ialottery blog

Player Mail: What About The Withholding On Lottery Prizes?

One of our recent big winners had some follow-up questions for us this week about taxes, and it’s a topic I’ll cover here on the blog today to share the background involved. Taxes may not be anyone’s favorite topic, but it’s important that we understand the details! 

The player’s questions have to do with the withholdings that apply to lottery prizes. Here in Iowa, a state withholding rate of 5 percent is applied to all lottery prizes of more than $600. And for prizes of more than $5,000, federal withholding of 24 percent also applies.

This particular winner has done exactly what we always suggest by consulting a tax advisor to help her map out the tax implications of her winnings.

The winner said that the withholdings applied to her prize won’t be enough to cover her full income-tax implications. She wondered why we couldn’t have withheld more.

A big part of the answer is that state and federal withholding rates are established by law. So, we can’t withhold at a different rate -- we have to follow the law.

In general, withholdings are designed to help cover the tax implications you may have from gambling winnings, but the precise taxes that you will have as an individual are dependent upon your circumstances outside of winning the lottery.

In some cases, the withholdings may not be enough and in other cases they may be too much. We don’t know each of our winner's individual circumstances, so that’s why we always suggest that they consult a financial planner or lawyer who can help them determine their full tax implications.

Two Gifts, A LOT Of Winnings

Two of our biggest winners this month both got their lucky ticket as a gift from a family member!

First up was Terry Dennis of Boone, who claimed the eighth and final top prize of $100,000 in the “Diamond 9s” scratch game. Terry says her son, Troy, bought the ticket when he took her out for coffee. While they were out, they stopped at a local convenience store, where Troy bought some tickets and gave one to his mom.

Terry said she played it and quickly realized she’d won the game’s top prize. She says she was very shaken and very excited, and her son ran back in the store to give the clerk a big hug for selling him the $100,000-winning ticket. They drove straight to Iowa Lottery headquarters to claim the prize.

Next up was Keesha Parker of Sioux City, who claimed the first top prize in the “Wild Bingo” scratch game. Keesha says she got her $25,000-winning ticket from her husband, Kevin. He bought a pair of tickets at a local convenience store and they both scratched one later that night.

Keesha said she initially thought she’d won $500, but they went back to the store to check the ticket and learned the prize was a lot more than that! She said she plans to save part of her winnings, donate some, and buy back-to-school supplies for her grandchildren.

Thoughtful family members for the WIN, indeed!

Iowa’s Biggest Lottery Winners Were Here (And Here, And Here …)

Another month of 2019 is in the books, so it’s time to look back at the biggest lottery winners in Iowa during July. 

The map here shows all the Iowa Lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed in July. There are a total of 390 dots this time, compared to 315 on the June map.

In the first seven months of the year, Iowa Lottery players claimed a total of 2,717 prizes of $600 or more. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so there are a lot of them!

As always, remember that our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include those prizes won but not claimed yet.

He’s Already Won, Whether Or Not His Ticket Wins A Prize

A northwest Iowa man has had some good luck all because he signed his lottery tickets.

The story comes from the manager of the Iowa Lottery’s Storm Lake regional office. His name is Bill and while he was at a local gym there this week, one of his friends told him that he’d recently had to go to the hospital for a medical procedure. The friend said that when he got home, he realized he was missing his money clip that had more than $200 in it.

The next day, the friend got a call from the hospital, asking if he’d lost something. He said he had: his money clip. Someone at the hospital had found it, and the only way they knew it belonged to him was because he also had a couple lotto tickets in the clip, and he’d signed his name on the back of them. That’s an easy security procedure we always suggest players follow to identify their tickets as belonging to them.

So in the end, Bill’s friend got back his money clip, his cash AND his lotto tickets! And it proves two things in my book: 1.) There still are honest people in this world; and 2.) Even if his tickets don’t win a prize, his friend is already a winner!

34 Years In The Making: Iowa Lottery Sets Records

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy World Emoji Day!

If you’re a fan of emojis (and that’s pretty much all of us these days), today is for you. It’s World Emoji Day!

That’s according to the National Day Calendar™, the website that tracks unusual holidays and has a day for just about everything. Today is for celebrating the emoji: those small, digital pictures or icons that are used to express ideas, concepts, and emotions in electronic communications.

