ialottery blog

Why Do We Blur/Crop Out The Ticket Codes In Images?

Here’s an interesting question that came our way about the images we post of players’ winning tickets in our games. We know that you’re always curious about winning tickets and what numbers and symbols are on them, so we often post images to give you a closer look.

In the process, however, we always blur or crop out the security codes on the tickets as you can see in the image shown here. Some folks have asked why.

From a purely technical perspective, the security codes aren’t part of the play area on a ticket, so they aren’t necessary to show the winning numbers or symbols involved. However, the codes are what identify each individual lottery ticket and they’re used in the prize-claim process.

We blur the codes out so we don’t inadvertently cause a complication in the lottery prize-claim process. So, while we know you’re curious about them, there is a reason that those codes are blurred out.

We show as much of the ticket as possible, but the codes will continue to be left out of the images for security purposes.

Iowa-Specific Drawings Are Returning In Pick 3 & Pick 4

There’s a procedural update coming in the drawings for our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, and from a player perspective, it should be pretty seamless.

Iowa-specific drawings in Pick 3 and Pick 4 will begin tomorrow. That means the winning numbers selected in the games will be unique to Iowa.

Pick 3 was introduced in Iowa in 1998 while Pick 4 debuted here in 2003. Through the years, the games’ drawings have been handled in different ways. The Iowa Lottery currently shares drawing results in the games. Since mid-2017, the Iowa Lottery has had an agreement with the Hoosier Lottery to share drawings results in Pick 3 and Pick 4.

We’ve heard over time from Iowa players who say they’d prefer Iowa-only drawings in the games, and we’re now making that change.

Starting with tomorrow’s midday drawings in Pick 3 and Pick 4, we’ll have Iowa-specific drawings. We think the change will help differentiate our games and their features from those in other states. (Dozens of lotteries around the country offer Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, with the features and options available varying from state to state.)

The drawing times in Pick 3 and Pick 4 will remain the same, with the midday drawings in each game held at 12:20 p.m. and the evening drawings held at 10 p.m. The sales cut-off times in the games also will remain unchanged. Tickets can be purchased until noon on the day of the drawing for the midday drawings and until 9:40 p.m. on the day of the drawing for evening drawings.

If you aren’t familiar with Pick 3 and Pick 4, they’re numbers games with a long U.S. history, starting along the East Coast. Pick 3 players choose combinations of three numbers from 0 to 9 while Pick 4 players choose combinations of four numbers from 0 to 9. The prize you could win depends on the type of play you make.

For example, you can choose the option of winning a prize only if your numbers match the winning numbers in the exact order they’re selected in the drawing. That’s called a straight play. Or, you can choose the option of winning a prize if your numbers match the winning numbers in any order. That’s called a box play. There are other options in the games as well.

Prizes in Pick 3 and Pick 4 are smaller than those in big-jackpot games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®, but the odds of winning also are significantly better.

Iowa’s Pick 3 game has a top prize of $3,000, with odds of just 1 in 1,000 of winning it. Iowa’s Pick 4 game offers a top prize of $30,000, with odds of 1:10,000 of winning it. Plays in both games range in cost from 50 cents up to $5.

Time Is Running Out For Unclaimed $30K Prize In Pick 4 Game

Friday Afternoon Update: I initially posted this blog entry earlier today with details about the unclaimed Pick 4 prize you see here as well as a Powerball® prize in Stuart. In a case of perfect timing, a player came in just a few minutes later and claimed the $50,000 Powerball prize that had been won 11 months ago. It’s exciting to see it get claimed! This blog entry is now updated to remove references to the Stuart prize.    

Time is ticking away for a sizeable Iowa Lottery prize that is still unclaimed. And an even bigger prize is also on the unclaimed list, but there’s plenty of time to go before its expiration date.

There are just a couple weeks left for a $30,000 Pick 4 prize won in Des Moines. It will expire on Oct. 5 if it isn’t claimed by the close of business that day.

The $30,000-winning Pick 4 ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 2849 E. Euclid Ave. in Des Moines, for that game’s evening drawing on July 7. The $30,000 prize, which is the largest amount a player can win in Pick 4, was won with a straight play, meaning it would win a prize only if it matched the winning numbers in the exact order they were selected in the drawing. The winning Pick 4 numbers that night were 3-7-6-2.

The winner of the Pick 4 prize has until 4 p.m. on Oct. 5 to claim it at an Iowa Lottery office.

Interestingly, a $1 million Mega Millions® prize also is unclaimed in Iowa, but there are months to go before its expiration date. The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at Gateway Expresse, 2400 University Blvd. in Ames, for the Mega Millions drawing on Sept. 6.

The Ames ticket was the only one in the country that night to win a $1 million prize by matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. That night’s winning numbers were: 6-17-46-59-68 and Mega Ball 2.

The winner of the $1 million Mega Millions prize has until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.

If you’re a prize winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim your winnings, please give us a shout at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected]

In the last fiscal year, more than $1.5 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

Time appears to be a factor. The Iowa Lottery reviewed plays from a sampling of recent lotto drawings and found that the vast majority of prizes are claimed within six months of the drawing date. Less than 3 percent of prizes from those drawings were claimed after that point. The Iowa Lottery will continue to review how it can best encourage and remind players to claim their prizes.

