ialottery blog

Hawkeye Football Prize Packages On The Line In Kickoff to Kinnick Promotion

Ticket prize packages for coveted seats this season at all 7 Iowa™ home football games are on the line in the Kickoff to Kinnick™ promotion that opened for entries today.

Some of the prize packages are for stadium-seat tickets while others are for premium spots in the exclusive Iowa Ironmen Suite in Kinnick Stadium™. And all of the prize packages include spending money to make for a great game-day experience!

The promotion is built around the Iowa Lottery’s “Hawkeye™ Gold” scratch game. Its distinctive tickets have a bright gold background, feature a large image of the Iowa Tigerhawk™ logo, and offer players the chance to win cash prizes ranging from $5 up to $50,000.

Lottery players who don’t win an instant prize on their Hawkeye Gold scratch ticket can enter it into the Kickoff to Kinnick promotion for a chance to win Iowa football ticket prize packages for the upcoming season.

How To Enter For A Chance To Win

A total of 41 football prize packages will be given away in the promotion. Players will select the ticket prize package and game of their choice at the time they enter.

The promotion’s entry period continues through 9:59 a.m. on Oct. 16. There will be four drawing dates in the promotion. Please pay close attention to the deadlines involved: The home games earlier in the season will be closed to promotion entries once the applicable deadline has passed.

To get in on the promotion, players must join or already be members of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. Players can visit the lottery’s website at ialottery.com to enter or scan an eligible Hawkeye Gold ticket with the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app.

Here are the ticket prize packages that will be given away in the promotion:

Aug. 15 drawing date
1 prize package awarded

• This package includes 4 stadium-seat tickets, $1,000 cash and a parking pass for the Illinois St.-Iowa game on Aug. 31.

Aug. 27 drawing date
19 prize packages awarded

• 17 VIP packages with 2 tickets each in the Ironmen Suite for the Iowa St.-Iowa game on Sept. 7 with food, water and soda provided in the suite, and $100 spending money.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Iowa St.-Iowa game on Sept. 7.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Troy-Iowa game on Sept.14.

Sept. 26 drawing date
19 prize packages awarded

• 17 VIP packages with 2 tickets each in the Ironmen Suite for the Washington-Iowa game on Oct. 12 with food, water and soda provided in the suite, and $100 spending money.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Washington-Iowa game on Oct. 12.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Northwestern-Iowa game on Oct. 26.

Oct. 17 drawing date
2 prize packages awarded

• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, 4 passes to the pre-game hospitality village, 4 field passes, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Wisconsin-Iowa game on Nov. 2.
• 1 stadium-seat package with 4 tickets, 4 passes to the pre-game hospitality village, 4 field passes, $100 spending money and a parking pass for the Nebraska-Iowa game on Nov. 29.

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!

Where People Are Buying The Most Tickets: Is Your Store On the List?

Here are a couple interesting lottery numbers in Iowa, both in terms of where people are buying tickets and the prizes being won. Is YOUR favorite lottery spot on the list?

The store in Iowa that sold the most lottery tickets during the past year was a Hy-Vee supermarket in Cedar Rapids. And 14 Iowa players won prizes of at least $500,000 in fiscal year 2024, with a $2 million Powerball® prize at the top of the list!

We’ve gathered these details as we work toward announcement later this month of the Iowa Lottery’s latest annual results. Here is the Top 10 list of retail locations in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2024. Do you shop at one of these stores?

Top 10 Ranking	Store and Address	FY 2024 Lottery Sales
No. 1	Hy-Vee, 1843 Johnson Ave. NW, Cedar Rapids	$1,340,574.00
No. 2	Hy-Vee, 5050 Edgewood Road NE, Cedar Rapids	$1,044,789.00
No. 3	Hy-Vee, 2323 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs	$960,645.50
No. 4	Albia Road BP, 1340 Albia Road, Ottumwa	$939,354.50
No. 5	Hy-Vee, 3235 Oakland Road NW, Cedar Rapids	$936,142.00
No. 6	Porters Convenient 66, 1512 Lincoln Way, Clinton	$910,507.50
No. 7	Hy-Vee Drugstore, 1520 Sixth St. SW, Cedar Rapids	$903,385.00
No. 8	Hy-Vee, 2540 E. Euclid Ave., Des Moines	$867,583.50
No. 9	Hy-Vee, 1107 E. Army Post Road, Des Moines	$847,289.00
No. 10	Hy-Vee, 410 N. Ankeny Blvd., Ankeny	$832,441.50

And with lottery sales come lottery prizes! The biggest prize won in Iowa last fiscal year was $2 million. Three players won at that level in Powerball.

Another two players won prizes of $1 million in Powerball and Mega Millions®. And nine Iowans won prizes of $500,000 in FY 2024!

Here are the 5 biggest lottery prizes won in Iowa in the past year:

Prize Amount	Game	Winner	Date Claimed
$2 million	Powerball	Mega Balmer, Garwin	July 11, 2023
$2 million	Powerball	Danny Buckelew, Treynor	Jan. 17, 2024
$2 million	Powerball	Mark Krogman, Clinton	April 16, 2024
$1 million	Powerball	Trent Baker, Newton	April 8, 2024
$1 million	Mega Millions	Michael Hoogerwerf, Davenport	July 17, 2023

Cardinal & Gold: New Scratch Game Tied To ISU Football, Including Game In Ireland!

A new lottery scratch game has started arriving in stores today, and this one is ALL cardinal and gold.