"Emoji" is a Japanese expression that roughly translates to: picture word. When Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, an emoji keyboard was embedded in it to help appeal to the Japanese market. But users all around the world quickly found the keyboard and began to use it!

Here at the Iowa Lottery, our favorite emojis of course are those that involve money, happy faces, celebrations and good luck!

The website emojipedia.org tracks emoji updates across all platforms and operating systems. It shows that there are now more than 1,800 emojis, with more being created all the time.

The suggested emoji to use as you celebrate today is the green-and-blue symbol of the earth to highlight that it's WORLD Emoji Day.

It’s Not Just A Ticket

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#LotteryWeek
#MoreThanATicket

All The Latest About Iowa’s Biggest Lottery Winners

With the Independence Day holiday weekend behind us, we’re pausing today to look back at the biggest lottery winners in Iowa during the month of June. 

The map here shows all the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed during June in Iowa. There are 315 dots in total this time, compared to 342 on the May map.

That means that during the first six months of the year, Iowa Lottery players had claimed a total of 2,327 prizes of $600 or more. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

As always, remember this detail about our mapping initiative: Our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.

New State Support For Families of Fallen Peace Officers, Fire Fighters

A new law that took effect this week will mean additional help with insurance costs for the families of Iowa peace officers and fire fighters who have died in the line of duty.
 
Under the new law, a state program called the Iowa Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund has been created. The fund will provide grants to organizations that provide assistance to help pay the costs of accident or health care insurance coverage for the surviving family members of Iowa peace officers and fire fighters killed on the job. The program will receive funding each year through the proceeds that the Iowa Lottery raises for state causes.

The Iowa Lottery joined the Iowa Department of Public Safety and state lawmakers at the Iowa Peace Officer Memorial near the state Capitol today to highlight the new program.

The Survivor Fund is the latest development in a years-long discussion about insurance for the surviving spouses and children in these tragic situations. Until 2018, if an Iowa peace officer or fire fighter died in the line of duty, the state, county or city government for which the person worked was sometimes not authorized to continue accident or health insurance coverage for that person’s family.

In 2018, state law was changed to allow that continuing coverage option and for the state, county or city involved to pay the full cost or a portion of the insurance costs involved. Family members can opt to pay any remaining expense themselves.

But some families and small communities have had difficulty paying those costs, and that’s where the new Survivor Fund comes in. The Iowa Department of  Public Safety will award grants through the fund each year, with half the money going to nonprofit organizations that help with ongoing insurance costs for surviving families of peace officers killed in the line of duty, and half going to nonprofit organizations that help with those costs for the surviving family members of fire fighters killed in the line of duty.
 
The Iowa Lottery will provide $100,000 in proceeds each year to the Survivor Fund. During discussions of the concept in this year’s legislative session, state lawmakers said they think $100,000 in state support will be enough to help with insurance costs for the families involved.

The Iowa Lottery will make its first transfer to the Survivor Fund in late October as part of its initial quarterly proceeds transfer to the state for the 2020 fiscal year. It will continue to transfer proceeds to the fund each October.

Many of the details regarding the new fund are still being finalized, including the administrative rules for its operation. Once those rules have been adopted, DPS will open the application process for nonprofit organizations interested in receiving grants from the fund. DPS hopes to begin the application process in late calendar year 2019 or early 2020, and will make a grant application form available at that time.

A Little Piggy With Lottery Luck!

This story speaks to all things Iowa, and it’s too good not to share! The main characters are a kind-hearted Iowa Lottery employee and a tiny little piglet now named Tot.

Last week, my co-worker Andrea McNamara was driving home after work at lottery headquarters in Clive when rush-hour traffic on the interstate came to a stop. She saw cars in front of her swerving into other lanes like they were trying to avoid hitting something. A few moments later, Andrea could see a tiny piglet in the road.

Andrea said the piglet was just frozen in place and with traffic at a standstill, she thought she could safely reach the frightened animal. Andrea said she got out of her car, scooped up the piglet, and took her to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, an animal shelter in Des Moines.

Staff at the ARL examined the piglet and said that although she had a little road rash, she was otherwise in good shape.

The ARL has a special barnyard section for rescued farm animals, and the piglet was welcomed there where she’ll receive care before being made available for adoption. The ARL has a foster dog named Tater, so volunteers there named the piglet Tot.