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.

A Run Of Luck In The Pick 4 Game!

Update on Sunday, July 10: The Pick 4 winning streak for Iowa players is STILL GOING! The winning numbers in today's midday Pick 4 drawing were 2-0-0-0. Those aren't identical like the winning numbers in the two other recent drawings that saw a lot of big winners, but 2000 was still a popular combination, likely due to the significance of the year that began our new millenium! In today's Pick 4 midday drawing, there were four more big winners, so I've updated the totals in the original blog post from Friday.            

There must be something in the water when it comes to the Pick 4 game right now! In the past two weeks, Iowa players have won 28 prizes of $6,000 or more in Pick 4 drawings.

Two drawings in particular saw a number of big prizes in the game, but they weren’t the only ones! Pick 4 players love their multiples and in those two drawings, the winning numbers were 7-7-7-7 and 9-9-9-9. When identical winning numbers like that come up, you’ll see a lot of winners in the game because a lot of Pick 4 players will have chosen those combinations on their tickets. It’s just the way people play.

In Pick 4 drawings during the past two weeks (since June 24), Iowa Lottery players have won:

• 22 prizes of $6,000
• 1 prize of $7,500
• 2 prizes of $12,000
• 1 prize of $18,750
• 2 prizes of $30,000.

And there obviously were a lot of winners of amounts smaller than that as well. The list here is of the very biggest prizes won in the game.

That’s quite a run of luck! I wonder what will happen next?  

Multi-Draw Tickets: What To Do If You Claim A Prize Before All The Drawings Are Done

Here’s a question we’ve gotten this week about a complication some players have had with tickets for multiple drawings in lotto games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®.

The players knew they’d won a prize in one of the early drawings on their ticket, so they went to a local store to claim their winnings. And that’s where a complication came in. I give the background involved below along with details about what you can do if you’re ever in the same situation.

If you’ve never heard of a multi-draw ticket before, here’s how it works: In our lotto games, you can buy a ticket for just the next upcoming drawing or for several drawings at a time. A ticket with plays for more than one drawing is called a multi-draw ticket. It’s a convenience factor in today’s busy times, and a lot of players use the multi-draw option to save on trips to the store.

If you buy a multi-draw ticket and win a prize before the last drawing on your ticket has been held, you can claim your winnings right away, either at a lottery retailer or a lottery office, depending on the amount you’ve won. When your multi-draw ticket is scanned by the lottery terminal, you'll be paid your prize or get a prize claim form (again depending on the amount you’ve won) along with an exchange ticket for the drawings you have left. Your original ticket will be kept by the retailer as part of the prize-claim process.

An exchange ticket has the word “Exchange” printed on it just above the plays. Be sure to look for that word to know you’ve received the exchange ticket. To help you identify an exchange ticket, I've included an image of one here in the Powerball game with the word "Exchange" highlighted.

In the past few weeks, we’ve heard from some players who either didn’t get their exchange ticket when it printed from the lottery terminal or were given back their original ticket. The mix-up meant that they initially couldn’t claim any additional prizes they might have won, and that’s why they reached out to us. The folks in our Security Department were able to research what happened and track down the right details to help. But as a consumer, it’s always best to avoid complications like that.

If you’ve won a prize, you’re obviously excited and want to claim it quickly. So, feel free to do just that! But if you won on a multi-draw ticket, be sure to get the exchange ticket for the remaining drawings you still have to go! 

(And, if you want to wait until all the drawings on your ticket have occurred before claiming your winnings, you're obviously welcome to do that. The details here about exchange tickets are helpful tips for those who want to claim their winnings early on.)  

Will TwosDay prove lucky for Pick 3 & Pick 4 players?

Next week, an interesting date will occur that involves A LOT of 2s, and we wonder what it may mean for a couple of our lotto games.

It’s being called TwosDay: Feb. 22, 2022.

On dates that involve repeat numbers, we’ve often seen players choose identical sets of numbers in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. And when sales with those same numbers reach a certain point, they’re considered “sold out” in our system. But why?

On Sept. 9, 2009, the combinations of 9-9-9 sold out in Pick 3 and 9-9-0-9 sold out in Pick 4. The same thing has happened with the corresponding numbers on Aug. 8, 2008, and July 7, 2007. When a set of numbers is sold out, it means that the liability limit has been reached. Lotteries have liability limits in Pick 3 and Pick 4 games to protect the integrity of the games and the proceeds that the lottery raises for state causes.

The liability limits don’t get hit very often, but when they do, that particular set of numbers will be sold out for that particular drawing, and you’ll have to choose a different combination to play that time around. The combination will be available again for the next drawing, assuming that the liability limit isn’t reached the next time around as well.

And even though a particular set of numbers may see a surge in popularity, it doesn’t make it luckier than another play. The odds of winning are the same for any play in our games. We as human beings just like patterns, and dates like 2-22-22 always catch our attention.

We can’t wait to see what TwosDay brings!

Lucky Again: Cedar Rapids Man Claims $75,000 In Prizes For 2nd Time In 2 Months

A familiar name just claimed $75,000 in lottery prizes – for the second time in two months!