You can win up to $50,000 instantly on a Cyclone™ scratch ticket or enter for a chance to win exclusive Iowa State football prize packages, including the grand prize of a trip to see ISU play in Ireland!

Tickets in the exclusive Cyclone scratch game are hitting store shelves today and will be available statewide by Friday. The new game is tied to the lottery’s Cyclone Football promotion, which opened for entries today and offers premium ticket prize packages to see Iowa State play at home, at Arrowhead, or even across the pond.

A total of 17 ticket prize packages will be given away in the promotion. They include premium seats at Jack Trice Stadium, suite tickets when ISU plays on the road at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and a trip to see ISU play at Aviva Stadium© in Dublin.

Players will select the game of their choice when they enter a ticket into the promotion.

How To Enter

To enter the Cyclone Football promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through 9:59 a.m. on Nov. 20. There will be four drawing dates in the promotion for ticket prize packages.

Players can visit the lottery’s website at ialottery.com to enter the promotion or use the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app to scan an eligible ticket for entry. Please pay close attention to the entry deadlines involved. The games earlier in the season will be closed to promotion entries once the applicable deadline has passed.

Drawings & Prizes

Here are the drawing dates and the ticket prize packages that will be given away in the Cyclone Football promotion:

Aug. 15 drawing date
4 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 premium seat tickets for the N. Dakota-Iowa St. game on Aug. 31 at Jack Trice Stadium; $200 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game; 2 pre-game field access passes; 1 Cyclone merchandise prize pack.

Sept. 19 drawing date
8 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 private suite tickets for the Baylor-Iowa St. game on Oct. 5 at Jack Trice Stadium; complimentary food, water and soda provided in the suite; $100 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game.

Oct. 17 drawing date
4 game-day prize packages awarded
Each includes: 2 private suite tickets for the Iowa St-Kansas game on Nov. 9 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.; complimentary food, water and soda provided in the suite; $100 spending money; 1 parking pass for the game; $500 Visa gift card for lodging.

Nov. 21 drawing date
1 Ireland Cyclone Football package awarded
It includes tickets to 2 Iowa State games, one in Ames, and the other in Ireland.
       For the first game, the winner will receive 2 premium seat tickets including hospitality at the Kansas St.-Iowa St. match-up on Nov. 30 at Jack Trice Stadium and 1 parking pass for the game. The winner will be featured that day in an on-field presentation announcing that they will be going to Dublin as the winner of the travel package for ISU’s 2025 game in Ireland.
        For the second game, the winner will receive 2 game tickets for the Kansas St.-Iowa St. game on Aug. 23, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland; a travel package to Ireland including hotel stay in Dublin and airfare to Dublin from a major airport; and $5,000 spending money.

All entries not selected as a winner in one of the promotion’s initial drawings will remain eligible for the final drawing for the package that includes the Ireland Cyclone Football Experience.

Players can enter multiple tickets into the promotion but can win only one football prize package per game date.

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

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

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

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

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

Is It Fair When Some People Scan Their Promo Entries & Others Key Them In?

Here’s an interesting question from a lottery player who was worried that the way they entered a lottery promotion could impact their chance of winning. In reality, all entries into our promotions are treated equally – the system does not favor one method over another.

There are two ways that you can enter tickets into an Iowa Lottery promotion for more chances to win. The majority of people these days use the lottery’s mobile app to enter by scanning the QR code on the front of their ticket. Other folks key in the information by hand, manually entering the identifying numbers on their ticket.

Either option is perfectly fine. The same details are being recorded for the tickets involved.

Years ago, we phased out the mailing in of tickets as entries in Iowa Lottery promotions. Electronic entries are faster and more convenient – and you don’t need postage!

Each eligible entry into one of our promotions is recorded by the time and date it was entered in your VIP Club account. When you’ve successfully completed an entry, a message will appear at the top of the ticket-entry page stating whether the entry was valid.

The valid entries you’ve made in a particular promotion will appear in the ticket history for your VIP Club account.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve scanned the ticket electronically or manually keyed in the numbers. Both options have the same shot at winning!

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.

$500,000 Powerball Double Play Prize In Mason City Still Unclaimed

A $500,000 Powerball® prize won in Mason City has reached the halfway point in its claim period, so if you’ve got a ticket you haven’t checked, now is the time!

The prize is a little unusual because it was won with Powerball’s Double Play® option, which just was added to the game in November in Iowa.

The $500,000-winning ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 1502 S. Federal Ave. in Mason City. The prize will expire on Sept. 12 if it isn’t claimed in time.

What Is Double Play & How Does It Work?

Here’s a quick recap of Double Play: For an extra $1 per play, players can add the Double Play option to their Powerball tickets. (A Powerball play costs $2, and with Double Play added, a ticket costs $3.) The numbers on that ticket are then eligible to win twice – once in the regular Powerball drawing, and once in a separate Double Play drawing that same night.

It’s possible for a player to win a prize in the regular Powerball drawing and the Double Play drawing on the same night.

In the case of the Mason City ticket, it matched the first five numbers but missed the Double Play Powerball in the Double Play drawing on March 16 to win a $500,000 prize.

That night’s winning Double Play numbers were: 9-11-13-29-69 and Double Play Powerball 12. The Mason City ticket was the only one in the country to win a $500,000 prize that night.