In my lottery opinion, this little piggy hit the jackpot!

Eastern Iowa Woman Wins Promotion’s $1 Million Prize, Will Split With Office Pool

An eastern Iowa woman won the $1 million prize in our “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway” with a ticket she bought on behalf of her office pool.

We held the promotion’s prize drawing today, and an entry that Laurie Ginder of Anamosa made on behalf of her office pool was selected as the $1 million winner. Laurie and the 33 other co-workers in her office pool at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids call themselves The Dream Big Team. 

Click on the video above to see Laurie’s reaction when Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn called to share the big news with her.

In April, a $1 million Powerball® prize expired in central Iowa without being claimed. The Iowa Lottery had issued several reminders about that unclaimed prize and held repeated events at the Nevada store where the winning ticket was purchased, but a winner never came forward.

Under Iowa law, the money from lottery prizes that expire without being claimed goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions, so the lottery decided to hold a promotion this spring to give away the $1 million. The promotion’s name was a nod to the lottery’s long-time catch phrase of “Woo Hoo For You™.”

From May 29 through yesterday morning, lottery players could enter the promotion with any Powerball ticket they had purchased in Iowa during that three-week timeframe. Players made a total of 165,265 entries into the promotion.

Laurie purchased the ticket that became her office pool's $1 million winning entry at Casey’s, 500 E. Main St. in Anamosa. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling that lucky ticket. 

This is the fifth lottery prize of at least $1 million to be won in Iowa so far in 2019.

Entries Have Ended & The $1 Million Prize Drawing Is Tomorrow!

Entries have ended in the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway,” and the prize drawing to determine the $1 million winner will be tomorrow!

Iowa Powerball players made a total of 165,265 entries in the promotion during its three-week entry period that closed at 8:59 a.m. today. I’d say the possibility of winning a $1 million prize in an Iowa-only promotion definitely caught people’s attention!

You’ll obviously want to know who won the big prize as quickly as possible – and we want that, too! Just know that behind the scenes, there are layers of security protocols involved and details that have to be double-checked. We do our best to complete the process as quickly as possible, but that work takes some time.

That’s why in the rules for the promotion, we explain that we’ll post the winner’s name on the lottery website by the end of the day on Thursday, or as soon as the information is available. We’ll announce the details just as soon as we can!

We’ll reach out directly to the $1 million winner at the email address provided in their VIP Club account and we’ll also call that person.

There’s no annuity option for the $1 million prize in the promotion, meaning that the winner will receive a check from the lottery for the net prize amount after withholdings. Here in Iowa, 24 percent federal withholding applies (which in the case of the $1 million prize is $240,000) along with 5 percent state withholding ($50,000 in this instance), so the winner will receive a prize check from the Iowa Lottery for $710,000.

The winner will need to claim the prize in person at lottery headquarters in Clive by 4 p.m. on June 27. Good luck to everyone in tomorrow’s drawing, and thank you for playing!

It’s National Corn On The Cob Day!

Here’s another sign of summer’s impending arrival: It’s national Corn on the Cob Day!

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

In the calendar’s details about today, it notes that corn on the cob has a lot of different regional names, some of which I’ve never heard before: pole corn, cornstick, sweet pole, butter-pop or long maize. The most common ways of preparing it are boiling, steaming, roasting or grilling.

Corn on the cob is a sweet corn that we harvest and eat while the kernels are still tender, meaning they’re immature. And that brings up another interesting statistic. According to the Iowa Corn Growers Association, only 1 percent of the corn planted in the United States is sweet corn. The rest is field corn, a grain harvested when the kernels are dry and fully mature. It's processed for everything from cereal, oil and syrup to livestock feed and ethanol production.

Here at the lottery, we’ve brought you our own way to celebrate today: the “Cash On the Cob” scratch game. The $3 game offers prizes of up to $30,000 and its tickets of course feature images of bright yellow ears of corn on the cob. 

Other fun corn facts: Iowa is the nation’s No. 1 corn-producing state. The number of kernels per ear of corn can vary from 500 to about 1,200. Corn is grown on every continent except Antarctica. A bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds. And, corn is in more than 4,000 items you’ll find in the grocery store, including shampoo, toothpaste, chewing gum, marshmallows, crayons and paper.

Where Have Winners Hit Big In Iowa?