Wiley Tuley of Cedar Rapids is someone I would describe as a true Pick 4 aficionado: He likes to think through his plays and the numbers he chooses. And he’s now won big multiple times.

Wiley, who is retired, won prizes totaling $150,000 in the Oct. 6 evening Pick 4 drawing. He claimed half that total on Oct. 7. He said he originally planned to wait until 2022 to claim the rest, but changed his mind and instead claimed the winnings this month.

Wiley bought multiple plays of different amounts with differing types of bets for the Pick 4 drawing where he won big. He matched all four numbers in the exact order drawn: 7-3-2-5. He said he chose his own numbers representing the employee I.D. number from his job before he retired. He plans to put his winnings into savings.

Wiley is no stranger to big wins in Pick 4. Back in 2014, he won 42 Pick 4 prizes totaling $200,000, all in one drawing. He said his latest win was just as sweet. He recalled looking at his ticket and just thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

If you aren’t familiar with Pick 4, it’s a numbers game with a long history along the East Coast. But it’s also offered by lotteries across the country, including the Iowa Lottery. Pick 4 players choose combinations of four numbers from 0000 to 9999. The prize that a player could win depends on the type of bet they make.

Players can choose the option of winning a prize only when their numbers match the winning numbers in the exact order selected in the drawing. That’s called a straight play. Or, players can choose the option of winning a prize if their numbers match the winning numbers in any order. That’s called a box play.

It’s statistically harder to match the numbers in the exact order drawn, so the odds of winning on a straight play are higher and the prizes that players can win with that option are larger.
 
Pick 4 players tend to be loyal to a particular set of numbers and sometimes play them multiple times in a particular drawing, just as Wiley did.

Congratulations, Wiley! Thank you for giving us a feel-good story this Thanksgiving week!

Did You Already Win? More Than A Dozen Large Prizes Currently Unclaimed In Iowa

There’s never a bad time to win a lottery prize. So here's a reminder from us that more than a dozen large lottery prizes are currently unclaimed in Iowa — so please double-check your tickets!

On our Unclaimed Prizes list on the Iowa Lottery website, you can see all the prizes of $600 or more in Iowa that are still unclaimed in lotto and InstaPlay games. You can sort the list in several different ways — by game, place of purchase, prize amount, date of win and date of expiration — to key in on the details that matter most to you.

As of today, there are a whopping 19 prizes of $10,000 or more that are waiting to be claimed. At the top of the list is a Lucky for Life prize of $25,000 a year for life (or a $390,000 lump-sum option) that was won with a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 641 Edgewood Road NW in Cedar Rapids.

As for prizes on that list that will expire the soonest, you’ll note that there are numerous prizes expiring on Jan. 3, 2022. That includes a $12,000 Pick 4 prize that was won in the Oct. 3 evening drawing on a ticket purchased at Price Chopper, 4343 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines.

All prizes on the list must be claimed at a lottery office or by mail. The Lucky for Life prize must be claimed at lottery headquarters in Clive. If you have any questions about claiming a prize, give us a call at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected]

5-5-5-5 Hits In Pick 4 Drawing, With Multiple Top-Prize Winners

We’re gearing up to pay lots of prizes after today’s Pick 4 midday drawing!

The winning numbers in the drawing were 5-5-5-5, and because duplicate combinations are always popular in the game, there were a lot of big winners.

If you’re familiar with the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, you know that players in them like to play combinations of the same numbers such as 7-7-7-7, 2-2-2, or, as with today’s results, 5-5-5-5. The stars aligned and duplicates hit today!

The same thing has happened a handful of times through the years, including with a 1-1-1-1 combination in 2018.

Six tickets each won $6,000 in today’s drawing, the top prize possible with a $1 play in Pick 4. All of the plays were for a straight bet, meaning that they would win if they matched all numbers in the EXACT ORDER drawn. Plays in Pick 4 start at 50 cents and go up to $5.

The stores where the $6,000-winning tickets were purchased are:

• Casey’s, 1201 First Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids
• Hy-Vee, 901 S. Fourth St. in Clinton
• Express Lane Gas & Food, 3622 N. Brady St. in Davenport
• Hy-Vee, 3221 SE 14th St. in Des Moines
• Kwik Star, 102 David St. in Maquoketa
• Casey’s, 602 S. Highland St. in Williamsburg

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

Expiration Date Is Next Week For Unclaimed $15K+ Prize In Des Moines

Time is running out for an unclaimed lottery prize of $15,625 won earlier this year in Des Moines.

If you’ve got a lotto ticket at home, please double-check it to see if you’re the winner! At the Iowa Lottery, we’re hoping we can jog someone’s memory in time so the prize can be claimed.

The prize was won in the midday Pick 4 drawing on April 21 with a ticket purchased at Cash Saver, 4121 Fleur Drive in Des Moines. Pick 4 prizes won in Iowa have to be claimed within 90 days of the drawing involved, so the $15,625 prize will expire at 4 p.m. next Tuesday (July 20) if it isn’t claimed by then at a lottery office.   

Pick 4, which has been offered in Iowa since September 2003, features a top prize of $30,000, with odds of just 1:10,000 of winning it. Another intriguing aspect of the game comes in the variety of ways players can choose to play it. Plays in Pick 4 range in price from 50 cents up to $5 for the chance to match a four-digit combination of numbers from 0000 to 9999.

