ialottery blog

A Milk Run With More: Errand Ends With $10,000 Lottery Prize

There’s something about the every-day aspect of this story, especially during these unusual times, that brings a smile. A southeast Iowa couple has taken home a $10,000 prize from a lottery scratch ticket purchased during a milk run.

Heather Love of Morning Sun claimed the prize earlier this week. She said that her husband, Nick, bought the ticket when he stopped at a local convenience store for milk on the way home from work. She said that Nick rarely buys scratch tickets but decided to get one that day in the “$100,000 Mega Crossword” game.

Heather said she was the one who scratched the ticket later that night after dinner. She thought they’d won big, but said it didn’t really start to sink in until she scanned the ticket on the lottery’s mobile app and it displayed the message: "Congratulations, you won $10,000!"

She said that she and Nick argued good-naturedly over which one of them would actually claim the prize, but agreed that they would use the winnings to buy new carpet and flooring for their home.

Heather said that winning a big prize “kind of makes your heart flutter.” She said she has often heard about people winning the lottery, but now it’s real to her.

Congratulations, Heather and Nick! Thank you for giving us a smile with your story!

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.

Why Are There More Winners In (Insert Place Here)?

A player contacted us this week with a question we’ve seen in different versions through the years: Why are there more winners in this state-that state/big cities-small towns/East Coast-West Coast?

We think the root of the situation is that players won’t truly be satisfied unless THEY’RE the big winners. In reality, winners are determined by nothing other than pure, random chance. But population does factor in.

This particular player asked about Powerball, so I’ll concentrate here on details about lotto games. But the same general concept applies to any lottery game.

As background, 48 U.S. lotteries sell Powerball, 47 sell Mega Millions, and 13 sell Lotto America. The odds of winning in each game are the same for every ticket purchased, but there will be more winners in places where more tickets are being sold.

Another way of putting it is that if about 5 percent of lottery tickets are sold in a particular area, you expect to find about 5 percent of the overall winners there. That doesn't mean the players there are luckier, it just means that more tickets have been sold in that area, so there will be a larger corresponding number of winners there.

A state like New York (with a population of 20.4 million) or Florida (population 21.6 million) will see more winners than a smaller state like Iowa with a population of 3.2 million. Over time, lotteries will see a proportional number of winners comparative to their jurisdiction's population, and that has been the case in jackpot games.

Another obvious factor in the location of lottery winners is whether a state even has a lottery. Currently, there are five U.S. states that don't have one: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

The Latest About The Powerball Jackpot

Update on Tuesday, Oct. 5: Last night's giant Powerball jackpot was won with a ticket purchased in California. And as I had referenced yesterday, strong sales across the country pushed the actual jackpot total past even the latest estimates made in advance. The final amount was $699.8 million annuity, $496 million lump-sum option. That's the 5th-largest prize in the Powerball game and the 7th-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.         

The giant Powerball® jackpot continues to climb, now at an estimated $685 million annuity, $485.5 million lump-sum amount, for tonight’s drawing. The official estimate was raised earlier today to its current amount, driven by strong sales during the weekend across the country.

The big prize is now the 6th-largest jackpot in the history of the Powerball game and the 8th-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. But in general, players buy the majority of tickets the day of a drawing, so it’s possible that tonight’s final jackpot amount will be higher than the advance estimates.

The Powerball jackpot has been growing for nearly four months. It was last won June 5 with a ticket purchased in Florida.

Drawing Details, And An Iowa Ticket That Came SO Close  

The winning numbers in Saturday’s Powerball drawing were: 28-38-42-47-52 and Powerball 1. The Power Play number was 2. An Iowa ticket was just one number away from that night’s big prize and won $100,000. 

The ticket initially matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. But whoever bought the ticket also added the Power Play® option to the purchase, which multiplied the prize to $100,000.

The $100,000-winning ticket was purchased at the Fareway supermarket at 1325 Albia Road in Ottumwa.

What Would $685 Million Look Like?

We calculated this for fun. Here is what $685 million in $1 bills would look like stacked up or stretched end to end:

A $1 bill is 0.0043 inches thick. That means $685 million in $1 bills would stretch 46.49 miles high. That’s way up there, but wouldn’t quite reach into space, which depending upon the definition used, begins at either 50 miles above sea level or 62 miles up. 

And if they were lined up end to end, $685 million in $1 bills (each 6.14 inches long) would stretch for more than 66,380 miles. That’s enough to circle earth’s equator (24,901 miles) more than 2.5 times.

But could you actually get 685 million in $1 bills? Maybe. According to estimates, there are about 11.7 billion $1 bills in circulation in the United States.

General Reminders About How To Play

• Giant jackpots bring a lot of first-timers and occasional players into the Powerball game. For those who want a refresher (or crash course), the Iowa Lottery keeps how-to-play videos on its website to provide the key points in just a couple minutes. Here is a direct link to that page: https://www.ialottery.com/Pages/Multimedia/HowToPlay.aspx
• The deadline in Iowa to buy tickets for a Powerball drawing is at 8:59 p.m. the night of the drawing. If you buy a ticket after that deadline, it will be for an upcoming drawing and you won’t be in the running for that night’s giant prize. 
• And, please remember to play responsibly. You only need one ticket to have a chance to win.