We’re beginning a new month with warmer weather (FINALLY!), so in keeping with the mapping initiative we decided to undertake this year, it’s time to look back at the biggest lottery prizes claimed in Iowa during the past month.

The map here shows all the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed during May in Iowa. There are 342 dots in total, compared to 426 on the April map.

So that means that through the end of May, Iowa Lottery players had claimed a total of 2,012 prizes of $600 or more so far in 2019. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

Remember that this map only shows those big prizes that were claimed in May. It doesn’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.

Only In Iowa: Powerball Players Have Chance At $1 Million Prize

Now is your chance: For the next three weeks, Powerball® players in Iowa can enter a promotion for a shot at a $1 million prize.

Any Powerball ticket purchased in Iowa from today through 8:59 a.m. on June 18 can be entered into the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway.” After the three-week entry period, we’ll hold a drawing on June 19 to determine the winner of the promotion’s $1 million prize.

Call it our version of recycling! Back in April, a $1 million Powerball prize expired in central Iowa without being claimed. Someone bought that ticket at a Casey’s store in Nevada for the Powerball drawing on April 11, 2018. But the prize was never claimed, so it expired on April 11 of this year.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a $1 million prize has ever gone unclaimed in Iowa. We repeatedly called attention to the prize to try to find the winner, and now we’re dedicating our efforts to ensuring that this prize money finds its way to a new Iowa Lottery winner.

This is a truly Iowa-made effort: Our leadership team at the Iowa Lottery thought through how we could give away this $1 million, one of the district sales representatives in our Cedar Rapids office came up with the promotion name, and only Powerball tickets purchased in Iowa can be entered into the promotion for a shot at the prize.

Please note this important detail: Simply buying a Powerball ticket during the next three weeks won’t automatically enter you into the promotion. You have to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club and enter your ticket in your VIP Club account to be entered. Click here for a direct link to the VIP Club homepage where you can find details about joining if you’re not already a member. 

You’ve heard us say many times that the money from lottery prizes that expire without being claimed in Iowa goes into our prize pools for future games and promotions. Well, this big unclaimed prize gives us the chance to demonstrate that!

Each eligible Powerball ticket entered will count as one entry into the promotion, regardless of the number of plays on it or how many drawings the plays may span.

The lottery retailer that sells the promotion’s $1 million-winning ticket will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery. That also was the case with the $1 million ticket in Nevada: Even though it was never claimed, Casey’s still got a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling that ticket at one of its stores. Our retailers work hard every day to sell our tickets, and this is one more way we can thank them.

We know that Iowa has faced some really challenging weather-related events this year, and folks in a large swath of our state are still finding their way through those difficulties. Maybe the buzz surrounding this unclaimed prize mystery and new promotion can give us all a short break to think about something else – and then as Iowans, we’ll get back to work to ensure our state recovers. And the Iowa Lottery will keep doing its best to raise proceeds to help with vital state causes right here at home.

It’s Lucky Penny Day! What’s YOUR Good-Luck Charm?

It’s officially a day to think about good-luck charms.

May 23 is National Lucky Penny Day, according to the National Day Calendar™, the website that tracks unusual and unique national days and has a day for just about everything.

In its notes about the day, the calendar includes that rhyme we all seem to know: “See a penny, pick it up, all day long, you’ll have good luck.” (The version of the rhyme I learned had a slightly different beginning. I was told it starts with: “Find a penny …”)

Other facts about the one-cent coin:

The U.S. Mint opened for full-time coin production in 1793, and the penny was among the first coins that it produced. Back then, the penny was 100 percent copper. Abraham Lincoln’s profile has been on the penny since 1909, the 100th anniversary of his birth. He was the first U.S. president to be featured on a coin. And, there are more one-cent coins produced than any other denomination.

If a penny isn’t your lucky charm, what’s your go-to item? And do you think good-luck charms really work?

Scams Continue To Skyrocket, Officials Remind You To Protect Yourself

We’ve been warning about scams for years, and new statistics show that the situation has only gotten worse.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller joined a coalition of 42 attorneys general this week in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to take more action to stop the growing number of illegal robocalls and number spoofing.

The AGs are urging the FCC to adopt rules on enforcement against caller ID spoofing on calls to the United States from outside our country. They also want the FCC to address spoofing in text messaging.

