ialottery blog

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 wmaster@ialottery.com.

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! :) 

 

One Man’s Story: How Do YOU Pick Your Lucky Numbers?

Eleven years after he won a jackpot prize, a central Iowa man is seeing a run of lottery luck again.

Daniel Good of Saint Charles says that when he plays a lotto game, he typically picks his own numbers. Recently, and he’s been loyal to a set of Pick 4 numbers that have been good to him.

Daniel plays the numbers 2-3-2-3 in Pick 4 drawings. Why that particular combination? He works at the Des Moines Public Schools’ administration office, which is at 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines. Loyal blog readers will also know that location used to be home to the lottery’s headquarters office before we moved to Clive in December.

We learned about Daniel’s lucky set of Pick 4 numbers yesterday when he claimed a $3,500 prize from a recent drawing. Daniel said in addition to that big prize, the 2-3-2-3 combination has also netted him several smaller prizes in recent Pick 4 drawings.

If Daniel’s name has a familiar ring to it, it’s because you’ve heard it in connection with the lottery before. Back in January 2004, he claimed a $1.65 million Hot Lotto jackpot. Daniel picked his own numbers in that drawing, too, playing a combination of family and friends’ birth dates and ages.

Congrats on your win, Daniel! Glad to know our old headquarters location continues to be a lucky place!

Hey, Can You Show Me Those New Emails?

 

After I blogged last week about the new look for the emails you can get from us with the latest results in our lotto drawings, some folks asked if we could SHOW what the make-over looks like and how to sign up.

Your wish is our command! Click on the video above to learn all about it.

An Easy Way To Get The Latest Drawing Results!

We just debuted a new, easier-to-read layout for the emails we send out that provide the latest results in all our lotto drawings. You can sign up to receive this service so the drawing results from your favorite game come right to your inbox – in a new, streamlined look!

Click here to see how to sign up. It’s easy to do – you just send us an email requesting to be added to the list. Winning numbers will be emailed to you daily in Powerball^®, Mega Millions^®, Hot Lotto^®, All or Nothing™, Pick 3 and Pick 4!

Good luck and thanks for playing.

This Winner’s Got STYLE!

A Quad Cities man who’s been a regular visitor to claim prizes at our Cedar Rapids office this year is having a lot of fun as he poses for his winner photos – and it shows! But I’ve got to ask: How many hats can one guy have?

Since May 2, Marvin Lagarde of Davenport has won seven lottery prizes of at least $1,000. His winning streak started May 2 when he claimed a $3,125 prize in Pick 4. Since then, he’s collected six prizes, each of a little more than $1,000, in All or Nothing.

As you can see in the pictures here, he’s a photo-posin’ machine! In fact, on Aug. 14, he claimed two All or Nothing prizes and requested that a different photo be taken for each of his winning tickets. (They’re the bottom two photos.) He even changed outfits – and hats – in between shots so each picture would look different!

That wasn’t Marvin’s biggest winning day, however. On July 23, he claimed four All or Nothing prizes totaling more than $4,000 – but he only took one photo that day! (It’s the second one.)

Another interesting note: Marvin has bought all of his winning tickets at the Express Lane Gas & Food Mart, 4425 W. Locust St. in Davenport.

Hats off to you, Marvin, for having so much fun as a lottery winner! We hope to see you again soon. And by all means, feel free to wear a new hat!

Reminder: We Have Our Own Pick 3 & Pick 4 Results Now!

We made the announcement and blogged about why we were making the change earlier this month, but we’re still getting questions from players, so I’m touching on the topic again today. On April 16, the Iowa Lottery began conducting its own drawings in the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. We now have winning numbers in those games that are unique to Iowa, and we no longer share results with the Illinois Lottery.

Some folks initially thought we were providing the wrong results when they saw that Iowa’s winning numbers in Pick 3 and Pick 4 were different than those in Illinois, but we’ve assured them that the information is, in fact, correct. We’ve added reminder messages on our website – they’re in red on the main pages for the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games – so those will hopefully help spread the word as well.

In addition to the details that we provide directly to you, many media outlets around the state provide the winning numbers in lottery drawings as a public service. We’ve been reaching out to newspapers, televisions stations and radio stations to make sure they’re aware of the change so they can double-check that they are providing the results correctly.

There’s an adjustment period when any change occurs. It makes me think of that old saying, “I like progress, I just don’t like change.” We’re about a week into this particular change and it seems like things are working out just fine. The good news is, people like the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games and are paying close attention to the winning numbers in them!

Thank you for playing and good luck on your lottery tickets!