Other Big Unclaimed Prizes

The Mason City prize is among four lottery prizes of at least $20,000 in Iowa that will expire by early October if they aren’t claimed in time. Here are details about the other three (listed by prize amount):

Game	Drawing Date	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Powerball	Dec. 16, 2023	$50,000	Casey's, Des Moines	June 13, 2024
Powerball	April 10, 2024	$50,000	Hy-Vee, Des Moines	Oct. 7, 2024
Mega Millions	March 26, 2024	$20,000	Kum & Go, Ankeny	Sept. 23, 2024

While all of the prizes need to be claimed at an Iowa Lottery office, the $500,000 prize in particular has to be claimed at lottery headquarters in Clive. Prize-claim hours at lottery offices are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, with offices closed on state holidays.

If you’ve got a question about how to claim an Iowa Lottery prize, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or 515-725-7900.

The money from lottery prizes that expire in Iowa without being claimed goes into the lottery's prize pools for future games and promotions, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not those prizes that have expired.

Serial Numbers Are Being Phased Out On The Back Of Lotto And InstaPlay Tickets

A change is underway for the paper used to print lotto tickets and InstaPlay tickets in Iowa, and I’m calling your attention to it to help answer questions.

Serial numbers have been printed for years on the back of the paper stock used to produce tickets from lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in Iowa. Lotto tickets in games like Powerball® and Mega Millions® are printed on that paper, as are tickets in InstaPlay games.

But those serial numbers are being phased out now.

Technology updates have allowed additional identifying security features to be printed on lotto and InstaPlay tickets as they’re being generated. Those new security codes have replaced the need for serial numbers on the back of paper ticket stock in Iowa.

The Iowa Lottery is using up its existing supply of paper with serial numbers on the back, then moving to the new paper without the serial numbers. The new stock is being distributed as locations run out.

During this transition period, you may buy a ticket that has a serial number on the back at one store and get a ticket without a serial number at another location. Both tickets are valid – there is nothing wrong with either kind.

We anticipate that the supply of paper stock with serial numbers on the back will soon be gone statewide, and then all lotto and InstaPlay tickets will be printed on the new stock.   

Have fun playing the lottery, and if you’ve noticed the change, thank you for being a vigilant consumer! I hope the details here have helped shine a light on the update that’s happening.

WOW!! 0-0-0-0 Hits In Pick 4, Big Prizes Won All Across The State

Wow, today’s Pick 4 results! They show just how popular “quads” are in the game.

The winning numbers in today’s midday Pick 4 drawing were 0-0-0-0, and multiple Iowa Lottery players matched all 4 numbers to win prizes ranging from $6,000 up to $60,000! There of course were lots of smaller winners as well, but those were the top of the list.

Plays in Pick 4 cost 50 cents up to $5. The more you bet, the more you can win. The largest prizes in today's drawing were won with plays ranging in price from $2 up to $5. One ticket for today's drawing had two $5 plays on it, and each won a $30,000 prize.

I’ve blogged before about the popularity of plays containing identical numbers in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. Those are combinations like 2-2-2 in Pick 3 and 5-5-5-5 in Pick 4. They’re called “trips” in Pick 3 and “quads” in Pick 4, and they’ve always been some of the most popular plays in those games.

When those winning numbers are selected in a drawing, the results can be eye-catching, just like today. It’s happened before, like when 7-7-7-7 hit in Pick 4 back in October, or 5-5-5-5 hit in Pick 4 2021.

Here are the locations of the big winners in today’s midday Pick 4 drawing:

$60,000 prize
Hy-Vee Drugstore, 1520 Sixth St. SW in Cedar Rapids

$30,000 prize
QuikTrip, 2300 ML King Jr. Parkway in Des Moines

$24,000 prize
Casey’s, 2245 Karr Ave. in Early

$12,000 prize
Kwik Star, 10912 Douglas Ave. in Urbandale
Athertons Phillips 66, 2900 W. Broadway in Council Bluffs

$6,000 prize
Macs, 1530 N. Second St. in Clinton
QuikTrip, 2300 ML King Jr. Parkway in Des Moines
Liquor Tobacco & Vape, 122 S. Second St. in Clinton
QuikTrip, 4575 NW Second St. in Des Moines
Kwik Star, 1800 Blairs Ferry Road NE in Hiawatha
QuikTrip, 849 Army Post Road in Des Moines
QuikTrip, 1424 E. Euclid Ave. in Des Moines
Hy-Vee, 1107 SE Army Post Road in Des Moines
Hy-Vee, 1990 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines
Neighborhood Mart, 2100 Lafayette St. in Waterloo

Players have up to 90 days from the date of the drawing to claim Pick 4 prizes in Iowa.

How Are The Jackpot Amounts Determined In InstaPlay Progressive Games?

A man reached out to us this week with a question about the jackpot amounts in our progressive InstaPlay games, and I’m sharing our answer here in case you’ve wondered the same thing.

The man specifically asked how the jackpot amount is determined in the Super 7s Progressive InstaPlay game. But the same process applies to the jackpots in any of our progressive InstaPlay games. You may already know this, but those games are called progressive because their jackpots have a starting amount (just like the jackpots Powerball® and Mega Millions®) and grow progressively larger with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won.

The Details Of The Jackpot

In the case of Super 7s Progressive, its jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows from there, increasing by $3 with each ticket sold statewide in the game.

InstaPlay games are like scratch games, but their plays are left in electronic form rather than having a pre-printed supply of tickets. An electronic file of plays exists in an InstaPlay game, and winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout that file. When you buy an InstaPlay ticket, you get the next available play at the top of the file.

The exact amount involved when the jackpot is won in a progressive InstaPlay game depends upon where the jackpot-winning ticket is within the electronic file. Some jackpots won in the game will be larger, based upon where that particular jackpot-winning ticket falls within the file, and some will be smaller, for the same reason.

