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!

Greatness Returns Basketball Ticket Winners Announced

Nearly 12,000 of our VIP Club members entered the Greatness Returns contest, and the two lucky winners have now been announced!

Congratulations to Sandra Hudson of Delta and Tori Perry of Cedar Rapids, who both won two tickets to the Indiana Fever vs. Brazilian National Team preseason basketball game on May 4 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena™ in Iowa City along with $222 in spending money.

As we celebrate 40 years of winning moments in Iowa, we’re just getting started. Thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned, because more exciting opportunities are on the way!

I Think I Won That Game’s Top Prize, But The Ticket Results Say I'm Wrong

I blogged last week about player questions for one of our new scratch games, and now we’re hearing from players about another one.

This time, the questions are about the “Lucky Stars” scratch game that hit the market this month. Multiple players have contacted us who all thought they won the game’s top prize of $30,000. But as it turns out, they hadn’t uncovered all of the stars required to win that amount.

Here’s the background:

As its name implies, the $3 Lucky Stars game has a solar-system theme, with artwork on the tickets showing planets and constellations in outer space. There are star symbols in the play area on each ticket, and if you match the number shown in a particular star, you can scratch it off. If you scratch off all of the star numbers in the same path, you win the prize shown for that path.

Lucky Stars is designed so the star paths on the ticket follow bending lines, like the constellations in the night sky. And, the number of stars you need to match increases with the prize amount involved.

For example, to win the game’s $5 prize, you only have to match two stars. But to win $200, you have to match six stars. And to win the game’s top prize of $30,000, you have to match seven stars.

And remember, the star paths are not straight lines! The paths are highlighted on the ticket with double purple lines that you can follow from star to star.

The players who contacted us all thought they won $30,000. But they’d only matched the first five numbers in that path. They didn’t match the final two stars in the line.

So if you play Lucky Stars, remember to look for ALL the stars in the path to win a particular prize.

Player Comment: I Should Be Able To Win With A Different Symbol

One of our newest scratch games has prompted comments from some players who thought they should be able to win with a different symbol on their tickets than the actual winning symbols.

The bottom-line answer is that only the winning symbols will bring you a prize in the game. But here’s the full background involved:

The players’ comments have been about the “Joker’s Wild” scratch game that just hit the market this month. There are 15 prize spots in the play area on each Joker’s Wild ticket, and you scratch them off to see if you’ve won.

As its name indicates, Joker’s Wild has a card-game theme. If you uncover the joker card in one of the prize spots on your ticket, you’ll win the prize shown for that spot.

If you uncover the cherry card, you’ll win 10X the prize shown. And if you uncover the money bag card, you’ll win all 15 prizes on your ticket.

The amount you can win on a ticket ranges from $5 up to $50,000.

What Some Players Are Saying

Each of the symbols in the play area on a Joker’s Wild ticket is identified with both an image and letters underneath it. For example, the queen card shows both the Q symbol and the identifying letters of QUN. The three card has the numeral 3 with the letters THR, and so on.

The players’ questions have been about the seven card (7-SVN) and the cherry card (cherry symbol + 10X). Those are highlighted in the image of a Joker’s Wild ticket you can see here.

The players have said they think the cherry symbol looks a bit like a numeral 7 and therefore, they should be able to win a prize with the 7 card their ticket.

But even if you think that the cherry symbol looks like the number 7, the cherry card also has the 10X identifier on it. The 7-SVN card does not.

The 7-SVN card is not a winning symbol in the game. So no, you won’t win a prize with that card on your ticket.

Seeing the Return of a Legend in Iowa for Free! What Could be Better?

This is a big one! We just announced our Greatness Returns contest that will give lucky winners the chance to see an Iowa legend return as the Indiana Fever play the Brazilian National Team in a WNBA exhibition game in Iowa City.

We’ll have two winners in this contest. Both will win a pair of tickets to see the game on May 4 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena™. And the very best part – there’s no purchase necessary to enter for a chance to win the tickets to this sold-out game! It’s entirely free.

Here’s How to Enter

To enter, you must be at least 21 years old and a member of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club. If you’re already a VIP Club member, you’ll receive details through your account about how to enter. New VIP Club members will get those instructions after completing their account registration. If you’re not yet a member of the VIP Club, sign up online at ialottery.com.

Entries are limited to one per person. And it’s only a 10-day entry period, so don’t sleep on this! You can enter now through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. We’ll announce the two winners on April 25.

Witness the Return

This game marks the return of an Iowa legend to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and that’s why the Iowa Lottery is offering this opportunity to our players. We love providing Iowans a chance to experience our state’s top events, and it doesn’t get any bigger than the return of an Iowa legend.

So make sure you’re entered in the Greatness Returns contest and start thinking about who you’d take with you for a truly unforgettable experience!

INDIANA FEVER is a trademark owned by WNBA Enterprises, LLC.

Truth or Myth: Does The Lottery Control Where Winning Scratch Tickets Are Sold?

It’s time for another entry in our Truth vs. Myth series to test your lottery know-how! Here goes: Does the lottery control where winning scratch tickets are sold?

The answer to that is a big ol’ NOPE. That particular belief is definitely a myth. And the mistaken idea unfortunately extends out into other myth-based thoughts like: All the winners are from big cities/small towns/other states/no one from my area ever wins, etc.

The fact is that the odds of winning in lottery games are based solely on random chance.