There are several ways to win in Pick 4. A player can choose a straight play, meaning that if the winning numbers are 1-2-3-4, the player wins a prize for matching that combination exactly: 1-2-3-4. Another option is to choose a box play, which allows players to win for matching the winning numbers, but not in the exact order drawn (if the winning numbers are 1-2-3-4, you can win for any combination of those numbers, such as 4-3-2-1). You also can choose a straight/box play, which allows you to win for matching the numbers in the exact order drawn or in any order.

The winning numbers in the midday Pick 4 drawing on April 21 were 3-2-1-0 and the Des Moines ticket was for a $5 play that matched the numbers in the exact order selected to win a prize of $15,625.

Pick 4 drawings are held twice a day Monday-Saturday. The game’s midday drawings are at 12:40 p.m. and its evening drawings are at 9:20 p.m.

Here in Iowa, the money from prizes that expire 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.

Hey, I Bought Tickets At Different Stores And They Have The Same Numbers

This is another take on Pick 3/Pick 4 questions, after the blog entry we posted about the games last month.

This time around, the question comes from a man who bought Pick 4 tickets at two different stores and noticed that his plays both had the same numbers. He thought that meant there was something wrong.

In reality, Pick 3, Pick 4, and our other lotto games are specifically designed to allow for repeat numbers. It’s a built-in security feature of the games. And in Pick 3 and Pick 4, where only the numbers 0-9 are available to play, repeats can happen more often.          

I’ve included an image here that the man sent to us of his Pick 4 tickets. They were purchased on the same day at two different locations. The man thought that meant all other possible combinations in the Pick 4 game had been purchased between the tickets he bought, and that was why he got two tickets with the same numbers. But that’s not the case. 

You can see in the image that the plays on his tickets are marked as “EP.” That means they’re easy-pick plays where the lottery terminal at the location involved randomly selected the numbers. So, the same numbers could end up being printed simultaneously on tickets at different locations or within a short period of time as occurred for this player. Or, it could be a considerable length of time between that exact combination being printed. That’s the very nature of random plays.

Duplicate combinations in the games demonstrate that they’re working correctly. There would be something wrong if no repeat combinations were issued.

The only way to ensure that you as a player do not receive duplicate plays is to pick your own numbers.

There are hard-copy pla slips available in many retail locations where lottery tickets are sold, and another really handy way to choose your own numbers is to create an ePlayslip using the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app.

Pick 3/Pick 4 Question: Is It OK When More Prizes Are Won With Identical Numbers?

Here is the answer to a player’s question about the drawing results in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, and specifically, whether something is wrong because more prizes are often won with numbers that are all the same, such as 3-3-3 or 7-7-7-7. In reality, more people win prizes when those numbers are selected in a Pick 3 or Pick 4 drawing because more people play those numbers in the games. Here's the back story:

In Pick 3 and Pick 4, many players choose their own numbers rather than letting the lottery terminal randomly select the numbers on their tickets. The players who choose their own numbers are loyal to them and often make identical selections. I don’t know if they just like the symmetry of 1-1-1 or 5-5-5-5, but combinations of identical numbers are very popular.

And, when those combinations are then selected as the winning numbers in a drawing, there are a lot of winners simply because so many people have played them. 

Another reason that people may choose to play identical numbers is that those are straight plays, which have the biggest payouts in Pick 3 and Pick 4. By making a straight bet, the player wins a prize only if the numbers they selected match the winning numbers in the exact order drawn. It’s harder to win on a straight bet than by matching the winning numbers in any order drawn (which is known as a box play), so the odds of winning are longer and the prizes that can be won with straight plays are bigger.

There of course are players who make plays with numbers that aren’t identical, and those combinations do win in Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings as well. But overall, when the winning numbers in the games’ drawings are identical, you will often see more winners.

Why Can I Sometimes Not Play Certain Numbers In Pick 3 & Pick 4?

A man who reached out to us on Facebook was surprised recently when he tried to buy a Pick 4 play and couldn’t because the lottery terminal showed that the combination was sold out. He wanted to know what that meant.

Every so often, a particular number combination in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games sells out, meaning that no more plays of that combination can be purchased for the next drawing. Unusual dates often are big sellers and can lead certain combinations to sell out. We saw that back on Sept. 9, 2009, when 9-9-9 sold out in Pick 3 and 9-9-0-9 sold out in Pick 4. The same thing had happened with the corresponding numbers on July 7, 2007, and Aug. 8, 2008.

Some people consider the dates lucky, others just like the play of the numbers involved.

Sometimes it’s not obvious to us why a particular combination of numbers sells out, we just know that the liability limit has been reached. Lotteries have liability limits in Pick 3 and Pick 4 games to protect the integrity of the games and the proceeds that the lottery raises for state causes.

The liability limits don’t get hit all that often, but when they do, that particular set of numbers will be sold out for that particular drawing, and you’ll have to choose a combination to play that time around. The combination will be available again for the next drawing, assuming that the liability limit isn’t reached the next time around as well.