Powerball Is Still Going Up, Up, UP!

UPDATE 10/1/2021: The Powerball® jackpot for Saturday's drawing has just been raised to $635 million! 

Have you heard? The Powerball jackpot has rolled again, this time climbing to the 6th-largest prize in the history of the game.

The jackpot for Saturday’s drawing now stands at an estimated $620 million annuity, $446 million lump-sum option. The big prize has been growing for nearly four months. It was last won in early June by a ticket in Florida.

When the jackpot reaches this level, we see two common themes in the questions coming our way: easy picks vs. your own numbers, and office pools.

Easy Pick: Yes or No?

At times like this when the jackpot really gets up there, folks reach out to ask us which has a better shot at winning – easy picks or numbers you choose yourself? The answer: The odds are the same for both. So just make the play that works for you. Here’s the background:  

In lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions®, you have the option of choosing your own numbers or letting the lottery terminal generate the numbers on your ticket. A play containing numbers selected by the lottery terminal is called an easy pick. A play containing numbers you choose is known as a manual play.

Through the years, more and more people have played easy picks because, well, they’re easy. You just ask for a ticket and it’s printed with the numbers in your play already selected. Today, more than 90 percent of the plays in Powerball and Mega Millions are easy picks.

And with easy picks making up more than 90 percent of the tickets purchased, they also make up more than 90 percent of winning tickets in the games. It doesn’t mean that easy picks are luckier, it’s simply that there are a lot more of them.

The odds of winning are the same for every ticket in our games, no matter the play type. So, if you want to choose your own numbers, go ahead and do that. Or, if you’d rather ask for an easy pick, feel free. It won’t impact your odds of winning a prize.

Reminders For Office Pools

This is the point where a lot of folks decide to pool their money to buy tickets with co-workers, neighbors, or friends and family. 

We keep reminders about group lottery play as a permanent feature on our website, so please check out those details.

For example, one of our quick tips is for the person buying tickets on behalf of a group to keep a careful list of everyone who pitches in, how much money they contributed, and when! That can help answer any questions later about who was “in.”

$50K Powerball Prize Still Unclaimed

Within the past week, two Iowa tickets were SO CLOSE to winning at least a share of the Powerball jackpot. They each were just one number off, matching four of the five white balls and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize.

One of those $50,000 prizes is still unclaimed, so double-check your tickets! The $50K-winning ticket was purchased at Git-N-Go, 209 E. Oskaloosa St. in Pella, for the Powerball drawing last Saturday (Sept. 25).

Ticket Checking Is Working Again On The Lottery’s Mobile App!

Good news on the convenience front: The ticket-checking function is working again on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app! So, you CAN now use the app to check the results of your lotto, scratch and InstaPlay tickets.

That particular app feature had been down for the last couple days after a system update over the weekend. On Sunday, the Iowa Lottery transitioned to a new central gaming system, which links lottery equipment statewide in real time. It’s a huge project that only happens about once every 10 years here in Iowa. And with any update like that, there will be tweaks and adjustments needed after go-live.

That was the case with ticket-checking on the lottery’s mobile app. We know our players love the convenience of being able to use the app to check the results of their tickets from wherever they are, whether they’re at home or on the go. And we’re glad the right adjustments have been made so that function is back up today!

So, what was the lottery system upgrade, and why was it made? Like any electronic device, the equipment used to sell and cash lottery tickets needs to be replaced over time. The central gaming system replaced on Sunday had been in use since 2011 and the lottery’s contract for it expired this year. We’ve been working on the new system for about 2½ years. 

At the store level, the update means that the previous red lottery terminals have been replaced with new black-and-white terminals. The ticket printers and self-checkers in stores also have been replaced.

And here’s another upgrade you’ll notice the next time the jackpot in Mega Millions® or Powerball® gets really big: The lighted jackpot signs in stores around the state now have the ability to display amounts of $1 billion or more. Our old signs “only” displayed amounts up to $999 million, so when the jackpots climbed higher than that, they couldn’t keep up. But now they can! 

Thanks for playing, and happy ticket-checking on the mobile app!

As Pball Continues To Climb, Iowa Sees Two Winners of $50K In A Week

Update on Tuesday, Sept. 28: The Powerball jackpot continues to climb, now at an estimated $570 million annuity, $410.1 million lump-sum option, for tomorrow night's drawing. It's the 8th largest jackpot in the history of the game.

The Powerball jackpot is still on its big climb, but two Iowa tickets were so, so close to winning the giant prize in the past week. They each won $50,000, and the details about the stores that sold those tickets are below. 

The Powerball jackpot stands at an estimated $545 million annuity, $392.1 million lump-sum option, for tonight’s drawing. It’s the 10th largest jackpot in the history of the game.

In the past week, two Iowa tickets were just one number away from winning the big prize. The tickets each matched four of the five white balls and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize.