The AGs say that the number of spoofed calls and victims' financial losses associated with those scams have increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years. In 2018 alone, Americans received nearly 18 billion scam robocalls.

Some of those scams are by criminals who claim that they’re lottery officials. They typically will promise that you’ve won a big prize and say you’ll receive if you first pay them a “processing fee” or sales commission in advance. But the prize is fake, and if you send them money, you’ll never see it again.

Our video above shares more details about the scams and how to protect yourself. The AG’s Office advises you to report suspected scam calls to the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. The AG also says to consider using call-blocking apps and other services to reduce the number of robocalls you receive.

Messages Of Help & Hope During National Problem Gambling Awareness Month

During the next week, you’ll see messages on a variety of platforms to remind us all that it’s National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Our hope is that the right information will be provided at the right time to someone who needs it.

Whether you’re watching TV, driving in the car with the radio on, surfing the web or using an audio- or video-streaming service, you’ll likely see one of the public service announcements we’ve produced in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Our 2019 campaign begins during Sunday’s 10 p.m. local newscasts, when our PSA will be aired by television stations statewide. Then throughout the coming week, our PSA messages will be shown on outdoor billboards and local broadcast and cable channels; streamed on digital audio and video platforms; and aired by radio stations statewide. While the bulk of our campaign will occur during the coming week, some messages will continue to air through the end of March.           

March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month, and we want you to have the conversation if you have a concern about problem gambling.

Remember that problem gamblers come from any background. They can be rich or poor, young or old, male or female. Problem gambling can affect people of every race and religion, and every education and income level. The one constant is that problem gambling is treatable.

Signs of problem gambling include:

• thinking a lot about gambling, such as past gambling experiences, future gambling ventures, or ways of getting money for gambling.
• needing to gamble with larger amounts of money or with larger bets in order to get the same feeling of excitement.
• repeatedly trying to cut down or stop gambling without success.
• feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut down or stop gambling.
• gambling to run away from problems or to get relief from feeling depressed, anxious, or bad about yourself.
• often returning after gambling losses to try to win back money.
• lying to family members, friends or others in order to hide gambling activities from them.
• losing or almost losing a significant relationship, job, or an educational or career opportunity because of gambling.
• relying on others to provide money to relieve a desperate financial situation caused by gambling.

If you ever have questions or concerns about problem gambling, visit https://yourlifeiowa.org to learn about the help available by phone, in person, or through secure chat or video.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate Us: It’s National Iowa Day!

It’s time to celebrate everything that makes our state great, because it’s National Iowa Day!
  
That’s according to the National Day Calendar™, the website that tracks unusual and unique national days and has a day for just about everything.

So why today? It’s not Iowa’s birthday. That date is Dec. 28, when Iowa was granted statehood back in 1846. But the National Day Calendar folks have declared an official day for each U.S. state in the order they entered the union, and Iowa’s date just happens to be today.

So here are just some of the awesome things about our state:

“Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” has dubbed Burlington’s Snake Alley as the most crooked street in the world.

Iowa is the only state whose east AND west borders are formed entirely by water. Extra points if you know that it’s the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers on our western border and the Mississippi River on the east.

An Iowa native invented sliced bread. Otto Frederick Rohwedder was born and raised in Davenport. He was living in St. Joseph, Mo., when he developed a machine in 1927 that would not only slice bread, but also wrapped it. He patented his invention, and in 1932, sold his patent rights to Micro-Westco Co. of Bettendorf and joined the company. The next year, American bakeries for the first time produced more sliced than unsliced bread loaves.

More than 35 percent of Iowa’s electricity comes from wind power. That’s the result of more than 3,200 wind turbines that are at work here, the highest concentration in the country. Experts predict that wind-generated electricity could reach 40 percent in Iowa by 2020.

Fake ‘Terry Rich’ Account Shut Down

In a reminder that we all need to be vigilant and double-check the information we find online, we’ve just had a fake “Terry Rich” account shut down on Facebook. We’ve unfortunately seen this type of thing before, but the good news is that in most instances, it’s easy to report imposter pages or accounts and get them shut down.

In this latest instance, a Facebook page popped up in our feeds that appeared to be an account for Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich, but several of the details involved were wrong. The page, for example, stated that Terry lives in Washington, D.C., which obviously isn’t the case. It would be a tad difficult to live in D.C. and come to work every day at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive! 