Player Mail: Important Details Some Get Wrong About Pick 3 & Pick 4

A player who reached out to us with questions about the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games unfortunately had a few details wrong about how the drawings work in those games, and I’m sharing the clarifications we provided here on the blog in case you’ve ever wondered the same thing.

The player thought that the combination of 1-4-5 in Pick 3 is the same as the combination of 5-1-4. We explained that they’re completely different. Here’s why:

Three separate drawing machines are used in each Pick 3 drawing, so the selection of each winning number has no impact on the other numbers selected. 

For example, if 1 is selected as the first number in a drawing, it also can be selected as the second and third numbers in that same drawing. Each of the machines used in a Pick 3 drawing has its own set of drawing balls numbered 0-9, and that machine operates independently from the other two.

That’s different from the way the drawings work in games like Powerball and Mega Millions.
I’ll use Powerball as an example here: The first machine in a Powerball drawing contains white balls numbered 1-69 and the second machine contains red balls numbered 1-26. When one of the machines selects one of the numbers it contains, that number can’t be selected again by that machine during the drawing because that number already been taken out of play for the remainder of that machine’s part in the drawing.

That’s not how Pick 3 and Pick 4 work. They’re specifically designed to allow for winning combinations of identical numbers like 3-3-3 or 4-4-4-4. But they also allow combinations like 1-7-4 and 2-3-6-7 where each number is different.

Something would be wrong in the games if numbers couldn’t be selected more than once in a drawing. It’s a twist that makes Pick 3 and Pick 4 so unique and interesting to play!

If you’re a visual learner and it helps you to see how the drawings work, click here to see video of a Pick 3 drawing.

Player Mail: Do People Really Play The Game That Way?

The news this week that a Des Moines man won five prizes of $6,000, all in the same Pick 4 drawing, prompted quite a discussion on our Facebook page. Some folks wondered if people really play Pick 4 like that, and if so, why.

I’m not sure we can completely answer the “why” part, as the specifics vary from person to person. But in general, players in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games are often loyal to a certain set of numbers, and play them more than once for the same drawing.

In the case of the Des Moines man who hit big this week, he bought five $1 tickets for Tuesday’s Pick 4 drawing, and selected the option of winning a prize only if the numbers on his ticket matched the winning numbers in the exact order they were selected, something that’s known as a straight play. He ended up winning a $6,000 prize on each ticket and claimed his winnings the next day.

Through the years, we’ve seen a lot of Pick 3 and Pick 4 players win multiple prizes, all in one drawing. Back in 2014, a Cedar Rapids man played the numbers for the year he was born and won 42 Pick 4 prizes totaling $200,000 in one drawing. And in 2017, a Davenport man won a total of $300,000 in a Pick 4 drawing by playing the numbers that he said he saw in a dream.

The really interesting point from Tuesday’s evening Pick 4 drawing is that Iowa players won a total of eight prizes of $6,000 that night. Bernard Herring of Des Moines claimed five of them, but the other three are still unclaimed. They were purchased at Central City Liquor, 1460 Second Ave. in Des Moines.

The winning numbers in Tuesday’s evening Pick 4 drawing were: 0-9-8-5. So, someone has some good news coming when they check their Pick 4 tickets from that night!

Pick 3 & Pick 4: Not A Series Of Numbers?

A player who reached out to us with questions about our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games had an important detail about them wrong, and we wondered if other people have thought the same thing. It’s not a series of numbers that's selected in those games’ drawings, but rather, individual numbers that are chosen by separate ball-drawing machines.

The player had wondered why it’s possible that the same number can be selected more than once in a drawing, or why the same combination of numbers can be selected in multiple drawings. The short answer is that’s exactly how those games are designed to work. There would be something wrong in the games if numbers couldn’t be selected more than once.

In Pick 3 and Pick 4, separate sets of drawing balls numbered 0-9 are loaded into multiple drawing machines so that each machine contains identical sets of numbers. Each machine then selects a number, and the result from each of those separate drawings has no impact on the others. The odds are the same for any number being selected. That’s how a winning combination like 2-2-2 or 1-1-1-1 can be and have been selected. That’s also how the same combination of winning numbers can be selected in more than one drawing.

That’s different than some other lottery games where the drawing balls are all loaded into one machine that selects all of the winning numbers.

It’s a twist that I think makes Pick 3 and Pick 4 so unique and interesting to play!

I Don’t Want To Buy Tickets In A Lottery Game If Players In Other States Are Part Of It, Too…

An email from one of our players highlights the balancing act that goes into the design of our lottery games.

 

In her email, the woman said she wants to see a game that’s only offered in Iowa because she doesn’t like playing our multi-state games, knowing that the jackpot could be won by someone in a different state. The woman’s perspective made us smile because on some level, we’d like it if ALL the winners were from Iowa. But that wouldn’t make players in other states very happy, would it?

 

This player’s viewpoint is why we do our best to have a variety of games available in the market. What appeals to one person may not appeal to someone else, so we keep lots of choices out there.

 

Games like Powerball and Mega Millions are sold by lotteries all across the country because that’s how they purposefully were designed. It takes a big population base playing those games to produce the giant jackpots involved, and you can’t have one without the other.