First came a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 2070 NW 100th St. in Clive, which won a $50,000 prize in last Wednesday’s Powerball drawing. Then in Saturday’s drawing, a ticket purchased at Git-N-Go, 209 E. Oskaloosa St. in Pella, won $50K.       

We’re excited to meet those winners -- and to see just how high the jackpot will go! Powerball’s grand prize hasn’t been this big since January, when dueling jackpot runs produced a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot won in Maryland and a $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in Michigan.

Good luck, and remember, you only need one ticket to win!

Lottery Equipment & Ticket Checking On Mobile App Will Be Offline For A Time This Weekend

Update on Sunday, Sept. 26: The Iowa Lottery's new statewide gaming system went live a little before 3 p.m. today. You can now buy and check tickets in all Iowa Lottery games, and all functions are working again on the lottery's mobile app. Thank you again for your patience during this once-a-decade project! It's a huge undertaking every time, and we do our best to keep interruptions at a minimum for our players and retailers.      

A head’s up as we head into the weekend: Lottery terminals, self-service kiosks, self-checkers and ticket-checking on our mobile app will be down from 11:59 p.m. Saturday through about noon on Sunday. During the outage, players won’t be able to purchase lotto or InstaPlay tickets, check any tickets, or claim any prizes. 

The downtime will occur as the Iowa Lottery transitions to a new central gaming system, which links lottery equipment in the state in real time. That kind of system upgrade only happens about once every 10 years here in Iowa.    

Like any other electronic system, the equipment used to sell and cash lottery tickets needs to be replaced over time. The central gaming system here in Iowa has been in use since 2011 and the lottery’s contract for it expired this year. We’ve been working on the new system for about 2½ years.

At the store level, the change-over means that the previous red lottery terminals have been replaced with new black-and-white terminals. This weekend, the communications backbone that links all the lottery terminals, self-service kiosks and self-checkers in Iowa will be updated.

Any major system project involves occasional outages – think of the updates to your Internet service or mobile phone. But the end result will be the latest technology with faster processing speeds to help your lottery transactions be completed as smoothly as possible.   

We apologize in advance for our construction dust! We’ll have our new system up and running as soon as we can.

One Has Been Hit, The Other Is Still Going!

Update on Thursday, Sept. 23: The Powerball jackpot continues to climb, now at an estimated $523 million annuity, $379 million lump-sum option, for Saturday's drawing. It's the 10th largest jackpot in the history of the game. Someone who bought a ticket in central Iowa came VERY close to winning Wednesday's jackpot. The lucky ticket was just one number away, matching four of the white balls and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. It was purchased at Casey's, 2070 NW 100th St. in Clive.        

In the giant jackpot race, one of the big prizes has been hit but the other is still climbing.

Last night’s $431 million Mega Millions® jackpot was won by a ticket in New York, but the Powerball® jackpot continues to rise into the stratosphere.

The Powerball jackpot for tonight’s drawing is an estimated $490 million annuity, $355.1 million lump-sum option. This is the point where the jackpot tends to jump by big amounts between drawings as people all across the country are buying tickets, so it’s always fun to see if the jackpot has topped the advance estimate by the time the drawing takes place!  

This is the highest the Powerball jackpot has been since January, when dueling jackpot runs produced a $731.1 million Powerball jackpot won in Maryland and a $1.05 billion Mega Millions jackpot won in Michigan.

The Powerball jackpot has been rolling for more than three months. It was last won in Florida in the drawing on June 5.

Good luck with your tickets, and remember, it only takes one to win!

Social Media Scams: The Latest From Experts About How To Protect Yourself

We’ve been warning about scam attempts for years, and this week, national experts weighed in about some of the latest fakes they’re seeing that have cost victims millions of dollars in losses.

The “TODAY” show spoke with the FBI about social media scams in particular, and the ways you can protect yourself by learning to identify fake accounts. Some of those scammers have used the names of lotteries, lottery games, and lottery officials in their attempts to separate people from their money.

We keep reminders about lottery scams as a permanent feature on our website to arm you with information that can help. Check out our Player Security section to learn more.

$1 Million Winner Moves Up Life Plans

A northeast Iowa woman has been able to move up some major life plans after winning the $1 million top prize in the Iowa Lottery’s “Million Dollar $ummer” promotion! Click on the video above to hear Susie Blazek of Delhi tell her story.

 

$1 Million Winner Makes Plans, Looks Forward To Traveling

Huge congratulations to Susie Blazek, the $1 million top-prize winner in our Million Dollar $ummer promotion! Susie is from Delhi, a community of about 460 in northeastern Iowa.

We were able to talk with Susie today about her plans for the future and how her $1 million prize will make a difference. Let’s just say she’s already planning a lot of trips!

Check out the video above to hear Susie tell the story.

Drawing Results Finalized, Powerball Tix Can Again Be Checked & Cashed

Aug. 25 update: The official results from Monday's Powerball drawing have been finalized and tickets in the game can again be checked and cashed. The estimated jackpot amount for tonight's Powerball drawing has also been updated. 