The outcome of one particular ticket has no impact at all on the outcome of an upcoming ticket. And no one -- not even those of us who work at the lottery or the retailers that sell our tickets -- can predict when or where the next big winner will hit. That’s an important part of our security procedures.

Winning tickets are distributed randomly in our scratch games. Maybe a quick way to visualize that is to think about a deck of shuffled cards. Once the deck has been shuffled, there could be three hearts or clubs in a row and then several cards after that in the other two suits. The order becomes random once the cards are shuffled.

It’s the same thing in our games. There could be three winning tickets in a row, and then several nonwinning tickets in a row after that. Now, the size of a scratch game is much, much bigger than a deck of cards, but the same concept applies. (There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of tickets in a scratch game.)

The bottom line is: People all across Iowa – and all across the country – can and do win lottery prizes every day.

Whether you play the lottery or not, we want everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works. This Truth or Myth series is part of that effort.

Revamp In Mega Millions® Game Arrives

Something big happened while you were sleeping. The switch was flipped, the update went through, and you can now buy tickets of the new version of Mega Millions!

We’ve been telling you for months that the redesigned game would have better odds of winning, bigger jackpots more often, and built-in multipliers in all plays. The day has arrived!

Here’s what’s next in the Mega Millions reboot:

With no jackpot winner last night in the final drawing of the previous version of the game, the jackpot rolled into the new game and continues to climb. The current jackpot for Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing, the first in the revamped game, is an estimated $54 million annuity, $25.7 million lump-sum option.

That’s actually higher than the $50 million starting jackpot amount in the redesigned game. The current jackpot will continue to grow with each drawing until it’s won, then it still reset to the $50 million starting amount and begin to grow again. The larger starting amount will help the game’s jackpots grow faster, meaning we’ll see more of them over $1 billion!

You’ll also see some changes on your next Mega Millions ticket. Each play now costs $5, but you get some real bang for your buck. Along with the better odds, there are bigger prizes at all levels, no break-even prizes, and we’ve added a 10X multiplier!

The beginning of the revamped Mega Millions means you can once again buy up to 10 advance plays. We had to temporarily limit how many plays could be purchased in advance until the changes kicked in, but we’re now back to full speed.

While there are a lot of changes to the game, the drawing days and time will remain the same: Tuesdays and Fridays at 10 p.m.

Game redesigns like these are rare, and we’re excited for you to have a brand-new shot at winning the next Mega Millions jackpot!

Denison Man Claims Latest Prize In Iowa’s “Lucky for Life®” Winning Streak

For the 4th time in 6 months, an Iowan has won big in the Lucky for Life multi-state lotto game.

Al Weltz of Denison won at the game’s second prize level and will receive $25,000 a year for life. He said he bought his winning ticket yesterday at the Ampride Truck Plaza on on U.S. Highway 59 N. in Denison after taking his mother to church.

How He Figured Out He Won

Al said he was getting ready for work this morning when he decided to check his ticket from last night’s Lucky for Life drawing. The winning numbers were 19-20-27-36-39 and Lucky Ball 6.

“First of all I thought I had four numbers and thought, ‘Hey great, I won $200!” he said.

But Al gave his ticket another look and noticed he had actually matched five numbers. Instead of $200, he really won $25,000 a year for life! But Al said he didn’t quite believe it, so he went back to Ampride where a store employee scanned his ticket on the lottery terminal and verified his win.

Word Got Out

Al has lived in Denison his whole life and told us he knows just about everyone around town. That includes one of his former teachers who was also in Ampride, and asked him how much he’d won.

“Then the radio station called an hour later, and heck, my uncle called from Florida and he heard about it somehow on Facebook!” he said.

By the time he claimed his prize today at the lottery’s main office in Clive, Al’s big win was anything but a secret!

He's Just The Latest Big Winner

Al joins three other Iowans who have won big prizes playing Lucky for Life in the past 6 months.

In December, Shelby Willis of Des Moines became Iowa’s first top prize winner in the game of $1,000 a day for life. He chose the cash option for his prize, receiving a lump-sum payment of $5.75 million.

Two other Iowans recently won at Lucky for Life’s second prize level, just like Al. Richard Hoversten of Des Moines claimed his prize in October, and Brandon Richey of Dallas Center claimed his in January.

Al is the 24th Iowa player to win a prize at Lucky for Life’s top two prize levels since the game debuted here in January 2016!

We’re On A Roll! Iowa Has Another Big Win In Lucky For Life

For the 4th time in 6 months, someone who bought a Lucky for Life® ticket in Iowa has won big in that multi-state game.

The latest big win hit during the weekend in Denison. Someone bought a ticket there that matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in last night’s Lucky for Life drawing to win at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life.

The winning ticket was purchased at Ampride Truck Plaza, 506 U.S. Highway 59 N. in Denison. Last night’s winning Lucky for Life numbers were: 19-20-27-36-39 and Lucky Ball 6.

The Ampride Truck Plaza will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Iowa’s current winning streak in Lucky for Life began in October, when a Des Moines man won at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life. Then in November, a Des Moines man won the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life. And in December, a Dallas Center man won a prize of $25,000 for life.

Prize Claim Details

Lucky for Life prizes won in Iowa must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing. The Lucky for Life prize won in Denison has to be claimed at the lottery’s main office in Clive.

If you think you're the big winner and have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, please give us a shout at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email [email protected].