As a security feature, not even those of us who work at the lottery know where the winning tickets are within our games, so no one can predict when or where the next big winner will hit.

The jackpot in Super 7s Progressive is therefore a combination of the game’s starting jackpot amount and the number of tickets purchased up until that particular jackpot is won.

And remember that as with any of our games, the top prize is just one of the prize levels available. For example, in addition to the jackpot players can win prizes in Super 7s Progressive ranging from $30 to $10,000, so a big percentage of the money spent on tickets in the game goes to pay prizes.

The Details For Each Progressive Game

Here are the jackpot details in all of the Iowa Lottery’s progressive InstaPlay games:

• In the $30 Super 7s Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
• In the $20 Extreme Green Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $10 JACKPOT PARTY® Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $10,000 and grows by $1 with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 MONOPOLY™ Game Tokens Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $2 Cherry Twist Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows by 15 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $1 Loose Change Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold.

Those amounts are programmed into the prize structure of the game itself, and the lottery does not adjust the prize structure once it has been implemented.

2023 ® & © Light & Wonder, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries.
MONOPOLY TM, ® & © 1935, 2024 Hasbro

I accidentally tore my ticket! Can I still claim my prize?

A player reached out to us this week who was worried about a damaged ticket. He wanted to know: Can a ticket still be checked or cashed if the QR code on it that normally would be scanned is damaged or missing?

Many times, yes. But there are limits.

The player said that as he was playing his ticket, he scratched it a little too hard. He ended up accidentally tearing the QR code on the ticket that usually is scanned to check the results. He worried he wouldn’t be able to claim his prize without that code.

In his case, we were able to help and he claimed his prize!

Here is the background about how that happened.

Each lottery ticket has identifying numbers on it that manually can be entered on a lottery terminal to check the results of the ticket if its QR code is damaged or missing. (In the image of the damaged ticket you can see above, we put a blue box around the identifying numbers.)

As a player, you can’t key in the numbers on your own by using the lottery’s mobile app on your smart device or at a self-service kiosk or self-checker in a store. The QR code is required in each of those instances.

But if the QR code can’t be read and the rest of the ticket is still in good condition, a clerk in a retail location or a staffer at one of our lottery offices should be able to check the results by manually entering the ticket’s identifying numbers on a lottery terminal.

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. And you’re always welcome to visit one of our offices or send your ticket to us at the lottery for us to try to check it.

But there are limits!

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 were just a ball of mush after being put through the wash. Others were ripped up, and the player only had a small piece of the ticket that didn’t have any identifying numbers on it. A woman once microwaved her lotto ticket after getting water on it, thinking that would dry it out. It worked – but also turned the heat-sensitive paper solid black.

In each of those examples, there was no way for anyone to read the results of the tickets involved.

We’ll always do our best to help, but as is the case 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!

As He’s Planning To Open A New Business, Storm Lake Man Wins Nearly $300K

A Storm Lake man says his big lottery win has come at the perfect time, just as he’s planning to open a new business.

Alexander Perez won an InstaPlay prize of nearly $300,000! He says the moment got him thinking about the dreams he has together with his wife and family.

Alexander, who is 50, currently own his own garage in Storm Lake to service and repair vehicles, but is in the process of switching fields, planning to open a new business in heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

The story of Alexander’s lottery win began on Monday with a need for coffee. They were out of coffee at home, so he stopped that morning at Midtown, 1100 E. Fifth St. in Storm Lake, for some java. While he was there, he bought a ticket in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game, then went on to work.

He checked his ticket after he arrived and kept looking at the results to try to believe what he was seeing. Then he thinks he may have had a brief panic attack because he was having trouble breathing. Alexander says he called his wife, who got him to calm down.

Alexander won the Extreme Green Progressive jackpot, which at the time had climbed to $295,300. The game’s big prize had been growing for more than three months to reach that level. Prior to his win, it was last hit Feb. 2 with a ticket purchased in Norwalk.

Alexander says he was so shaky and distracted after realizing he’d won that he decided to shut his garage for the day. He went home and walked around, trying to absorb what a different kind of day it was!

As he claimed his prize yesterday at lottery headquarters in Clive, Alexander said his lottery win was sinking in. He said the idea of winning the lottery is something that’s always in your mind – that maybe someday it could be you. And this time, it IS him!

Player Question: The Megaplier seems to come up a lot as 3. Is something wrong?

A player who called us this week thought something had gone wrong with the Megaplier® option in the Mega Millions® game. The short answer is: Nothing is wrong. But here’s the background involved, in case you’ve ever wondered about the same thing.

The man said he noticed that the Megaplier number has come up as 3 a lot in recent drawings, and he wondered if that meant something is wrong. In reality, the Megaplier number is being randomly selected as usual in each Mega Millions drawing. But it is likely that the Megaplier will come up as 2 or 3 more often.

How The Megaplier Works

You may already know that you can add the Megaplier option to your play in the Mega Millions game for an extra $1, and it will multiply any prize you win, except the jackpot.

So, for example, if your ticket matches the five white balls but misses the yellow Mega Ball, you’d win a $1 million prize. But if you’ve added the Megaplier option to your ticket and the multiplier number that night is 3, your prize will be tripled to $3 million.

That’s similar to the Power Play® option in Powerball® and the All Star Bonus® option in Lotto America®. The details for each multiplier option are in the game rules available on our website.

But when it comes to Mega Millions specifically, why can 2 or 3 be chosen more often as the multiplier? It’s due to the universe of numbers available to be selected as the Megaplier option.