The official results from last night’s Powerball® drawing have been delayed, meaning that tickets in the game can’t currently be checked or cashed in Iowa. This issue only involves Powerball – tickets in all other Iowa Lottery games can be processed as usual.

The Powerball drawing was held last night and the winning numbers from it are posted. But for the official draw results to be finalized, security protocols have to be met by all 48 lotteries in the game. Two lotteries outside of Iowa needed additional processing time. That has caused the current delay, and without the official results, the next estimated jackpot in the game can’t be set.

If you have a Powerball ticket, please hang onto it and we’ll provide an update when tickets in the game can be checked and cashed again.

Monday Drawings In Powerball® Start Next Week

We gave you the preview back in May, and now the time is almost here: Powerball’s first Monday drawing will happen next week.

Powerball is moving from two drawings per week up to three. The game will still have drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays like it always has, and now Mondays will be part of the mix, too.  

The changes in the game are designed to produce more winners and generate larger, faster-growing jackpots. But remember that while the additional drawings will create more chances to win, they won’t change Powerball’s prize levels, odds of winning, or ticket price.

Players in $2 Powerball will still choose their first five numbers from a pool of 69, and another number – called the Powerball – from a separate pool of 26. The Power Play® option is available for an extra $1 per play.

With the Monday drawings almost here, the countdown on advance plays in Powerball also will end soon. Normally, you can buy Powerball tickets for up to 10 consecutive drawings in advance in Iowa. But when a major change is made in one of our games, a standard part of the process is that advance plays are limited until the change takes effect. The procedure is designed to ensure that you have valid tickets for all upcoming drawings, both before and after the change.

Advance plays in Powerball are limited through tomorrow night. Once sales end for tomorrow’s night’s Powerball drawing, things will reset and you’ll be able to buy tickets for up to 10 drawings in advance again here in Iowa.

A Convo With A Player About Random Numbers

I talked with a player this week about the concept of random numbers and what exactly that means for her lotto tickets. Here’s the background involved, in case you’ve ever wondered the same thing!

The woman said that she buys easy-pick tickets in Powerball®, Mega Millions® and Lucky for Life®. (In an easy-pick play, the lottery terminal or self-service kiosk randomly assigns the numbers on the ticket.)

The woman said she noticed that the same numbers can end up on different tickets, and that concerned her. She thought that if the numbers were randomly selected, they would all be different, or repeat extremely rarely. I explained that what she was describing is in fact not random.

When numbers are chosen at random, any outcome is possible: You can have multiple plays with all the same numbers. You can have plays with no repeat numbers. Or, you can have plays where some of the numbers repeat. If you put parameters on the numbers they won’t be random. 

Perhaps the way to look at it is that you can’t apply reason to random.

As I shared with the woman, the only way to avoid repeats in the numbers on your lotto tickets is to choose the numbers you play.

See You Next Monday At The State Fair!

We’ll be at the Iowa State Fair next Monday, and hope to see you there!

The first Monday of the Fair is known as Veterans Day at the State Fair, and it will be our chance to join all Fair-goers in honoring veterans while we spread the word about one of the most important beneficiaries of Iowa Lottery proceeds: the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

The Veterans Trust Fund is truly an Iowa success story, and not every state has something like it. The Trust Fund was established here in Iowa to provide state help to veterans and their families over and above the federal veterans benefits. Iowa veterans and their families who can’t find help through other programs can apply for help through the Trust Fund for things like dental care, job training, individual or family counseling, and emergency housing and car repairs.   

To date, the lottery has raised nearly $32.4 million for the Veterans Trust Fund. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of all Iowa Lottery tickets is dedicated to the Trust Fund, and that’s money specifically for Iowa veterans and their families. 

The Iowa Lottery will be at the State Fair on the Grand Concourse on Monday, Aug. 16, in the big white exhibition tent in front of the Service Center. Our booth will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day, and we’ll be selling and cashing tickets in our scratch games, lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions, and InstaPlay games. If you buy at least $10 in tickets that day, you can spin the prize wheel to win merchandise prizes.

We’ll have all 15 scratch games available that are eligible for our Million Dollar $ummer promotion, which has a top prize of $1 million, just like the name says! We’ll also have the games eligible for our Prize Zone promotions for a Brett Young concert package or tickets at the Iowa Lottery Ironmen Patio for the Hawkeye football game Oct. 9 vs. Penn State or Nov. 13 vs. Minnesota.  

We’ll be able to help folks that day who want to enter the promotions through our VIP Club.

And if you’re an Iowa veteran or the family member of a veteran looking for more information about the Veterans Trust Fund, here is quick background about how the Trust Fund process works: The Iowa Lottery raises proceeds for the Trust Fund, but it’s the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs that makes decisions about the grants that are given out from the fund.

Anyone who wants to apply for help from the Trust Fund will need to fill out an application at their county Veterans Service Office (there’s a service office in each of Iowa’s 99 counties).