All About The Prizes & Odds Of Winning In The Upcoming Mega Millions Redesign

With less than 2 weeks to go until the redesign goes live in the Mega Millions® game, here are the details you'll want to know.

On April 5, sales will begin in the $5 Mega Millions game. The jackpot in the revamped game will start at $50 million, there will be bigger prizes at all 9 of the game’s prize levels, and the multiplier will be built into all plays.

Let’s break that down, one a piece at a time.

Some folks have told us they don’t understand what a built-in multiplier means. Maybe the best way to explain it is to show what a ticket in the new game will look like.

The image to the right is of a ticket with 5 plays on it for the new Mega Millions game. As you can see, the multipliers on the ticket are: x2, x5, x4, x10 and x3.

The number represents the amount that any non-jackpot prize you win on that play will be multiplied. The multiplier is randomly assigned and automatically included in each play.

There will no longer be a separate Megaplier number selected as part of the drawing, because the multiplier will be determined on a play-by-play basis. 

For tickets containing multiple plays, the multipliers on the ticket can repeat, be different, or all be the same.

In the current version of Mega Millions, the multiplier costs an extra $1 per play and nonjackpot prizes in the game are multiplied by 2-5 times. In the revamped game, a 10x multiplier also will be added in.

The Prize Structure & Odds Of Winning

So what does that mean for prizes? To start, there will be no break-even prizes. The smallest amount you can win in the redesigned game is $10 – that’s twice the purchase price.

In the revamped game, the Mega Millions jackpot will start at $50 million (more than double the current game’s starting jackpot amount) and grow until someone wins it. Then it will reset to $50 million and begin to grow again.

And while the Mega Millions jackpot of course will be big, non-jackpot prizes in the revamped game can be up to $10 million! So even if you don’t win the jackpot, be sure to check your ticket after each drawing for any prize you may have won.

Below is the complete prize structure in the redesigned Mega Millions game. With the built-in multipliers, the amount you can win at the game’s initial 8 prize levels will have a big range. Be sure to check your tickets carefully! (And as with today's version of the game, the multiplier does not apply to the game’s jackpot.)

The Odds For The Multiplier

The chart at the right shows the odds for a particular multiplier number being included in your play.

Do the details involved mean that the multiplier more often will be a 2 or a 3? Yes.

But any of the multipliers have a shot.

When The New Version Of Mega Millions Will Debut

The final drawing in the existing version of Mega Millions will be held on Friday, April 4. Sales in the $5 version of the game begin the next morning, on April 5.

The first drawing in the revamped game will be held on Tuesday, April 8. Drawings in Mega Millions will continue to be held twice a week at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Once the new version of the game goes live, the temporary limit on advance plays in it will be lifted. You’ll again be able to buy Mega Millions tickets in Iowa for up to 10 drawings in advance.

The temporary limit, called a step down, has been in place for about a month in Iowa to ensure that no one mistakenly ends up with an invalid play when the revamped game begins.

 

*The jackpot prize will be divided equally among multiple winners based on the amount available in the game’s jackpot prize pool. The game’s total prize pool is estimated to be 55 percent of Mega Millions sales, but may be higher or lower based upon the number of winners at each guaranteed prize level, as well as the funding required to meet the official advertised jackpot. The official Mega Millions grand prize annuity amount is subject to change based on sales forecasts and/or actual sales. Reminder: The multiplier does not apply to the jackpot.

**The set prize amounts published here are based on the expected number of winners sharing in the prize pool. For any drawing, if prize liability exceeds the percentage of the prize pool allocated to the set prize levels, then all prizes except the jackpot prize may become pari-mutuel and would be lower than these prize levels.

Powerball® Double Play® Tickets Are Your Shot At Seeing NASCAR®, Winning $1 Million

NASCAR® is returning to Iowa this summer, and we’re giving away dozens of prize packages for lottery winners to experience a full weekend of racing at Iowa Speedway®. And that’s not all!

We’re also giving away prize packages of $3,000 cash plus a qualifying entry into the national NASCAR Powerball Playoff™ promotion. One lucky winner in it will ultimately win $1 million in a live drawing before the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race™ this fall in Arizona.

In all, we’re giving away a total of 95 prize packages!

In the images above, you can see the fun our 2024 NASCAR promotion winners had at Iowa Speedway, and it could be your turn this year!

VIP Club members can enter the Iowa Lottery’s NASCAR Race Weekend promotion with any Powerball® Double Play® ticket (minimum $3 play) purchased in Iowa from today through the end of the entry period on the morning of June 23.

Prize Packages To Iowa Speedway

There will be 3 days of NASCAR racing Aug. 1-3 at Iowa Speedway, with the ARCA Menards Series™ Atlas Roofing 150 race on Aug. 1; the NASCAR Xfinity Series™ Hy-Vee Perks 250 race on Aug. 2; and the NASCAR Cup Series™ Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol race on Aug. 3.

All of the ticket prize packages we’re giving away to Iowa Speedway will be for the entire race weekend. Here are the details about those prize packages:

60 people will win a NASCAR Grandstand race weekend prize package, which includes:

• 4 grandstand tickets for all 3 days of NASCAR racing this summer at Iowa Speedway
• exclusive co-branded merchandise
• $1,000 spending money

15 people will win a VIP Suite NASCAR race weekend prize package, which includes:

• 2 suite tickets for all 3 days of NASCAR racing this summer at Iowa Speedway
• complimentary food, water and soda in the suite
• pace car ride
• exclusive meet-and-greet including autograph and photo opportunities with a Cup Series champion driver
• private trailer tour including a guided garage tour
• merchandise prize pack valued at more than $325
• $300 spending money

Prize Packages Of Cash + Entry In National Promo

20 people will win $3,000 cash and become an Iowa qualifier in the national NASCAR Powerball Playoff promotion.