There are 15 numbers in the Megaplier pool. Of them, 5 are 2s, 6 are 3s, 3 are 4s and 1 is a 5. Here’s what that looks like in table form:

15 Total Numbers In Megaplier Pool
2X = 5
3X = 6
4X = 3
5X = 1

So, does it stand to reason that the Megaplier number will come up more often as 2 or 3? Yes. But the other numbers also have a shot.

The Power Play option in Powerball and the All Star Bonus option in Lotto America work in a similar way.

43 Total Numbers In Power Play Pool
2X = 24
3X = 13
4X = 3
5X = 2
10X = 1

32 Total Numbers In All Star Bonus Pool
2X = 15
3X = 10
4X = 4
5X = 3

Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works. Details like the ones we've provided here can help make that happen.

Check Your Tickets! Only 1 Month Left for $50,000 Powerball Prize

A $50,000 Powerball® prize won in Des Moines will expire in a month if it isn’t claimed in time, and at the Iowa Lottery, we’re reminding players to double-check their tickets!

The Des Moines prize is among five lottery prizes of at least $20,000 that are currently unclaimed in Iowa. They’ll all expire by early October if they aren’t claimed in time.

The $50,000 Powerball prize has the earliest expiration date on that list. It was won in the Powerball drawing on Dec. 16 and is set to expire on June 13. The winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 3725 Beaver Ave. in Des Moines, for the Powerball drawing on Dec. 16. It matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize.

The winning Powerball numbers in that night’s drawing were 3-9-10-20-62 and Powerball 25. The Power Play® number was 3.

What’s the largest current unclaimed prize in Iowa?

The largest prize currently unclaimed in Iowa is a $500,000 Powerball Double Play® prize won in March in Mason City. That particular prize is a little more unusual because Double Play is a new option in the Powerball game.

The Powerball Double Play option made its Iowa debut in November. For an extra $1 per play, players can add the Double Play option to their Powerball tickets. (A Powerball play costs $2, and with Double Play added, a ticket costs $3.) The numbers on that ticket are then eligible to win twice – once in the regular Powerball drawing, and once in a separate Double Play drawing that same night.

It’s possible for a player to win a prize in the regular Powerball drawing and the Double Play drawing on the same night.

In the case of the Mason City ticket, it matched the first five numbers but missed the Double Play Powerball in the Double Play drawing on March 16 to win a $500,000 prize. It was the only ticket in the country to win a $500,000 prize that night.

The lucky ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 1502 Federal Ave. in Mason City. It will expire on Sept. 12 if the prize is not claimed in time.

Here are details about the other two sizeable lottery prizes in Iowa that remain unclaimed (listed by prize amount):

Game	Drawing Date	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Powerball	April 10, 2024	$50,000	Hy-Vee, Des Moines	Oct. 7, 2024
InstaPlay	May 10, 2024	$38,851.35	Kwik Star, Davenport	Aug. 8, 2024
Mega Millions	March 26, 2024	$20,000	Kum & Go, Ankeny	Sept. 23, 2024

While all of the prizes need to be claimed at an Iowa Lottery office, the $500,000 prize in particular has to be claimed at lottery headquarters in Clive. Prize-claim hours at lottery offices are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, with offices closed on state holidays.

What happens to unclaimed prize money in Iowa?

In the last fiscal year (FY 2023), more than $1.7 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

The money from lottery prizes that expire in Iowa without being claimed goes into the lottery's prize pools for future games and promotions, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not those prizes that have expired.

Player Question: Am I supposed to get a receipt when I buy tickets?

Here’s a question we haven’t seen before, and the answer to it involves an interesting twist. A player reached out to ask if he is supposed to get a receipt when he buys lottery tickets.

The answer to that part is no. The purchase price is clearly marked on the front of each ticket you buy, so you can easily determine if the tickets you’re buying add up to the total you’re asked to pay.

But receipts are involved when you check a ticket on a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk. The receipts are a security feature to help verify that you’ve been
paid the correct prize amount. If you ever have a question about the outcome of a ticket you've checked, remember to ask for your receipt.

In the case of a winning ticket, two receipts are automatically generated – one for the player and the other for the retailer. Both show the amount of the prize won on that ticket. In the case of a nonwinning ticket, only a player receipt is available.

How You Know The Receipt Matches Up With The Ticket

There are identifying numbers on the receipt and ticket that match up so you can check that the receipt you receive really is for the ticket you checked.

If the receipt is for a scratch or InstaPlay ticket, information on the receipt shows the game, pack and ticket number for the ticket involved. Those same numbers are printed on the back of each scratch ticket and at the top of each InstaPlay ticket, so you can check the receipt against the ticket to be sure they match.

If the receipt is for a lotto ticket in a game like Powerball® or Mega Millions®, the identifying serial number for your ticket is printed in the upper left of the receipt. That same serial number is printed in the middle of your ticket itself. So again, you can check the receipt against the ticket to be sure they match.

Receipts are not involved for the Iowa Lottery’s pull-tab tickets because they already include “built-in receipts.” Any prize won on a pull-tab is already printed under the tabs on the ticket so the amount involved is very clear.

New Lottery Promo Offers Chance To Win Tickets With Your Crew To INDYCAR Races + Concerts

Players in 3 Iowa Lottery scratch games have a chance to win tickets in a luxury suite at this summer’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend in Newton!

We’re calling our newest promotion Concerts & Cars with a Crew because the winners won’t just get tickets for themselves for INDYCAR racing and concerts at Iowa Speedway. They’ll win a set of 4 tickets so they can take their favorite crew with them for an exclusive day of fun!