You can learn more by going to va.iowa.gov, the website for the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, and clicking on the “Benefits” tab. Or you can call the VA in Johnston at 800-838-4692.

Player Question: Why Are Some Of Your Lottery Tickets Printed In Canada?

Here’s a Q-and-A we had on Facebook with a man who wondered where Iowa Lottery scratch tickets are printed, and specifically, why some come from outside the United States.

The man was correct in his posting: Some of the lottery tickets we sell here in Iowa are printed in Canada. Overall, there are just a handful of companies in the entire world that meet the security requirements and have the advanced printing techniques necessary to print lottery tickets.

The Iowa Lottery has contracts to print scratch games with all three of the companies that supply those tickets in the U.S. market. Two of the companies are headquartered in the United States (in Georgia and Rhode Island specifically) and one is based in Winnipeg, Canada. Each of the companies has licensed products and patented processes that only they can provide. And to offer our players the widest variety in our games, we have working relationships with all three companies.

(The Iowa Lottery’s pull-tab games, by the way, are printed right here in Iowa in Council Bluffs by American Games.)

Don’t Forget: A Countdown Is Underway For Advance Plays In Powerball

With Monday drawings being added later this month in Powerball®, remember that a countdown is underway on the number of drawings in the game you can buy tickets for in advance. It’s a standard procedure when a major update is made in one of our lotto games, and it’s aimed at ensuring you have valid tickets.

In lotto games like Powerball, you can buy tickets for just one drawing at a time or several drawings in a row. That decision is entirely up to you as the customer -- some people like to do their lottery shopping for multiple drawings all at once while others want to buy their tickets one at a time. 

Normally, you can buy Powerball tickets for up to 10 consecutive drawings in advance here in Iowa. But with the countdown that started in late July and is still underway, after tonight’s drawing, that number will be down to five. And after Saturday’s drawing, it will be down to four. 

The countdown on advance plays in Powerball will reach zero just before the first Monday drawing in the game, which will be held on Aug. 23. Once sales begin in the “new” Powerball that has three drawings each week, things will reset and you’ll be able to buy tickets for up to 10 drawings in advance again here in Iowa.

(Please note that the countdown on advance plays in Powerball does not impact the advance plays available in our other lotto games. It’s a Powerball-specific change for the next three weeks or so.)

One of the items we’re currently discussing is whether we can extend the number of drawings you can purchase plays for in advance in Iowa. We’re still looking at the details involved, but we know it’s a convenience feature for a lot of players.

New Play Slips In Powerball & Lucky For Life Coming Later This Year

With Lucky for Life® just changing to nightly drawings and Powerball® adding Monday drawings next month, some folks have asked when our play slips for the games will be updated to reflect the new options. The quick answer is that we should have new play slips (in hard copy and electronically on the mobile app) for Powerball and Lucky for Life this fall. Here are the full details.

You might think the process would be as easy as having new play slips printed. But in reality, it takes significant computer programming and multiple rounds of testing in advance before new play slips can be deployed. We have to ensure they’ll work correctly with our lottery terminals, self-service kiosks and mobile app so you’ll get the numbers and options on your ticket that you wanted. 

The decisions about changes in Lucky for Life (which moved to daily drawings on July 19) and Powerball (which will have its first Monday drawing on Aug. 23) are made by all of the lotteries in the games. And those national timelines don’t always sync up seamlessly with the projects we have underway here in Iowa.

Next month, the Iowa Lottery’s statewide gaming system that links all lottery retail locations in the state will be replaced. That’s an enormous project that happens once a decade, and new play slips will need to wait until after that system conversion occurs.

The vast majority of lottery players here in Iowa (more than 90 percent of players in Powerball, for example) buy easy-pick plays, meaning they let the lottery terminal select the numbers on their tickets. But for those who do use play slips to choose their own numbers, we know that our play slips here in Iowa don’t currently reflect the new drawings in the games. We’re also discussing whether we can extend the number of drawings that you can purchase plays for in advance in our lotto games. That particular discussion comes with its own set of issues to be addressed, but we are looking at it.

So please know that new play slips are on our timelines, but they won’t be available here in Iowa for a little while yet.

Player Question: Where Do I Find The Numbers To Enter?

Now that our Million Dollar $ummer is underway, we’ve gotten questions from players re-familiarizing themselves with how to enter tickets in our promotions for a chance to win. There are two ways you can enter: By manually keying in the numbers from your tickets or scanning them with our mobile app. Here are the details for both.

Nonwinning tickets in 15 current scratch games can be entered into the Million Dollar $ummer promotion.

To enter a ticket manually, you'll need to key in the 10-digit entry number from the front of the ticket and the ticket number, which is found on the back. The 10-digit entry number is under the security coating on the front of a scratch ticket and can't be seen until the coating is scratched off. (Three of the numbers in that 10-digit code are inside a rectangular box.) The ticket number is by the bar code on the back of the ticket.

The lottery's mobile app gives you an even easier way to enter: Just use it to scan the barcode under the “Scratch 2 Cash” area on the front of an eligible ticket. You don’t have to key in any numbers that way!