So we followed Facebook’s process to report a fake page and ask that it be shut down. And we’re glad to say the process worked: That account is no longer live.

A few years ago, there also was a fake “Mary Neubauer” page out there, and it was pretty blatant in its scam attempt. Whoever had set up that page was sending direct messages on Facebook using my name. The message stated that the recipient had won a lottery jackpot and that in order to claim the prize, they needed to get a money card and then give “Mary Neubauer” the numbers on the card. (I suppose the further explanation was that the prize money would be sent to the money card. But in reality, I believe that the scammers planned to bilk the victim by cleaning out any money on the card.)
    
We also reported that page as fake at the time and got it shut down.

We've given reminders for years about the dangers of lottery scams. And, scam attempts through the years have unfortunately involved the names of several different lottery officials.

The lottery scammers are nearly impossible to trace or stop. In most instances, they operate from outside the United States using mobile operations that spoof I.P. addresses, telephone numbers and physical locations. The best thing that any of us can do is to remain vigilant and protect ourselves. NEVER send someone money who promises you a lottery prize, and NEVER share online personally-identifying information such as your Social Security number or bank account information.

We keep reminders that can help on the Player Security section of our website. Please check out those details and share them with anyone who wonders whether something they see is real or a scam.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Record Sales & Prizes To Players In Lottery’s Latest Year

The results are in for our lottery’s latest year: Scratch-ticket sales set a record for the fourth year in a row as the Iowa Lottery hit record total sales in fiscal year 2018, had record prizes to players and finished with annual results in its overall Top 2.
 
Our preliminary figures for the year show that the Iowa Lottery generated $87.1 million in proceeds to state causes in FY 2018, which ended June 30. That’s the second-highest proceeds total in the lottery’s 33-year history and the fifth time that our annual proceeds have topped the $80-million mark.

Lottery players won a record $227.5 million in prizes for the year. And total annual lottery sales were a record $371 million, topping the $300-million mark for the seventh year in a row.

But those numbers aren’t the only way we judge the outcome of a year, and there were a lot of other positives during the past 12 months. We got a clean audit for FY 2017 from the State Auditor’s Office, had record exposure for play responsibly messages in March as part of our work to support National Problem Gambling Awareness Month, and we won an international award for gaming compliance in the long-running jackpot investigation case. We are extremely proud to have been able to achieve success on those fronts as well.

Scratch-ticket sales in Iowa have set records each year since FY 2015, did that again this past year, reaching a grand total of $244.3 million. Powerball and Mega Millions also both saw sales increases this past year in Iowa.

I give a huge shout-out to Iowa retailers for their work in helping lottery customers and selling tickets. Local businesses across the state received $24.2 million in annual sales commissions from the lottery in FY 2018, and we’re glad to be able to make a difference for their bottom line.

Another highlight for the year was the $2.5 million that the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to help our state’s veterans and their families. We’ve now has raised nearly $25 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since we began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.

The largest prize won by an Iowa Lottery player in FY 2018 was a $4.38 million Lotto America jackpot claimed by Chuck Anderson of Davenport on May 10. Four other Iowa  tickets won prizes of $1 million during the year, including a Powerball ticket purchased in Nevada for the April 11 drawing that's still unclaimed.
 
I know there is always a lot of interest in where people buy their lottery tickets. The Top 10 retailers for lottery sales in FY 2018 were in four different communities:

Can The Lottery Give Our Group/Cause/Team A Donation?

As the summer months have hit, we’ve gotten more requests from organizations and teams wondering if the lottery can give them a donation. There are so, so many good causes out there, and we’re always glad to hear about the way that people are helping out in their communities.

But for the Iowa Lottery specifically, state law directs that all lottery proceeds go to state causes, so it’s not possible for the lottery to provide funding to individual requests.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for our state’s veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund; help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund; and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions and build and repair schools.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our ‘New’ Winning Numbers Line

We’ve revamped the recorded line you can call to get the latest winning numbers in our lotto drawings. The new format just took effect yesterday, and it lets you choose the game you want without having to listen to the results for other drawings first.