We’re giving away 11 sets of 4 tickets in a VIP suite for each day of the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway.

The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through 9:59 a.m. on June 19. We’ll hold the promotion’s drawings on June 20.

First up will be 11 sets of 4 suite tickets with food and full hospitality for the INDYCAR races on July 13 plus – new this year – VIP infield access near the stage for the pre- and post-race concerts. The headline performers that day are Luke Combs and Eric Church.

Then we’ll select the winners of 11 sets of 4 suite tickets with food and full hospitality for the INDYCAR races on July 14 plus VIP infield access near the stage for the post-race concerts. Kelsea Ballerini and Post Malone will both perform after that day’s races.

You can enter the promotion with eligible tickets from any of these $20 scratch games: Lucky 7 Bonus, Lucky Numbers Gamebook and Payline. You’ll select the Race Weekend date of your choice when you make a promotion entry.

Remember that to enter the promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club.

Good luck in the promotion, and maybe we’ll see YOU this summer at the INDYCAR Race Weekend!

Celebrating With 2 Repeat Lottery Winners In 2 Days!

Two big winners we’ve met before both came to see us to claim more prizes this week!

First up was Allen Walker of Algona, who claimed a top prize of $300,000 on Tuesday in the “Ruby Red Crossword” scratch game. He also won a $100,000 prize in a different Crossword game in November. Allen bought both of his winning tickets at the Hy-Vee store at 1500 U.S. Highway 169 N. in Algona.

Allen said he had a little trouble figuring out what he’d won on his latest lucky ticket. He knew he had a lot of words on his Ruby Red Crossword ticket, but as he tried to count them, he kept coming up with different numbers. So he got out a notepad and wrote them each down, and then he realized he’d won the game’s top prize!

Allen, a retired veteran, said he plans to invest most of his winnings, but will set some aside for home repairs and to buy a new vehicle.

The day after Allen claimed his prize, we got to again celebrate with Cheryl Singleton of Valley, Neb. Cheryl claimed a total of $29,250 in Pick 4 prizes yesterday. She won her prizes on three different plays for Tuesday’s evening Pick 4 drawing.

Cheryl said the numbers she played – 1-9-2-2 – have a special meaning for her: They represent the year that her great-grandmother was born. She said she plans to put her winnings into savings.

Cheryl also won $36,000 in Pick 4 prizes in a drawing in October. She bought the winning tickets that brought her big wins at two different Casey’s stores in Carter Lake and Council Bluffs.

Congratulations again to Allen and Cheryl! May your lottery luck continue!

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.

Clinton Man Claims $2 Million Powerball Prize He Won In November

A Clinton man has claimed a $2 million Powerball® prize he won in November.

Mark Krogman, 72, who is retired, claimed his prize today. He says he felt shock and joy when he realized he’d won big.

Krogman’s ticket was purchased at Clinton Liquor, 1641 S. Bluff Blvd. in Clinton, and came within one number of winning the $337.9 million jackpot in the Powerball drawing on Nov. 25.

His ticket initially matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. But Krogman added the Power Play® option to his purchase, which multiplies the prize at the Match 5 level to $2 million.

Krogman’s ticket was the only one in the country to win a $2 million prize in that night’s drawing.

The winning numbers in the Nov. 25 drawing were: 27-33-63-66-68 and Powerball 9. The Power Play number was 2.

Clinton Liquor received a $2,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $2 million-winning ticket.

Krogman has specific plans for his winnings: He wants to pay off his house and possibly add onto it, help his family with needed finances, and just enjoy life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Going All The Way Back to 1985 …

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

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

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

How To Enter The Promotion

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

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

The Prizes To Win

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

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

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

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

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

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

Newton Firefighter Claims $1 Million Powerball Prize During Total Eclipse

Iowa’s newest Powerball® millionaire claimed his prize today as the total eclipse of the sun was reaching its zenith in the Midwest. He says he knows the timing of it all is something to be remembered!

Trent Baker said he’d been joking that there was a lot going on in the last few days: an earthquake in New York, a total eclipse of the sun, and he won the lottery. He says he maybe shouldn’t ask what’s going to happen next!

Baker, 37, a firefighter, claimed his $1 million Powerball prize this afternoon at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive with a ticket he’d bought for Saturday’s drawing.

While Saturday’s $1.326 billion Powerball jackpot was won in Oregon, Baker’s ticket was one of seven across the country that were just one number away from having a share of the giant prize. Those $1 million-winning tickets each matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win at the game’s second prize level.

How He Found Out He Won

Baker said he was up early for work yesterday when he decided to use the Iowa Lottery app on his mobile phone to check the results of the five Powerball tickets he’d bought the night before. His phone dinged on the second ticket he checked, indicating that it was a winner.

He said he saw a 1 and a bunch of zeroes and wasn’t sure what it meant – if he’d won $1 million or $1 billion.

Baker said he couldn’t report for a shift at the fire station without having another verification of his win, so he took his easy-pick ticket to a local convenience store and had it checked on the lottery terminal there. The clerk at the store confirmed it was a $1 million winner.

Baker said he made it to work on time and shared the news with his co-workers at the fire station. But after working for a few hours and worrying that his scattered thoughts could cause him to make a critical error, he took the rest of his shift off, using the time to research his next steps.

His Plans For The Future, Including Ice Cream

By the time he claimed his prize this afternoon, he’d already spoken with a financial planner, identified the total he needed to pay off his student loans, and made plans to invest the bulk of his winnings. He said he knows that winning the lottery is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and he wants to make his winnings last as long as possible.