The image posted here shows examples of the numbers you would need to manually enter a ticket as well as the barcode that you can scan from the mobile app.

Good luck with your promo entries!  

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.

Is This YOUR Million Dollar $ummer?

From now through late August, you can have a shot at nearly $1.2 million in prizes that are exclusively for Iowa Lottery players. Thirteen prizes ranging from $5,000 to $1 million are up for grabs in our Million Dollar $ummer promotion that just opened for entries today.

Iowa Lottery players who are members of our free VIP Club can enter the promotion through noon on Aug. 20. We’ll hold the promotion prize drawings on Aug. 26. We’re applying the “max bet” concept in the promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you could win increases along with the purchase price of the scratch ticket you’ve entered.

Players can enter the promotion with non-winning tickets in 15 current scratch games that range in price from $5 up to $30, including some of our popular “Crossword” and “Game Book” tickets. 

These prizes will be awarded in the promotion’s drawings: 
• 3 prizes of $5,000 from the $5 entries
• 3 prizes of $10,000 from the $10 entries
• 3 prizes of $20,000 from the $20 entries
• 3 prizes of $30,000 from the $30 entries
• 1 grand prize of $1 million from all promotion entries not previously selected. 

The initial category drawings and the grand-prize drawing will all be held on Thursday, Aug. 26. All entries submitted in the promotion that aren’t selected as a winner in one of the initial drawings will automatically be eligible for the grand-prize drawing.

And, if you enter tickets in each of the prize categories, you could win a prize at each level. (Yes, the odds of that happening are long, but we’ve seen players win multiple prizes before in our drawings.)

Good luck, thank you for playing, and we hope this turns out to be YOUR million-dollar summer!

She Didn’t Believe It At First, But A SE Iowa Woman Has Won $25,000 A Year For Life

Apparently, realizing you’ve won a big lottery prize but wanting to keep it quiet makes for a VERY long day at work.

That’s the word from a Mount Pleasant woman who claimed a prize today of $25,000 a year for life. Deb Perrott said she realized she’d won the prize before she went to work yesterday, but things hadn’t really sunk in yet. She said she kept feeling like someone should pinch her to see if she was dreaming. She also didn’t want to tell a lot of folks before she could get to the lottery to claim her prize, so with her mind whirling, work just dragged along.

Deb won her prize in Monday night’s Lucky for Life drawing. She said she learned the news just a few hours later when she popped awake about 1:30 a.m. and decided to check her lottery tickets.

She used her phone to check her numbers on the Iowa Lottery website, but was still a bit in doubt. After waking up her husband, Greg, they both were in disbelief about what they were seeing, so she went to a local convenience store to have a clerk there check the ticket on a lottery terminal.

Everything verified that she was indeed Iowa’s 11th big winner in Lucky for Life since the game’s debut in the state in January 2016. 

Deb said she called her adult children to share the news, but they also didn’t believe her at first. She said she’s not known as a practical joker, but for some reason, people kept thinking that she was “pulling their chains.”

Deb, who is 58 and works at a mail-management company, chose to receive her winnings in annual payments of $25,000. Her immediate plans after claiming her prize were to take her husband to lunch! She also said she might do a little traveling, but the bulk of her winnings will make a difference long term, helping with retirement.

The winning numbers in Monday’s Lucky for Life drawing were: 5-7-23-25-48 and Lucky Ball 8. Deb’s ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Her winning ticket was purchased at Gas Land Express, 309 W. Washington St. in Mount Pleasant. The business will receive a $500 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Deb plays the same set of numbers for each Lucky for Life drawing and says she does it just for fun, never truly expecting to win big!

Ticket Purchased In Mount Pleasant Wins Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life

Someone who bought a lottery ticket at a southeast Iowa convenience store won a prize of $25,000 a year for life last night in the Lucky for Life game.

The Mount Pleasant ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in last night’s drawing to win Lucky for Life’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life. The winning ticket was purchased at Gas Land Express, 309 W. Washington St. in Mount Pleasant.

This is Iowa’s 11th big winner in the game since it debuted in January 2016 in our state.

Lucky for Life is a $2 game with drawings twice a week, at 9:38 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. The game’s top two prize levels are described as “lasting as long as you do,” meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.

The winning numbers in last night’s Lucky for Life drawing were: 5-7-23-25-48 and Lucky Ball 8. Gas Land Express will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Players in Lucky for Life choose five numbers from a pool of 48 for the white balls and 1 out of 18 numbers for the Lucky Ball. Players can win the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life by matching all six numbers selected in one of its drawings. The game’s second prize – for matching the first five numbers but missing the Lucky Ball – is $25,000 a year for life. Other prize levels in the game range from $4 up to $5,000.

Prizes at the top two levels in Lucky for Life need to be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are open Monday through Friday, and prize claims are currently available by appointment. The winner or winners of the Mount Pleasant prize can call the lottery at 515-725-7900 to make an appointment to claim it.

We Really Mean It: If Playing The Lottery Makes You Unhappy, Take A Break Or Stop

You’ve heard us say this before, but it bears repeating: If playing the lottery is making you unhappy or causing you stress, please take a break or stop completely.

