VIP Club newsletter that contains the coupon is emailed out on the first business day of each month to VIP Club members who have opted-in to receive electronic communications from the Iowa Lottery.

Some of our VIP Club members have had trouble receiving their newsletter and coupon by email. In some instances, our emails were getting caught in spam filters or being blocked entirely by particular email service providers. (The providers weren’t doing anything wrong – they took the security steps necessary to best protect their members’ accounts from spam or other malicious content. But in some cases, those safeguards also prevented email from getting through that people wanted, including our monthly newsletter with coupon.)

You can access your newsletter and coupon by logging in at ialottery.com, clicking on VIP Connection & Coupon and choosing the current month.

Please note that you must be logged into your VIP Club account to access the newsletter. If you visit the VIP Club site without logging in, you won’t see the member-exclusive areas, including the link to the VIP Connection newsletter.

And remember that each VIP Club coupon has a unique, single-use code, so even if you have multiple images of your coupon, it can only be redeemed once.

You Can Enter For A Chance At Polaris® Vehicles & Cash Prizes In ‘Explore Iowa’

We’re kicking off a summer-long celebration today that focuses on getting outside – and offers you the chance to win some memorable prizes.

The Explore Iowa promotion began this morning and runs through mid-September. Lottery players can enter nonwinning tickets from the $5 Explore Iowa scratch game into the promotion for a chance to win gift certificates for Polaris® recreational vehicles and cash prizes. The promotion will give away a total of $400,000 in prizes.

The Explore Iowa scratch game is easy to identify: Its tickets show a Polaris® recreational vehicle on the front!

The lottery will hold initial drawings in the promotion on June 9, July 21 and Aug. 18 with the grand-prize drawings on Sept. 15. Each of the initial drawings will award three $25,000 Polaris® gift certificates and five cash prizes of $5,000. The grand-prize drawings on Sept. 15 will award a $50,000 Polaris® gift certificate and a $50,000 cash prize. (Each Polaris® gift certificate prize will include state and federal withholding taxes paid on behalf of the winner.)

Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next, except for the grand-prize drawings. Here’s how that works: All entries for a Polaris® gift certificate that aren’t selected as a winner in the initial drawings will be eligible for the grand-prize drawing for a $50,000 Polaris® gift certificate. And, all entries for a cash prize that aren’t selected as a winner in the initial drawings will be eligible for the grand-prize drawing for the $50,000 cash prize.

Polaris is an official licensed product of Polaris Inc. All rights reserved. POLARIS and the star design are trademarks of Polaris Inc.

What’s The Breakdown On Every $1 Spent On Lottery Tickets?

Here’s a player question that came our way, wondering about the breakdown of the money from every $1 spent on lottery tickets in Iowa.

We keep a chart showing that on our website. The money breaks down into four categories, the biggest of which is prizes! (Without prizes to players, there obviously wouldn’t be a lottery for long!)

Prizes are followed by proceeds to state programs, commissions to the local businesses that sell lottery tickets, and the daily costs of running the lottery.

In addition to that bigger picture, we also pinpoint the state programs that currently receive lottery proceeds, and how those proceeds have been used over time. The use of the money raised by the lottery for state causes has changed several times since the Iowa Lottery’s start back in 1985, so we keep a historical list as well as a current list on our website.

We do our best to break things out into clear categories with easy-to-navigate graphics and direct links where you can learn more. The details involved are interesting, and it’s our job to provide transparency about the lottery enterprise that has raised more than $2.2 billion -- and counting.

Evidence That Iowans Believe In Luck

Here’s a fun look at the passage of time, proving that Iowans really do believe in luck.

In 2015, metal sculptures in the shape of four-leaf clovers were installed around the Iowa Lottery’s headquarters building in Clive as part of the Art in State Buildings program. The sculptures are a light-hearted representation of lottery luck and people have had fun posing next to them through the years.

One clover in particular gets a lot of attention from visitors to the lottery. It’s a copper clover near the front doors of the building, and many people touch it for luck as they go by.

One of the clover leaves demonstrates that Iowans are hoping they can borrow some of its luck! The front edge of the leaf shows the impact of lots of hands reaching out to it.

So in this month when we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, here’s hoping that luck comes YOUR way. (And the clover will be here on your next visit!)

I’m Worried My Ticket Is Ruined. Can It Still Be Cashed?

A player just emailed us with a question that comes up from time to time about tickets that have been damaged. Specifically, can a ticket still be checked or cashed even if the code on it is damaged? Many times, yes. But there are limits.

The player said he scratched one of his tickets too hard and damaged the code on it that normally would be scanned to check the results. He wondered if he could still claim the prize he thought he'd won.

Often there is a way for that to happen.

Each lottery ticket has identifying numbers on it that can manually be entered into a lottery terminal to check the results of the ticket. It’s not something you as a player can do using a self-checker in a store or the lottery's mobile app on your smartphone – the ticket code is required in those instances.

But if the code can’t be read and the rest of the ticket is still in good condition, the clerk at a lottery retail location or a staffer at one of our lottery offices can manually key in the identifying numbers from the ticket to check its results. If the clerk at your local store doesn’t know how to do that, they can always call the Iowa Lottery’s retail hotline for help.

But if a ticket is too badly damaged, not even we’ll be able to determine its results. Through the years, we’ve seen tickets that had disintegrated after mistakenly being sent through the wash-and-dry cycle a few times. Other tickets had been torn, and the player involved had only a small section without any identifying numbers on it.

There also was a player who spilled water on her lotto tickets and put them in the microwave to dry them out. Lotto tickets are printed on heat-sensitive paper, so microwaving them turned them completely black. There was no way to determine the information that had been printed on them.

We’ll always do our best to help, but as with any paper product, lottery tickets can be damaged. It’s important to keep your tickets in as good of shape as possible so you can claim any prize you’ve won!