The number itself has not changed – it’s still 515-323-4633, so there’s no need to reprogram your phone!  But now when you call, each of our lotto games has its own prompt. So, you push “1” for Powerball, “2” for Mega Millions, etc.

Up until now, we’ve just had one recording for all the latest results in our games. So, you might have had to listen to the winning numbers for a few other games before getting to the results you wanted. We know that time matters, and we hope that the new format can shorten the call for you.

If the voice on the line sounds familiar, that’s because you may have heard it before. It’s me reading the numbers, but the process is automated as well, so I think of the voice as Computer Mary. We’ve done our best to pace the results so you can write down the numbers as they’re announced.

The winning numbers line is just one of the ways we provide the results in our lotto drawings, but it’s a popular option, getting tens of thousands of calls each month.

Let us know what you think of the new format! I can pass your comments along to Computer Mary.

Problem Gambling Reminder: Help Is ALWAYS Available In Iowa

 

We highlight it at this time of year, but remember that help is available 24/7 here in Iowa if you ever have concerns about problem gaming.

March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Over the course of the next few weeks, the public service announcement you see here will air statewide. We’re joining the Iowa Department of Public Health in reminding you to have the conversation if you have a concern about problem gambling.

Remember that problem gamblers come from many backgrounds. They can be rich or poor, young or old, male or female. Problem gambling can affect people of every race and religion, and every education and income level. The one constant is that problem gambling is treatable.

Signs of problem gambling include:
• Thinking a lot about gambling, such as past gambling experiences, future gambling ventures, or ways of getting money for gambling
• Needing to gamble with larger amounts of money or with larger bets in order to get the same feeling of excitement
• Repeatedly trying to cut down or stop gambling without success
• Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut down or stop gambling
• Gambling to run away from problems or to get relief from feeling depressed, anxious, or bad about yourself
• Often returning after gambling losses to try to win back money
• Lying to family members, friends or others in order to hide gambling activities from them
• Losing or almost losing a significant relationship, job, or an educational or career opportunity because of gambling
• Relying on others to provide money to relieve a desperate financial situation caused by gambling

If you ever have questions or concerns about problem gambling, visit https://yourlifeiowa.org/gambling to learn about the help available by phone, in person, or through secure chat or video.

We’ve received tremendous support from television stations, cable systems, radio stations and outdoor billboard companies that will run this month’s PSAs at no cost. We hope that by reaching out, we can get the right information at the right time to someone who needs it.

Iowa Lottery Named Finalist For International Gaming-Compliance Award

 

It’s a case we were involved in for more than seven years, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I share some good news to come out of that situation.

The Iowa Lottery is a finalist for an international gaming-compliance award for its work in the long-running lottery jackpot investigation that uncovered fraud against U.S. lotteries and resulted in guilty pleas from three men.
 
The Iowa Lottery is one of five finalists for the 2018 award for outstanding achievement in compliance from GamblingCompliance, which provides independent legal, regulatory, and business intelligence to the global gambling industry. GamblingCompliance presents annual awards to recognize excellence in 11 categories focused on regulatory compliance and responsible gaming. Its 2018 Global Regulatory Awards will be presented April 18 in London.

The jackpot investigation culminated last year with guilty pleas from three men who admitted they illegally claimed prizes by rigging lottery drawings in five states. Eddie Tipton, the man at the center of the investigation, installed malicious computer code that allowed him to predict winning numbers in some lottery drawings.
   
Tipton pleaded guilty to three felony charges in Iowa and Wisconsin and was sentenced in August to up to 25 years in prison. He had conspired with friends and family to claim lottery prizes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin and attempt to claim a lottery jackpot here in Iowa, which ultimately was not paid.  

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

We’re Hiring For A Communications & Social Media Staffer

Here’s a quick hiring alert with the chance to join our staff here at the Iowa Lottery. We have an opening for a communications and social media specialist to work on our External Relations team at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

The official title of the job is an Information Specialist 1. The person in that position writes news releases, our employee newsletter, and other materials. That person also helps us produce audio and video materials, including radio spots, and posts information on behalf of the lottery to our social media accounts. The staffer also helps with promotional and media events around the state.

We’re a pretty fun bunch here at the lottery! The details about the job are on the State of Iowa Employment website, so check out the listing to learn more. The deadline to apply is Feb. 22.

 

Dueling Jackpots Top $400 Million At Same Time To Start Off New Year!