We’ve heard from a few folks recently who are really unhappy with their lottery play and have definitely let us know that. Their inquiries were a reminder for me to revisit the issue here on the blog.      

We want you to know your limits, both monetarily and emotionally. Buying lottery tickets should never be a way to fulfill a financial need. Winning AND not winning are both part of playing the lottery. It’s not a source of income or an investment.

Lottery tickets are something you should buy just for fun from your discretionary spending. That's the money you have left to spend, invest or save after you've paid for necessities like food, clothing, and housing. From your disposable income, you can choose to buy things like movies, books, exercise gear – or lottery tickets.

The definition of "playing within your means" varies from person to person along with their income and circumstances. If you decide to play the lottery, determine in advance how much you want to spend and then follow that plan. When you do that, you're more likely to stay within your set limit and not overspend.

We keep a lot of tips and reminders under the “Play Smart, Be Informed” player’s guide on our website. Check out the details there to see how you’re doing in knowing lottery facts.

Do You Have To Live In Iowa To Win?

We’ve gotten a few questions this month about who can play the Iowa Lottery and win prizes in its games and promotions. Specifically, do you have to be from Iowa to win?

The answer in almost all cases is that anyone from anywhere can play the lottery and win. There is only one instance where you have to be from Iowa to win the prize involved, and I’ll cover that here.  
 
I think there’s a home-state pride involved and it’s fun when someone from your county or maybe even your city wins the lottery. Hey, if you didn’t win the big prize yourself, it’s always nice to have a “close brush” with someone who did!

But the short answer is that people from other states and countries can play – and win – in the Iowa Lottery’s games. The requirements for them are the same as those for everybody else: They have to be at least 21 years old to buy a ticket and the ticket must be legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented to the Iowa Lottery to claim the prize.

By its very definition, a lottery is a game that can be won by anyone from anywhere, provided that they have a ticket. Within the past year, the vast majority of Iowa Lottery prizes were claimed by folks from right here in Iowa. But our winners have also included a Florida man who claimed a $250,000 prize, a Wisconsin woman and a Nebraska man who each claimed a $100,000 prize, and an Illinois man who claimed a $50,000 prize.         

If you win an Iowa Lottery prize and you’re not a resident of the United States, you may pay a higher amount in withholding than a U.S. citizen would, but it’s perfectly OK for you to play and win!
     
We’re pretty sure that our winners from out of state are glad that people from outside Iowa can buy tickets and win prizes here! And we as Iowans in turn can play the lottery and win prizes when we’re traveling out of state or out of the country. And bottom line, Iowa Lottery sales provide proceeds to help our state, no matter where the person is from who made the purchase.

Folks from outside of Iowa also can enter our Play It Again® promotions and win prizes in them. (As with prizes in our games, the withholding difference will apply to prizes in our promotions if you’re not a U.S. citizen.)

The only time that Iowa residency is required is in our contests that offer actual lottery tickets as prizes. It’s illegal for us to mail or ship lottery tickets across state lines, so in those instances, you do have to be from Iowa to win.

Eastern Iowa Woman Claims $1 Million Mega Millions Prize

An eastern Iowa woman who bought a Mega Millions® ticket on a weekend getaway to her family's cabin along the Mississippi River has won a $1 million prize.

Karen Kramer of Urbana said she initially saw a “1” and some zeroes when she checked her ticket, but didn’t realize just how many zeroes were involved at first. Then it hit her.

Karen, 60, who works as a para-educator in her local school district, said she sent a text about her win to her husband, Brad, and it worried him at first because he only saw the first sentence, which said: “Lightning struck us.”

Then he read the rest of her message where she went on to say: “On Mega Millions, I won $1 million! But please don’t tell anybody yet.”

The couple managed to keep Karen’s big win a secret, not even telling their three adult children before she claimed the prize. She said she wanted to wait until they had completed the claims process, then send out a picture to let them know.

While Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot of $56 million was won in Illinois, Karen’s ticket was just one number away from a share of the big prize, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.

Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 9-22-39-41-54 and Mega Ball 19. The Megaplier® was 3. Karen’s ticket was one of only two in the country that won a $1 million prize that night, with the other in West Virginia.

Karen bought her lucky ticket at Barry’s Mini Mart, 403 W. Chestnut St. in Harpers Ferry, the community in northeast Iowa where she and her husband have their cabin. Barry’s Mini Mart will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket.

Karen said that she usually buys one play where she chooses her own numbers, then adds four easy-pick plays where the lottery terminal assigns the numbers. She won big on one of the easy picks. She said she’s predicted that she would have a big lottery win, telling her husband that she had the right numbers, the lottery just didn’t pick them!

The couple plans to invest the bulk of her winnings for retirement and pay some bills. But Karen also has a four-footed addition to their home in mind: a dog.

Software Error Led To Incorrect Results For Handful Of Lottery Tickets At 2 Stores

An isolated software error recently caused lottery terminals at two Iowa stores to misread a small number of tickets that won a total of $51 in prizes, and we at the Iowa Lottery ask any customers with questions to contact us.