 

But we also have games that are exclusive to Iowa. Our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games are Iowa-only, as are our scratch games, pull-tab games and InstaPlay games.

 

We hope our game selection achieves the goal of different strokes for different folks. So, if you don’t want to play a multi-state game, you do have other choices!

1-1-1-1 Hits, 7 Big Prizes Won In Today’s Pick 4 Midday Drawing

We’re warming up our check-writing equipment after today’s Pick 4 midday drawing! The winning numbers were 1-1-1-1, and because duplicate combinations like that have always been popular in the game, there were a lot of big winners this afternoon. 

If you’re familiar with the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, you know that players in them like to play combinations like 7-7-7-7, 2-2-2-2, or, like today’s winning numbers, 1-1-1-1.  

The stars aligned and those numbers hit today. The same thing happened with a 2-2-2-2 combination back in 2010.

Seven tickets across the state won prizes ranging from $6,000 up to $24,000 in today’s midday Pick 4 drawing, from Council Bluffs to Davenport. All of the plays were for a Straight bet, but the players involved bought them at different price points, and that resulted in different prizes being won. A Straight bet means the play wins if it matches all numbers in the EXACT ORDER drawn. Plays in Pick 4 start at 50 cents and go up to $5.

Winning ticket locations and prizes:
Quik Trip, 4801 NE 14th St. in Des Moines - $24,000
Bucky’s Express, 3501 Broadway Ave. in Council Bluffs - $18,000
Kum & Go, 2991 Sunset Drive in Norwalk - $6,000
Casey’s, 1650 E. Locust St. in Carter Lake - $6,000
Big 10 Mart, 5310 N. Brady St. in Davenport - $6,000
Big 10 Mart, 5310 N. Brady St. in Davenport - $6,000
Expresslane, 321 N. Division St. in Davenport - $6,000

In Iowa's Pick 4 game, players have 90 days to claim a prize from the date of the drawing.

 

Player Mail: Can I Claim Two Prizes From The Same Ticket Separately?

A lottery player sent us an interesting question this week about the specifics involved in claiming a lottery prize. And in case you’ve ever wondered about the same thing, here are the details we shared with her:
 
A woman named Marie sent us the question on Facebook about prizes in the Pick 4 game. Specifically, she asked if she had two plays on the same ticket and won a $500 prize on each play, whether she could claim them separately. That approach would mean she could claim the prizes at the retail level rather than from the lottery directly, as prizes of $600 or less can be claimed at a lottery retailer (if sufficient funds are available at that location).

In the instance that she described, the prizes could not be claimed separately because they were won on the same ticket. So, she would need to claim her $1,000 in winnings by visiting one of our offices or mailing the ticket to us here at the lottery.

Great question, Marie!

And in another Pick 4-related detail, please remember to check your tickets! Two prizes of $30,000 that were both won in February in Iowa City are still unclaimed and will expire Tuesday if they are not claimed before then.

Two Prizes of $30,000 Won In Iowa City Nearing Expiration

Last week, we told you about the $1 million Powerball prize that’s still unclaimed in central Iowa, and today, we’re highlighting two sizeable prizes nearing their expiration dates in eastern Iowa.

Both of those prizes are for $30,000 and were won in Iowa’s Pick 4 game. They’ll expire later this month if they aren’t claimed in time.

The prizes were won in the evening Pick 4 drawing on Feb. 28. The winning tickets were both purchased at Fareway, 2530 Westwinds Drive in Iowa City. The prizes will expire at the close of business (4 p.m.) on May 29 if they’re not claimed at a lottery office before then.

If you’re not familiar with Pick 4, it’s a numbers game with a long history along the East Coast. But it also is offered by lotteries across the country, including the Iowa Lottery. Pick 4 players choose combinations of four numbers from 0000 to 9999. The prize that players can win depends on the type of bet they make.

For example, players can choose the option of winning a prize only when the numbers they’ve played match the winning numbers in the exact order selected in the drawing. That’s called a straight play. Or, players can choose the option of winning a prize if their numbers match the winning numbers in any order. That’s called a box play. It’s statistically harder to match the numbers in the exact order drawn, so the odds of winning on a straight play are higher and the prizes that players can win with that option are larger.

The prizes nearing expiration in Iowa City each came from a $5 straight bet with the numbers 2-6-4-9. Those numbers were drawn in that exact order in the evening Pick 4 drawing on Feb. 28, resulting in a $30,000 prize from each play.

We keep a list of all the unclaimed prizes in our lotto games on the lottery website so double-check your tickets!

Winner: I Saw The Numbers In A Dream …

One of our recent lottery winners is getting a lot of likes and shares for his story after winning with numbers he saw in a dream. Some of our other winners also have wondered if something bigger was involved in their lottery luck.

Some, for example, have wondered if deceased loved ones sent luck their way from the great beyond. Obviously, we have no way of knowing what forces may be at work, but it’s a fascinating subject, for sure!

Kelvin Wynn of Davenport won a total of $300,000 in a recent drawing of Iowa’s Pick 4 game. He won 10 prizes of $30,000 all in one drawing by matching the four winning numbers in the exact order they were drawn. That’s known as a straight play.