For the first time ever, the jackpots in Powerball and Mega Millions have topped the $400 million mark at the same time. The Mega Millions jackpot is an estimated $445 million annuity ($277.6 million cash option) for Friday, while Powerball’s big prize is an estimated $550 million annuity ($347.9 million cash option) for Saturday. Both jackpots now rank in the Top 15 overall for record U.S. lottery prizes!

In August, both games saw jackpots that topped the $300 million mark simultaneously, but this time around both prizes have climbed even higher at the same time. That speaks to the unpredictable factor of lottery jackpots: You just never know when the next big winner will hit!

We're still on the look-out for a $1 million winner in central Iowa.

While the jackpots in both games have been climbing since October, there have been winners at other prize levels across the country, including a $1 million winner in Iowa. Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in central Iowa won a $1 million prize in the final drawing of 2017. The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at the Kum & Go convenience store at 1200 N. Walnut St. in Colfax. It came within one number of having at least a share of Saturday’s $390.1 million Powerball jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball.

Kum & Go will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Prizes of $1 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. If the winner or winners need information before coming forward to claim the prize, they are invited to call the lottery at 515-725-7900.

Here's a few historic facts about these dueling jackpots: 

Powerball’s big prize now ranks at No. 8 overall on the list of record U.S. lottery jackpots, while the Mega Millions jackpot is currently ranked No. 12.

And while the bigger games are a big run, the Lotto America jackpot also is really getting up there. Lotto America is a smaller regional game played by Iowa and 12 other lotteries. The jackpot in that game is at an estimated $17.58 million for Saturday’s drawing.

Some may wonder, would it be possible for one person to win the jackpots in both Mega Millions and Powerball? The short answer is: Yes, but …

It takes long odds to produce big jackpots. The odds of winning the jackpot in Mega Millions are about 1 in 302.6 million. The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million. (The odds are based upon the total number of combinations available to play in each game.) To calculate the odds of winning both jackpots, you multiply 302.6 million by 292.2 million. The answer involves a lot of zeroes: about 1 in 88 quadrillion (that’s 88,000,000,000,000,000).

“Winning both jackpots is something fun to daydream about, but it’s probably the ultimate long shot,” Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said. “That’s why we emphasize responsible play. Have fun playing the lottery, but remember that it’s just for entertainment. There is no guarantee you will win.”

So what’s behind the these giant numbers? Prior to January 2010, Mega Millions and Powerball were sold by separate groups of lotteries. U.S. lottery directors reached an agreement back then that allowed both games to be sold by all states. With more states selling a particular game, there is a bigger population base playing it, which produces higher sales overall and helps the jackpot climb higher.

The jackpots in both games have been growing for some time now. The Mega Millions jackpot was last won in the drawing on Oct. 13, split by two tickets purchased in Michigan and Rhode Island. It’s been growing since that time to hit its current level. Players can buy tickets in Iowa for the next Mega Millions drawing up until 8:59 p.m. Friday.

The Powerball jackpot was last won on Oct. 25 with a ticket purchased in Louisiana. Players can buy tickets here in Iowa for Saturday’s Powerball jackpot up until 8:59 p.m. that day.

It is true that both games have seen bigger jackpots, but not at the same time! Mega Millions and Powerball have both seen jackpots much larger than their current amounts, but not at the same time. Powerball currently has the world record lottery jackpot: a prize of nearly $1.6 billion that was split in January 2016 by three tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee. The largest Mega Millions jackpot to date is a $656 million prize won in March 2012 by three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

Here's a little compare and contrast for you:

Powerball jackpots start at $40 million and grow until they’re won. You choose five numbers from a pool of 69 and another number – the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. If you match all six numbers, you win the jackpot, and there also are eight other prize levels you can win. Plays cost $2 and drawings are at 9:59 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Mega Millions jackpots also start at $40 million and grow until they’re won. Players in the game choose five numbers from a pool of 70 and another number – the Mega Ball – from a separate pool of 25 numbers. If you match all six numbers, you win the jackpot, and there are eight other prize levels you can win. Tickets cost $2 and drawings are at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Both games have a multiplier feature that costs an extra $1 per play and multiplies any non-jackpot prize won. Jackpot winners in both games can choose to receive their prize in annuitized payments over time or in a one-time, lump-sum payment.