• From among all the qualifiers chosen by lotteries across the country in the NASCAR Powerball Playoff, 16 national semi-finalists will be selected. The semi-finalists each will win even more money.
• Through a series of drawings, the number of national semifinalists will be whittled down from the initial 16 until just 4 finalists remain. The longer a semifinalist stays in the running, the more they’ll win.
• Each of the 4 finalists will win a VIP prize package to 2025 NASCAR Championship Weekend™, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, at Phoenix Raceway®.
• 1 of the finalists will win a $1 million prize in a drawing televised live before the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race™ on Nov. 2.

How You Can Enter

If you want a chance to win, you’ll need to start by becoming a member of the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. That’s where you can enter your eligible winning and nonwinning Powerball Double Play tickets in the promotion.

One ticket equals one entry in the promotion, regardless of how many plays are on that ticket. You’ll be able to enter each ticket into the drawing of your choice.

Here are the important dates to keep in mind:

• March 20: entry period begins at 10 a.m.
• June 23: entry period ends at 9:59 a.m.
• June 24: drawing held, winners announced
• Aug. 1-3: NASCAR races at Iowa Speedway
• Oct. 26: 4 national finalists announced in the NASCAR Powerball Playoff
• Nov. 2: winner of NASCAR Powerball Playoff announced at Phoenix Raceway

Good luck, and we hope to see you at the races!

NASCAR®, NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™ and ARCA Menards Series are registered trademarks of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. Copyright© 2025 National Association for Stock Car Racing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

NASCAR, LLC, Phoenix Speedway, LLC dba Phoenix Raceway, Iowa Speedway, LLC, Comcast Cable, LLC, Menards, Inc. are not sponsors of this promotion.

Phoenix Raceway® is a registered trademark of Phoenix Speedway, LLC. Iowa Speedway® is a registered trademark of Iowa Speedway, LLC and is used with permission.

Questions From the 1st Days Of Easy Play Lottery Sales At The Checkout

Here are the top questions players have had as they’re trying out the new option for lottery sales at the checkout in Iowa Fareway® locations. Don’t see your question here? Feel free to send it our way and we’ll get you an answer!

What is the Easy Play option for buying lottery tickets?

The Easy Play process allows tickets in Powerball® and Mega Millions® to be produced from the cash register on the same paper as store receipts. Customers in a Fareway checkout lane staffed by a cashier can buy quick-pick tickets – where the numbers in the plays are randomly assigned – in Powerball and Mega Millions for the next drawing.

What if I want to buy a lottery ticket at the checkout but I’m paying for my groceries with a credit card?

In that instance, the Fareway point-of-sale system knows to conduct what’s called a split-tender transaction. You can still buy your groceries with your credit card, but since it’s illegal in Iowa for lottery tickets to be purchased with credit, you’ll need to pay for your lottery ticket with cash or a debit card. But if you’re buying your groceries with cash or debit, you’ll just make one payment for everything.

What if I want to choose my own numbers, add the multiplier or Double Play® option to my tickets, or buy tickets in other games?

Think of Easy Play as the express lane with just a couple lottery options available. This new options allows you to buy quick-pick tickets at the check-out, but still keeps the line moving along. Customers who want to buy tickets in the full selection of lottery games at the store, choose their own numbers in a lotto game, or cash a lottery prize, will still go to the lottery terminal where a clerk can help them.

Can I buy Easy Play tickets in a self-check lane?

The Easy Play option is currently only available in checkout lanes staffed by a cashier.

I wish the Easy Play option was available at more stores.

We get it! Easy Play provides a quick way for you to buy tickets and have a chance at those big jackpots. Fareway was the first Iowa Lottery retailer to go live with this new option, and Easy Play will be available by the end of the month at all Fareway locations in the state that sell lottery tickets. We’ll be glad to work with other locations that want to offer it.

Lottery-Ticket Purchases at The Checkout Make Iowa Debut at Fareway Stores

Powerball® and Mega Millions® tickets can now be purchased in checkout lanes at many Fareway® Stores in Iowa, marking the state debut of this new convenience in lottery play.

The new purchase option, called Easy Play, has debuted in select Fareway locations in Iowa. Roll-out is planned by the end of March to all Fareway locations in the state that sell lottery tickets.

The new option allows quick-pick tickets in Powerball and Mega Millions to be printed from the cash register. The tickets are produced on the same paper as store receipts, but printed separately.

Customers in those stores can buy quick-pick tickets – where the numbers in the plays are randomly assigned – in Powerball and Mega Millions at any checkout lane staffed by a cashier.

Before this, Iowa Lottery tickets could only be purchased at a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk in a retail location.

Express Lane vs. Full Selection

Think of Easy Play as an express lane with just a couple lottery options available. Customers who want to cash a lottery prize, choose their own numbers in a lotto game, or buy tickets in the full selection of lottery games available at the store, will still go to the clerk at the lottery terminal.