The issue was quickly resolved. The hard drives in the lottery terminals were replaced and a software update was made to prevent the error from re-occurring.

A review of the Iowa Lottery’s statewide gaming system confirmed that the error occurred during two days in late May at just two stores: Hy-Vee, 1630 E. Seventh St. in Atlantic; and Casey’s, 26701 Scott Park Road in Eldridge.

Retail staff at one of the locations contacted the Iowa Lottery on May 25 to report that they were having difficulty cashing tickets in lotto games: Powerball®, Mega Millions®, Lotto America®, Lucky for Life®, Pick 3 and Pick 4. A review that same day pinpointed the software error and confirmed that it was limited to the lottery terminals in the two locations. The error, which began occurring on May 23, caused the lottery terminals at the stores to read all lotto tickets scanned as nonwinners even if they had won a prize. 

From May 23 to May 25, a total of 47 lotto tickets were scanned on the lottery terminals at the two stores. Of those, 15 had won a total of $51 in prizes, with individual winnings per ticket ranging from $2 up to $6. The lottery terminals indicated at the time that all 47 tickets were nonwinners.

Some of the customers involved later checked their winning tickets at other locations and were able to claim their prizes there. Of the 15 winning tickets that were misread at the two stores, 11 remain unclaimed for a total of $35 in prizes, the largest of which is $4.

Players who still have any of the 11 tickets can cash them at a lottery retail location. Any players with questions are welcome to contact Iowa Lottery Security at 515-725-7900 or Wmaster@ialottery.com.

$1 Million Mega Millions Prize Won In Harpers Ferry In NE Iowa

Last night’s Mega Millions® jackpot was won in Illinois, but two Iowa tickets were just one number away from a share of the big prize. One of those tickets won a $1 million prize while the other won a $30,000 prize.

The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at a convenience store in far northeast Iowa: Barry’s Mini Mart, 403 W. Chestnut St. in Harpers Ferry. The ticket came within one number of having a share of last night’s $56 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball.

The Harpers Ferry ticket was one of only two in the country that won a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing, with the other in West Virginia.

The $30,000-winning ticket also was just one number away from a piece of the jackpot. It was purchased at Wayland BP, 213 W. Iowa Highway 78 in Wayland. That ticket initially won a $10,000 prize by matching four of the white balls and the Mega Ball, but the lucky someone who made the purchase also added the Megaplier® option, which multiplied the prize to $30,000. 

Last night’s winning numbers were: 9-22-39-41-54 and Mega Ball 19. The Megaplier was 3. With last night’s jackpot being won in Illinois, the big prize returns to an estimated $20 million annuity, $13.8 million lump-sum option, for the game’s next drawing on Friday.

The Harpers Ferry prize is the third lottery win of at least $500,000 so far this year in Iowa. Barry’s Mini Mart will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket.

The $1 million prize must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive, while the $30,000 prize can be claimed at any of the lottery’s offices. Lottery offices are open Monday through Friday, and prize claims are currently available by appointment. The winners can call the lottery at 515-725-7900 to make a prize-claim appointment.

Hey, I’m Having Trouble Getting A Clerk To Scan The Electronic Play Slip On My Phone

A player contacted us this week to ask about a difficulty he’s had while trying to buy lottery tickets, and it caused us to wonder if others have experienced the same thing. The situation involves the scanners on Iowa Lottery terminals that read the barcodes on tickets and play slips.

This particular player said that he enjoys using the lottery’s mobile app, but has had trouble getting store clerks to scan the electronic play slips he’s stored on it. The man said the clerks won’t touch his phone, citing company policy. He wondered if there is an easier way for his electronic play slips to be scanned than by handing his phone to a clerk. The good news is there IS an easier way, and the lottery’s barcode scanners were designed for just that purpose.

The barcode readers at our lottery terminals are mounted on the end of the ticket printer. But they’re not permanently built in. They’re wireless and can be taken off the printer and used as a handheld device. They were designed that way because we wanted retailers to be able to use them without having them tethered to the lottery terminal.

If a customer has an electronic play slip stored on their mobile phone or device, a store clerk can pick up the barcode scanner and hold it over the customer’s screen, easily reading the play slip without needing to touch or handle the customer’s device.

We understand why stores would have policies against handling a customer’s mobile device – issues of data protection and germ mitigation come to mind along with the liability of dropping or damaging the device.

But the customer’s question this week was a good reminder that not everyone is as familiar as we are with the way lottery equipment works. And by going over the details about the scanners again for ourselves, we were able to create this quick how-to recap to help.

Ticket To Vegas: How You Can Have A Chance To ‘Fly with Cy’

Here are the details to give you a shot at an exclusive “Fly with Cy” trip to Las Vegas in September! The two most important steps: 1.) Buy a Powerball ticket. 2.) If you’re not already a member of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club, sign up now.

The video above shares the rest of the info. you need to know. We hope to see YOU in Vegas!