Baker bought his lucky ticket at Hy-Vee, 1501 First Ave. E. in Newton. Hy-Vee will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket.

And while Baker has made long-term plans for his winnings, he also knows he has an immediate purchase in his future that’s a tradition at his fire station. He says that he and his fellow firefighters have an unwritten rule that if they end up in pictures or video in the media, they owe the department ice cream.

And he says he’s going to owe a lot of ice cream now!

$1 Million Powerball Prize Won In Newton

The jackpot hub-bub is over for now – until the next big one comes along!

While the jackpot in last night’s $1.326 billion Powerball® drawing was won in Oregon, an Iowa ticket was just one number away from having a share of the grand prize. That Iowa ticket, purchased in Newton, won a $1 million prize.

The Powerball jackpot had climbed for more than 3 months and tied the game’s record for the longest string of consecutive drawings without a winner before it was won last night. The jackpot had been won on New Year’s Day, then rolled for 41 drawings in a row without a winner. That had only occurred twice before, in 2021 and 2022.

Last night’s jackpot was the 4th-largest Powerball prize and the 8th-largest U.S. lottery prize. The jackpot now returns to $20 million annuity, $9.4 million lump-sum option, for Powerball’s next drawing tomorrow night.

Iowa Sales and Total Prizes Won

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 45,721 Powerball prizes last night ranging from $4 up to $1 million. A total of about $2.4 million in Powerball tickets for last night were purchased in Iowa.

One Iowa ticket was just 1 number away from having a share of last night’s jackpot, matching the first 5 numbers but missing the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. That winning ticket was purchased at Hy-Vee, 1501 First Ave. E. in Newton.

It was one of 7 tickets across the country to win a $1 million prize in last night's drawing.

Last night's winning Powerball numbers were: 22-27-44-52-69 and Powerball 9. The Power Play number was 3.

The $1 million prize must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. If the winner or winners have questions before claiming the prize, they’re welcome to call us at the Iowa Lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

Details About ‘Coverage’ & Easy Picks

Two details get a lot of attention in Powerball drawings: the coverage estimate and the percentage of easy picks.

By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations in the game have been purchased for a particular drawing. It’s called coverage – how many of the combinations have been purchased, or “covered.”

The coverage estimate for last night’s Powerball drawing was about 31.1 percent. A higher coverage percentage can mean it’s more likely there will be a jackpot winner, but it’s not a definite.

Sales details also show how many of the tickets purchased are easy picks, meaning that the lottery terminal randomly selected the numbers printed on the ticket, as compared to manual plays, where the player selected their own numbers.

Nearly 92 percent of the tickets purchased in Iowa for last night’s Powerball drawing were easy-pick tickets.

With that huge percentage of tickets purchased being easy picks, more of the winners will come from easy-pick tickets as well. That does not mean those tickets are luckier, it just means there are a lot more of them.

Powerball Jackpot Climbs To $1.3 Billion, Iowa Ticket Was 1 Number Away Last Night

Update on April 5: Strong sales in Iowa and across the country have pushed the Powerball jackpot even higher for Saturday's drawing! The jackpot for Saturday now stands at an estimated $1.3 billion annuity, $608.9 million lump-sum value.   

Powerball® has tied the game’s record for the most drawings in a row without a grand-prize winner.

The jackpot was last won on New Year’s Day. Saturday’s drawing will be the 41st in the current jackpot run. The Powerball jackpot has only ever rolled this long without a winner twice before, in 2021 and 2022.

The current jackpot is the 4th-largest Powerball prize and the 8th-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.

Total Iowa Prizes Won In Last Night’s Drawing

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 30,704 prizes in last night’s Powerball drawing ranging from $4 up to $150,000.

One Iowa ticket was just 1 number away from having a share of the jackpot, matching 4 of the first 5 numbers and the Powerball to initially win a $50,000 prize. But the player who bought the ticket added the Power Play® option to the purchase, which tripled the winnings to $150,000.

The $150,000-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 916 E. Main St. In Marshalltown.

The winning numbers in last night’s Powerball drawing were: 11-38-41-62-65 and Powerball 15. The Power Play number was 3.

The $150,000 prize can be claimed at any Iowa Lottery office. If the winner has questions before claiming the prize, they’re welcome to call the Iowa Lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

A Note About ‘Coverage’

By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations in a game have been purchased for a particular drawing. It’s called coverage – how many of the combinations have been purchased, or “covered.”

The coverage estimate for last night’s Powerball drawing was about 22.6 percent. The coverage estimate for Saturday’s drawing is currently about 25.5 percent and could climb higher as ticket sales increase.

A higher coverage percentage can mean it’s more likely there will be a jackpot winner, but it is not a definite.

Play Healthy

At the Iowa Lottery, we ask our players to remember that you are gambling when you buy a ticket -- there’s no guarantee you’ll win. Please be sure that playing the lottery is something you do just for fun. Set a limit and stay within it for how much you’ll spend as you play.

Powerball Jackpot At Est. $1.09 Billion For Tomorrow Night’s Drawing

The Powerball® jackpot continues to climb, making it through its latest drawing and becoming the 2nd U.S. lottery prize in a week to top the $1 billion mark.

The jackpot for Powerball’s next drawing tomorrow night now stands at an estimated $1.09 billion annuity, $527.3 million lump-sum option.

It follows a Mega Millions® jackpot of $1.13 billion won in that game’s March 26 drawing.

While the current Powerball jackpot is huge, it has room to grow before approaching record territory. Powerball holds the world record for a lottery jackpot, a $2.04 billion prize won in November 2022.