At the Iowa Lottery, we recognize that consumers value convenience. And we’re glad to help meet that expectation by going live at Fareway with this new way to buy lotto tickets in Iowa.

How It Works

The Easy Play option allows customers at the cash register to buy quick-pick tickets with 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 plays on them for the next drawing in Powerball and Mega Millions.

The point is to keep things moving, so you can’t add the Power Play®, Double Play® or Megaplier® options on an Easy Play ticket. Also note that Easy Play tickets can’t be purchased in self-service lanes.

But Easy Play tickets can be checked or cashed at any lottery retail location in Iowa. The tickets look a lot like those from a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk, but include the Easy Play logo to identify them.

Easy Play tickets comply with the same security standards as any Iowa Lottery ticket. And,
Fareway cash registers have the technology to ensure that customers buy Easy Play tickets with cash or the equivalent, including debit. It is illegal in Iowa for lottery tickets to be purchased with credit.

This Week Marks 25 YEARS Of ‘Crossword’ Scratch Games In Iowa!

A lottery game that shot to popularity as soon as it debuted in Iowa is marking 25 YEARS on the market this week.

The Iowa Lottery’s first “Crossword” scratch game was released on March 13, 2000. And we’ve had at least one Crossword game on the market every day since then.

While the Iowa Lottery has high expectations for any game we sell, I don’t think we could have imagined what the future would hold for Crossword. It’s now been one of the lottery’s top-selling games for a quarter of a century!

The Design Still Looks The Same

It’s interesting to look back at those first Crossword tickets, which you can see above. They could be among the Crossword games we have on the market today! The design of our Crossword tickets obviously hasn’t changed much because that’s the way players like them! (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, people!)

What HAS changed is the variety of Crossword games on the market in Iowa at any one time. For years, the Iowa Lottery had just one Crossword game for sale. The first version of Crossword was a $3 game and we stuck with that for a long time.

But then we got brave. We decided to keep a $3 Crossword game out there, but add more. We released a $5 Crossword game, then a $10 Crossword, a $20 Crossword, and a $30 Crossword. Somewhere along the line, we backed up and added a $2 Crossword. And today, we’ve also got a SCRABBLE™ version of the Crossword game!

You Can Choose Your Favorite Today

There currently are 6 Crossword scratch games for sale in stores across the state. They all have different prize structures and some of them have multiple versions of Crossword puzzles on each ticket. What’s universal about them all is that it takes a while to uncover all the letters available – and that’s what players say they like about Crossword.

So, when you see Crossword tickets this week in local stores, wish them a happy 25th birthday! I’m betting Crossword scratch games will celebrate many more birthdays in Iowa!

‘Step Down’ Now Underway On Advance Plays In Mega Millions

We gave you a head’s up last month that it was coming, and now a temporary countdown is underway on the number of drawings for which you can buy tickets in advance in Mega Millions®.

As of today, you can buy tickets in the game here in Iowa for up to 9 drawings in advance. (The usual maximum is 10.) After Friday’s drawing, the number will be reduced to 8. With each drawing, the number will continue to be reduced until the new version of the Mega Millions game debuts early next month.

The limit on advance plays is called a “step down” and it’s put in place to ensure that no one mistakenly ends up with an invalid play when the revamp of the game begins.

Once the redesign in Mega Millions debuts on April 5, you’ll again be able to buy tickets in advance for up to 10 drawings in the game.

Please note that the current step down only applies to Mega Millions. You can buy the usual number of advance plays in the other lotto games available in Iowa.

The changes on the way in Mega Millions are designed to allow the game to continue meeting player expectations for play options and big jackpots.

The Step Down Schedule

Here is the Iowa schedule for the step down on advance plays leading into the Mega Millions redesign. The reduction in the number of advance plays you can purchase happens after the Mega Millions drawing on each date.

Drawing Date	Max Number Of Advance Plays Available
February 28	10
March 4	9
March 7	8
March 11	7
March 14	6
March 18	5
March 21	4
March 25	3
March 28	2
April 1	1

When The New Version Of Mega Millions Will Debut

The final drawing in the existing version of Mega Millions will be held on Friday, April 4. Sales in the $5 version of the game begin the next morning, on April 5.

The first drawing in the revamped game will be held on Tuesday, April 8. Drawings in Mega Millions will continue to be held twice a week at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

In Their Own Words: These Iowans Share What Help Means For Gambling Addiction

In these new videos you’ll see on television and online in the next month, 2 Iowans talk about gambling addiction. It’s a tough issue that can affect people at any time – and help is available for it.

But what would lead someone to think they need help for this often misunderstood condition? What does that help look like, exactly? And what difference can it make?

In the first video, an Iowa man shares his struggle from the time that he gambled too much, how it harmed his life, and the moment he knew he needed to make a change. His bright smile as he says he’s doing well today just shines through!

In the other message, a Burlington counselor who helped the man with his gambling disorder tells you what that treatment looks like, and the turn-around it can make in someone’s life.

At the Iowa Lottery, we're highlighting their stories to help us all have a better understanding of gambling addiction.

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month. During the next few weeks, you’ll see the Iowa Lottery’s reminders about it across the state. Whether you’re in a store, driving by an outdoor billboard, watching TV, listening to the radio, using a streaming service or going online, you’ll likely see one of the public service announcements.

We hope that by providing these details, we can get the right information at the right time to someone looking for answers.