Wynn, who works for a landscaping company in the Quad Cities, said he saw the number 2112 in a dream, and then the next day, the house number of one of his clients happened to be 2112. The coincidences continued when he saw 2112 on the license plate of a vehicle in front of him at a stoplight, and his purchase at a department store added up to $21.12.

Wynn said he rarely plays the lottery, but he had a good feeling about the combination 2-1-1-2 and decided to play that set of numbers in Pick 4. He checked the lottery website the next day and said he couldn’t believe his eyes, so he had his wife double-check the results. And it was true: He’d won big.

He plans to use his lottery winnings to help pay the educational expenses for his three children – two of whom just graduated from college and the third, who’s currently a student. He also plans to splurge a little with a new set of golf clubs!

So, do YOU believe in the stars aligning (or whatever you might call it) for lottery luck?

REMINDER: All or Nothing Game Ends Tonight, Drawing Times Change Tomorrow For Pick 3 & Pick 4

Here’s a friendly reminder about some changes coming to three of our lotto games.

Today, the final drawings in the All or Nothing game will be held. Following tonight’s drawing, this game will end. All or Nothing has been offered in both Iowa and Minnesota since January 2014, and although it initially sold well, sales have tapered off over time.

Over the course of the game’s run, there were a total of 20 top prize winners; nine here in Iowa and 11 in Minnesota. (Of course, we could still add to this total with today’s midday and evening drawings.)

Also, starting tomorrow, the drawings in Iowa’s Pick 3 and Pick 4 games will be held at slightly different times from their current schedule and we’ll begin utilizing drawings with ball-drawing equipment for these games.

Effective tomorrow, midday Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 12:20 p.m. (previously these drawings were held at about 12:50 p.m.). Evening Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 10 p.m. (previously these drawings were held at about 8:50 p.m.).

Additionally, the sales cutoff times prior to the Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be shortened to just 20 minutes from the current 50-minute delay.

All or Nothing Game Ending, Drawing Times Changing For Pick 3 & Pick 4

Changes are coming to three of our lotto games on June 30 and July 1.Changes are coming to three of our lotto games on June 30 and July 1.

On June 30, the final drawing will be held in the “All or Nothing™” game and on July 1, the drawing times will change in the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, giving players longer to buy tickets each evening.

All or Nothing is a joint game offered by Iowa and Minnesota in which players can win the $100,000 top prize by matching all 12 or none of the winning numbers in one of its drawings. The game has been offered since January 2014, and Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said that although it initially sold well, sales have tapered off over time.

Because the All or Nothing game is ending effective June 30, the lottery is required to limit the number of multi-draw tickets clerks may sell beginning June 23. A countdown to the last drawing will begin on this day and the number of multi-draw tickets available will be reduced with each drawing until the game’s final evening drawing on June 30.

Effective July 1, the drawings in Iowa’s Pick 3 and Pick 4 games will be held at slightly different times from their current schedule and the sales cutoff times for these games will be shortened. Here’s the changes: 

• Midday Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 12:20 p.m. (currently these drawings are held at about 12:50 p.m.)
• Evening Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings will be held at approximately 10 p.m. (currently these drawings are held at about 8:50 p.m.)
• Sales cutoff times prior to the drawings will be shortened to just 20 minutes from the current 50-minute delay.

Rich said that as technology has gotten faster, the processing that the lottery has to complete before its drawings can be done in a shorter period of time. 

As the lottery continues to monitor its game offerings, players can expect more improvements and changes to other lotto products in the coming months.

Reminders About How To Redeem Winning Tickets

We got nearly identical questions from Facebook and by email from two different players asking where winning pull-tab tickets can be cashed here in Iowa. Here’s the answer in case you have wondered the same thing:

Prizes in our pull-tab games need to claimed at the retail location where you purchased your ticket, or, for pull-tab prizes of more than $600, at a lottery office. This is due to the individual accounting procedures for those games.

If you don’t remember where you bought your winning pull-tab ticket or you received the ticket as a gift, you can send us an email or call us and we can tell you where the ticket was purchased. We’ll need to know the name of the pull-tab game on your ticket as well as the ticket’s serial number, which is found on the front, right above the bar code.

All tickets in any of the Iowa Lottery’s other games can be redeemed at any lottery retailer across the state, except for prizes of more than $600. Those prizes must be claimed at a lottery office for tax-reporting purposes.

And remember the deadlines for claiming prizes. Scratch and pull-tab tickets are valid for 90 days after the announced end of the game. Tickets in Powerball^®, Mega Millions^®, Hot Lotto^®, Lucky for Life^® and All or Nothing™ are valid for 365 days from the date of the drawing. Tickets in Pick 3, Pick 4 and InstaPlay are valid 90 days from the date of the drawing.

You can find more information about claiming lottery prizes on our website, here.

Two Big Prizes Nearing Expiration Dates In Iowa

In about a minute, here are all the details about two big lottery prizes nearing their expiration dates here in Iowa.  

Unclaimed $100,000 & $12,000 Lotto Prizes Set To Expire Next Month

Get out your lottery tickets and double-check them! There’s about month to go until two large unclaimed prizes are set to expire here in Iowa.

A $100,000 Powerball® prize that was won nearly a year ago in West Des Moines and a $12,000 Pick 4 prize that was won in October in northern Iowa are both set to expire in January if no one claims the prizes before their respective deadlines.