The current jackpot is the 4th-largest Powerball prize and the 9th-largest U.S. lottery prize.

Total Prizes Won in Iowa in Last Night’s Drawing

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 20,995 prizes in last night’s Powerball drawing ranging from $4 up to $100,000.

Two Iowa tickets were just 1 number away from having a share of the jackpot, matching 4 of the first 5 numbers and the Powerball. One of those tickets won a $50,000 prize, while the other won a $100,000 prize. The player who bought the $100,000-winning ticket added the Power Play® option to the purchase, which doubled the prize.

The winning numbers in last night’s Powerball drawing were: 19-24-40-42-56 and Powerball 23. The Power Play number was 2.

The $50,000-winning ticket was purchased at Kimmes Carroll Country Store, 422 W. Sixth St. in Carroll.

The $100,000-winning ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 111 E. Donald St. in Waterloo.

Those two prizes can be claimed at any Iowa Lottery office. If the winners have questions beforehand, they’re welcome to call us at the Iowa Lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected].

Play Healthy

At the Iowa Lottery, we offer this reminder amid the giant jackpots: You are gambling when you buy tickets and there’s no guarantee you'll win. Playing the lottery is something you do just for fun.

Powerball Jackpot Becomes 2nd In A Week To Reach $1 Billion

This is no April Fool’s joke: For the 2nd time in a week, a lottery jackpot of $1 billion is on the line.

This time, it’s in Powerball®, where the jackpot for that game’s drawing tonight now stands at an estimated $1 billion annuity, $483.8 million lump-sum option. It follows a Mega Millions® jackpot of $1.13 billion won in that game’s March 26 drawing.

The two jackpots climbed together for nearly three months, simultaneously topping $800 million for the first time in late March.

With Mega Millions being won, the bulk of the jackpot attention is now on Powerball as it continues to grow. The Powerball jackpot was last won on New Year’s Day. And while the jackpot is huge, it has a lot of room to go before it would hit record territory. Powerball holds the world record for a lottery jackpot, a $2.04 billion prize won in November 2022.

Withholding Rates In Iowa For A Jackpot Prize

At the Iowa Lottery, we’ve been fielding tax-related questions about the giant jackpots. We can answer some of them, but others would need to be addressed by a tax expert. That’s just one of the reasons we always encourage our winners to consult a lawyer or financial planner who can help them put together a plan for their winnings.

Here are the specifics the lottery can provide: For any jackpot prize claimed in Iowa, 24 percent federal withholding applies along with 5 percent state withholding. Those amounts are automatically deducted before the prize is paid and can’t be modified or waived.

The withholdings are designed to cover a prize winner’s tax liability from claiming a large lottery prize. But the total taxes that a winner would owe are dependent upon that person’s financial circumstances outside of winning the lottery.

In some instances, the withholdings may not be enough, in other instances, they may be too much. The details would be sorted out in the winner’s income-tax filing for the year.

Scammers Unfortunately Notice Big Jackpots, Too

Scam attempts have been at all-time highs in recent years, and while the criminals behind them run cons of all types, they turn their attention to impersonating lotteries when jackpots are high.

Scammers have fraudulently used the names and logos of lotteries and well-known lottery games, along with the names of lottery winners and lottery officials in an attempt to steal people’s money.

The scams can involve persistent telephone calls and official-looking emails, text messages, social media postings and letters. They promise big prizes and will try to lure you into thinking you’ve won. But it’s a scam. A common thread is that the unsuspecting “winner” is asked to pay money up front for things like taxes, processing fees or delivery charges.

The scammers can sound really convincing. But it’s important to remember this simple truth: There is never a fee to claim a real lottery prize. If you’re asked to pay money up front, it’s a scam.

When you win a prize in a game like Powerball or Mega Millions, you notify the lottery that you’re the winner, not the other way around. The Iowa Lottery has records about the winning ticket and where it was purchased, but we don’t know the winner’s identity until that person comes forward to claim the prize.

The Iowa Lottery keeps these and other security reminders as a permanent feature on its website to help consumers stay safe.

Play Healthy

At the Iowa Lottery, we want our players to enjoy the moment when it comes to big-jackpot fun, but remember that you are gambling when you buy tickets. There is no guarantee you'll win. Playing the lottery is something that should be done just for fun.

MONOPOLY Second-Chance Promotion From The Iowa Lottery Will Award 15 Prizes of $10,000!

Players in two Iowa Lottery games have a chance to win one of 15 cash prizes of $10,000 in a new MONOPOLY-themed promotion that opened for entries this week!

The lottery’s MONOPOLY Second-Chance Promotion opened for entries Wednesday morning. Players can enter it with eligible tickets in the MONOPOLY Game Tokens Progressive InstaPlay game or the MONOPOLY 20X scratch game. Both $5 games debuted in Iowa earlier this month.

Up for grabs in the promotion’s May 30 drawing will be 15 prizes of $10,000 each. A player can enter multiple tickets in the promotion but can win only one prize in the drawing.

To enter the promotion, Iowa Lottery players must join or already be members of the lottery’s free VIP Club. The promotion’s entry period opened this morning and runs through 9:59 a.m. on May 29.

Eligible for the promotion are any nonwinning tickets in the MONOPOLY Game Tokens Progressive InstaPlay game purchased on or after March 20; and any nonwinning MONOPOLY 20X scratch tickets. That scratch game began sales on March 5.

Good luck in the promotion, and maybe we’ll see YOUR name on the winner list from the drawing!