Remember that people with gambling disorders can come from any background and live anywhere. A gambling disorder can have periods where symptoms subside, and times where it’s more severe.

The universal truth for us all to know is that gambling disorders are treatable.

If you have questions about gambling addiction, free and confidential help is available 24/7 in Iowa by visiting yourlifeiowa.org or calling 1-800-BETS OFF. You can reach someone who cares through text, secure chat, email, telephone or in person.

Player Comment: I Just Had To Pay An Extra Fee To Buy Lottery Tickets!

A player just reached out to us with a question about a fee she paid to buy lottery tickets at a store in her area. We were able to help resolve that situation, and I’m sharing the details here in case you’ve ever experienced the same thing.

The woman bought lottery tickets at an Iowa store and thought she’d been charged sales tax on the purchase. She wanted to know if that was something new.

We reached out to the store involved and learned that it had mistakenly been charging a processing fee to players who used a debit card to buy lottery tickets. We let the store know that fees like that can’t be passed along to the player for a lottery purchase.

Iowa Lottery tickets are sold at the price printed on the ticket. So even if you buy multiple tickets, the total amount of your purchase will always end in 0.

Sales tax doesn’t apply to lottery tickets, and processing and service fees also can’t be charged to a player for a lottery purchase.

The reality of those requirements means that some stores may not accept debit cards for lottery purchases, and that is their decision to make.

In Iowa, it’s legal for a customer to use cash or the equivalent (including gift cards, debit cards, and checks) to buy Iowa Lottery tickets. Any of those methods use available funds for the purchase, so they are permitted. But it is illegal in Iowa for lottery tickets to be purchased with a credit card.

While a lottery retail location can accept a debit card for the payment of lottery tickets, they are not required to do so. Card transactions for retail purchases involve processing fees (sometimes called swipe fees) that the merchant has to pay. Some retail locations limit card transactions to also limit the processing fees they pay.

The bottom line: You should never pay any sort of fee to buy lottery tickets in Iowa. If a retailer is charging you one, let us know so we can help.

On Our Website & Mobile App: New Details For The Jackpots In InstaPlay Games

We’ve added some additional details on our website and mobile app to help show exactly how the jackpots work in our Progressive InstaPlay games.

The information for each Progressive InstaPlay game now includes the game’s starting jackpot amount AND the amount that jackpot grows with each ticket sold statewide in the game.

There are currently 9 Progressive InstaPlay games available in Iowa. And as any new Progressive games are added in the future, we’ll continue to make sure the jackpot-growth details are available.

Why They’re Called Progressive

The jackpots in Progressive InstaPlay games have set starting amounts and increase with each ticket sold statewide until they’re won. The jackpot then resets to the starting amount and begins to grow again.

InstaPlay games have similarities to scratch games, but their plays are left in electronic form rather than being pre-printed into a supply of tickets.

An electronic file of plays exists for an InstaPlay game, and winners are randomly distributed within that file. When you buy an InstaPlay ticket at a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk, you get the next available play from the top of the file.

Some jackpots won in a Progressive InstaPlay game will be larger, based upon where the particular jackpot-winning ticket falls within the file, and some will be smaller, for that same reason.

No one – not even those of us who work at the lottery – knows where the next big winner will hit.

And as with any of our games, the jackpot is just one of the prize levels available in an InstaPlay game. Some of the money spent on tickets in the games goes to pay the jackpot, and some goes to pay the other prizes.

The Jackpot Details, All In One Place

While the jackpot details are on our website and mobile app for each Progressive InstaPlay game, I’m providing them here so you’ll have them all in one place:

• In the $30 Blank Check Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide until it is won.
• In the $30 Super 7s Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and grows by $3 with each ticket sold statewide.
• In the $20 Xtreme Multiplier Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $20 Extreme Green Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $20,000 and grows by $2 with each ticket sold.
• In the $10 Hot Ticket Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $10,000 and grows by $1 with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 Big Money Doubler Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $5 MONOPOLY™ Game Tokens Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $5,000 and grows by 35 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $2 Fat Wallet Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $2,000 and grows by 15 cents with each ticket sold.
• In the $1 Cash on the Run Progressive game, the jackpot starts at $650 and grows by 8 cents with each ticket sold.

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

MONOPOLY TM, ® & © 1935, 2024 Hasbro

He’s Going To Ireland: ISU Grad Wins Trip To See The Cyclones Play In Dublin!

Luke Becker (right) is shown with his fiancée, Lauren Kimball, and Tim Atterburg with Cyclone Sports Properties. 

THIS Iowa State grad is going to Ireland to see the Cyclones™ play football in Dublin!

On Tuesday, Luke Becker of Des Moines was selected as the winner of a VIP trip for two to Ireland in the Iowa Lottery’s Dublin Your Luck promotion. The promotion gave away a travel package to Dublin to see Iowa State take on Kansas State in the teams’ 2025 football season opener on Aug. 23 at Aviva Stadium.

Luke, a 2023 Iowa State graduate, claimed his prize on Friday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. He said he knew he’d entered tickets into the promotion, but still had trouble believing it when an Iowa Lottery staffer called him on Tuesday to say that he was the winner.

Trying To Be Calm At Work

Luke said he was at work in the middle of his office when he learned the news, so he couldn’t yell or have a big reaction. He quietly let his fiancée, Lauren Kimball, and his parents know that he thought he’d won.

Luke said his parents immediately started scouring the Iowa Lottery website and sent him a screenshot showing his name as the promotion winner. That’s when it all really started to sink in.