The unclaimed Powerball prize was won in the drawing on Jan. 13, 2016, by someone who bought a ticket at Kum & Go, 7265 Vista Drive in West Des Moines. The lucky ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball that night to initially win a $50,000. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play option to the play, so their prize multiplied to $100,000. The winning numbers that night were: 4-8-19-27-34 and Powerball 10.

The winner or winners of this prize have until the close of business at 4 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2017, to claim the prize at one of our offices.

The unclaimed Pick 4 prize was won in the Oct. 13 evening drawing by someone who bought a ticket at Casey’s, 106 U.S. Highway 69 S. in Forest City. The lucky ticket matched all four numbers in the exact order, this is known as a straight play. The winning numbers that night were: 5-5-2-6.

The winner or winners of this prize have until the close of business at 4 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2017, to claim the prize at one of our offices.

Player Mail: How Many States Play ‘Game X’?

We got a question last week from a player who wondered which states are in the lotto games we have here in Iowa. Here’s a quick membership breakdown so you’ll have all the lists in one place!

Powerball® is played in Iowa and by 46 other lotteries. Here’s a link to the map showing all of the members in that game. And yes, it’s nearly the entire country.

Mega Millions® is nearly as big, being offered by a total of 46 lotteries. (Puerto Rico is a member of Powerball but not Mega Millions, so that’s the difference.) Here is a map showing that game’s membership.        

Lucky for Life® is sold by 21 lotteries while Hot Lotto® is sold by 15 lotteries around the country.

The multi-state version of All or Nothing™ is sold in Iowa and Minnesota.

The Pick 3 and Pick 4 games that we have here in Iowa are offered only in our state. So, those two games truly are “Iowa only.”

We offer a variety of games in all of our product lines – lotto games, scratch games and pull-tab games – so you’ll have a variety to choose from. And if you don’t care for one particular game, hopefully you’ll find a different one that you like. With different price points, game designs and playstyles, we hope to have something for everyone.

Player Mail: Not For Another 10,000 Drawings!

I’m writing this time around about the odds of winning in our Pick 3 and Pick 4 games after covering that topic in an exchange with a player from Winterset. The issue of odds can be a confusing area, but let’s see if we can find our way through it.

It appears the player thought that if the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 10,000, as they are in Pick 4, then a particular combination of winning numbers can only be selected every 10,000 drawings. But that’s not the case.

The odds of winning in our lotto games are based upon all the different ways you can combine the available numbers to make a play. In Pick 4, the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 10,000 because there are 10,000 ways you can combine the numbers 0-9 to make a four-digit straight play. And in Pick 3, the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 1,000 because there are 1,000 ways you can combine the numbers 0-9 to make a three-digit straight play.

To dig into it even deeper, each Pick 4 drawing is actually comprised of four separate drawings – one for each of the winning numbers chosen. The numbers 0-9 are available each time, making the odds of matching each of the four numbers 1 in 10. The math looks like this: 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 10,000.

Each lottery drawing is a unique, random event, and the outcome of one drawing has no impact on the next. A particular set of numbers can be selected in back-to-back drawings. Or, it could be a long time before that set is selected again. That’s precisely how random drawings are supposed to work.        

But what about sets of numbers that look similar? Let’s take these two combinations as an example: 2-6-7-5 and 6-2-5-7. Remember that in a game like Pick 4, each of the numbers is selected in a separate drawing with a pool of 0-9 available. So in the example, there wasn’t a duplicate in any of the four spots, let alone the combination as a whole. But there could have been, and that would be OK.

Has that made it more clear, or did all this math just give you a headache?!

Player Mail: Are Drawing Results Always Posted At The Same Time On Your Website?

Here’s a question that came our way this week: Are the results from our drawings always posted at the same time on our website?

The quick answer is that we obviously want people to have our drawing results as quickly as possible, but there are realities involved that mean we can’t always post the information at exactly the same time each day.

Sometimes it takes longer to balance all of the sales figures for a particular drawing. Sometimes we might have a new staffer at work who is understandably taking a little longer to go through procedures the first few times. Sometimes automated systems may not run as they should, and that means that processes have to be done manually, which can take more time.

We’ll continue to do our best to provide our results as quickly as we can. But I’ve said this before about other things and it applies here as well: As long as human beings are involved in any process, things will vary a little.   

One way to get the results without having to check our website is to sign up for the lottery’s winning numbers emails, so our drawing results will come to your inbox each morning. Click here to learn how to sign up for those emails.

It’s True: Two Days, Same Set Of Winning Numbers In Pick 4

You really are seeing double when it comes to the winning numbers in the midday Pick 4 drawings.   Yep! The same winning numbers were selected in the midday Pick 4 drawings from yesterday and today. The winning numbers on both days were 9-3-9-0. That is correct.

Every number has the same chance of being selected in the drawings, and occasionally, coincidences like this can happen. Earlier this year, the same numbers were selected in the midday and evening Pick 3 drawings on March 18. And a quick search shows that the same set of numbers also were selected back to back in that game in April 2012.   

That’s what comes with the laws of random statistics. But personally, I blame Friday the 13th! :) 