The Tickets He Entered Were Gifts

Luke said he thinks all the “Cyclone” scratch tickets he entered in the promotion were gifts from his parents or his fiancée’s grandparents, who all wanted he and Lauren to have the chance to go to Ireland.

Luke said the outcome seems just crazy to him. And he knows that without their family members having fun while buying tickets, this wouldn’t be happening.

The lottery’s Dublin Your Luck promotion was open for entries from Dec. 2 through this past Monday, Feb. 10. The lottery held the promotion's drawing on Tuesday and one of Luke’s tickets was selected as the winner out of more than 17,100 entries.

Luke’s plus-one for the trip will be Lauren, a current Iowa State student majoring in education. Lauren said that her great-grandparents immigrated to America from Ireland, her mother studies their family history, and they celebrate their Irish ancestry.

Lauren said she’s pretty sure her parents will be purchasing tickets to the Iowa State game in Dublin so they also can be there!

What’s In The Trip Package

Luke’s travel prize package for two includes airfare, lodging, game tickets to the Iowa St.-Kansas St. football game on Aug. 23, $5,000 spending money and a merchandise pack.

He said he’s sure there will be a thousand things for them to do to pack their time in Dublin, in addition to going to the game.

“Ireland has been on our radar outside of this game for someplace we wanted to visit,” he said. “And so to now have it be a football game in addition to the days there to just tour the city and experience everything local … We’re ready to go when the plane is ready.”

A Lot Of So-Called Formulas, But Only 1 Approach Gives You A Chance To Win

A man just reached out to us who was excited about the “formula” he'd seen online for how to win the lottery. And he wanted to know why we don’t share those ideas with people.

It’s because they’re not true. Lots of people SAY they have a way to guarantee you’ll win the lottery, but they really don’t.

I’m betting there have been debates about “the winning formula” in lottery games for as long as there have been lotteries -- and that stretches back at least to the time that the Great Wall of China was built.

It’s All Random

To be clear, lottery games and drawings are based solely upon random outcomes. There truly is no way to predict which numbers will be drawn next in our games or where a big winning ticket will hit next because it’s all random.

Now, there have been weird coincidences in lottery games through the years. But that’s all they are: coincidences.

The Fortune Cookie Coincidence

For example, in a March 2005 Powerball® drawing, 110 prizes were won at the game’s second-prize level. All those tickets matched the 5 white balls but missed the Powerball. Back then, the odds of winning at that prize level were about 1 in 3 million, so there usually would have been 4 to 5 second-prize winners in a drawing.

It turned out, fortune cookies were behind the huge number of winners. The people involved had all been playing the numbers they’d found in fortune cookies. All the cookies were produced by the same New York company and contained the same numbers.

When those numbers came up in the drawing, the players all won big.

A weird coincidence for sure!

What Actually Gives You A Chance To Win 

There is only one “formula” I know of that guarantees you a chance at winning a lottery prize: You have to buy a ticket!

So buy a ticket if you want. But remember that the lottery is a form of entertainment, like subscribing to a streaming service, going to a concert or enjoying a night out to eat.

Don’t believe claims of a so-called formula to help you win, and don’t play beyond your means. Just have fun with it!

‘Step Down’ On Advance Plays In Mega Millions Will Lead Into Game Redesign

The Mega Millions® game is getting a make-over in early April and in the weeks leading up to that change, the Iowa Lottery will temporarily have a limit on the number of drawings for which you can purchase tickets in advance.

The process is called a “step down” and it’s put in place to ensure that no one mistakenly ends up with an invalid play when the new version of the game begins.

The step down will last only until sales in the revamped game begin April 5. Once the redesign in Mega Millions debuts, players in Iowa will be able to purchase tickets in advance for up to 10 drawings as usual.

The step down will apply only to Mega Millions. You’ll still be able to buy the usual number of advance plays in the other lotto games we have here in Iowa.

The Changes Coming In Mega Millions

The changes on the way in Mega Millions are designed so the game can keep meeting player expectations for play options and big jackpots.

• Tickets in the revamped game will cost $5 each.
• The game's starting jackpot will more than double to $50 million compared to today's general starting jackpot amount of $20 million. With the redesign, the jackpot will grow faster and there will be bigger jackpots more often, with more jackpots anticipated above the $1 billion mark.
• There will be bigger prizes at all 9 of the prize levels in Mega Millions, from matching just the Mega Ball alone all the way up to matching all 6 numbers to win the jackpot.
• The smallest prize in the revamped game will be $10 – twice the purchase price, meaning no break-even prizes.
• The multiplier, currently an add-on feature that costs an extra $1 per play, will be built into the redesigned game and expanded. In the new version of the game, each play will include a randomly-assigned multiplier number that will multiply any prize won. The multiplier currently multiplies prizes by 2-5 times, and the revamped game will add a 10X multiplier.
• The odds of winning the jackpot will improve, going from about 1 in 303 million to about 1 in 290 million.
• The overall odds of winning any prize in the game also will improve.

The Numbers In The Revamped Game

The numbers available to play in Mega Millions will change slightly, with 1 fewer number in the mix. Under the redesign, you'll still choose 5 numbers out of 70 for the white balls. But you'll choose the yellow Mega Ball from a separate pool of 24 numbers. There are 25 numbers available today for the Mega Ball.

That change in the numbers is why the step down is used. Without it, someone could mistakenly buy a ticket with 25 as the Mega Ball for a drawing after the game update happens. That ticket would be ineligible to win a prize in the new version of the game because it would include a number no longer available.

The Step Down Schedule

Here is the Iowa schedule for the step down on advance plays leading into the Mega Millions redesign:

Drawing Date	Max Number Of Advance Plays Available
February 28	10
March 4	9
March 7	8
March 11	7
March 14	6
March 18	5
March 21	4
March 25	3
March 28	2
April 1	1

When The New Game Will Debut

The final drawing in the existing version of Mega Millions will be held on Friday, April 4. Sales in the $5 version of the game begin the next morning, on April 5.

The first drawing in the revamped game will be held on Tuesday, April 8.

Drawings in Mega Millions will continue to be held twice a week at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

For A Mid-Winter Lift, Let’s Play PAC-MAN!

To help spread smiles this winter and beyond, we’ve got a throw-back to the early days of video games! It’s a scratch ticket with a whole new way to play a classic.

Tickets in our PAC-MAN scratch game have started arriving in stores today and will be available statewide by Friday. Each ticket comes complete with winning fruit symbols, ghosts, those tasty PAC-DOTs and POWER PELLETS, and of course, PAC-MAN himself!

You can win instant prizes from $5 up to $50,000 on a PAC-MAN ticket. And nonwinning tickets in the game can become your entry into our promotion offering cash prizes along with a grand-prize package that features a PAC-MAN standing arcade game.

The PAC-MAN promotion opened this morning and the entries can be made through 9:59 a.m. on April 28.

How To Play A PAC-MAN Ticket

Because the PAC-MAN scratch game mimics the electronic version of the game, it plays differently than our other scratch tickets. You normally may like to scratch off the entire play area on a ticket, but that will confuse things in PAC-MAN.

The video above gives tips on how to play, but here is a recap:

• Start by scratching one of the 3 START positions in the maze on your ticket.
• Then scratch ONLY in the direction of each PAC-MAN symbol uncovered. If you find a fruit symbol on your path, you win the prize shown.
• Then keep scratching in the direction of the arrow by the fruit symbol.
• Follow the path for each of the START positions on your ticket.
• Uncover a ghost on your path and it’s game over for that PAC-MAN!
• If a path ends on 1 of the prize spots, you’ll win the prize amount there!
• You can win multiple times on each ticket.

How The Promotion Works & The Prizes Involved

Nonwinning tickets in the game can be entered into the PAC-MAN promotion for a chance at even more cash prizes and that sweet PAC-MAN arcade prize package!

There are 2 entry periods in the promotion and in each of the initial 2 drawings, we’ll give away 10 prizes of $15,000.

All entries not selected as winners in the initial drawings will remain eligible for the final drawing in late April for the grand prize of $25,000 plus a PAC-MAN package that includes a standing arcade game and barstool!

If you enter each promotion entry period, you could win in all 3 drawings.

Here is a breakdown of the promotion dates:

Entry Period	Drawing Date	Prize	Number of Winners
10 a.m. Feb. 4 - 9:59 a.m. March 17	March 18	$15,000	10
10 a.m. March 17 - 9:59 a.m. April 28	April 29	$15,000	10
10 a.m. Feb. 4 - 9:59 a.m. April 28	April 29	$25,000 + PAC-MAN arcade package	1

PAC-MAN™&©Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.

Where To Find The Details About The Prizes Still Out There In Our Lottery Games

Here’s something we weren’t expecting when we posted on social media earlier this month about our scratch games out there with only 1 top prize left.

Some people were shocked that we were willing to share that information. But it’s part of our job to provide details like that about our games, and in fact, they’re updated daily on the Iowa Lottery’s website.

On the Remaining Prizes page of our website, you’ll find a list of the larger prizes in our scratch, pull-tab and InstaPlay games. The list is broken out by how many of the prizes have already been claimed and the number that are still unclaimed.

We also have an Unclaimed Prizes page where you can see all the prizes of more than $600 won Iowa that still haven’t been claimed in lotto and InstaPlay games. You can search the list in several ways – by game, place of purchase, prize amount, date won, and expiration date – whichever you prefer.

We know those are important reference items that provide insight into the games we have on the market. So if you haven’t seen the details yet, please check them out!

What Do YOU Call These Tickets?

We asked this question in the lottery's social media contest this month, and the split in the answers tells us to keep asking.

So, we want to know: What do you call the lottery tickets where you scratch off the security coating to see if you’ve won a prize?

Nearly 2,700 people shared their answers during our social media contest Jan. 13-15. Here’s the split:

• Scratch tickets:     50 percent (1,336 answers)
• Scratch-offs:         33 percent (885 answers)
• Scratchers:           17 percent (450 answers)
• Scratch cards:      0.8 percent (21 answers)

A few other people posted comments with even more responses, including: scratchies!

There are 48 U.S. lotteries, and there appear to be nearly that many names for this product, depending on where you live.

We asked the question because we’re curious about what Iowa players say. We don’t want to call our games something that causes confusion or doesn’t mean anything to you.

Under state law, the technical name for the product is “instant ticket” because you can find out instantly if you’ve won a prize. But through the years, that name has fallen by the wayside for more every-day references.

I don’t think we’re wrong to call them scratch tickets, but we may work in the other names from time to time!

Do YOU call those tickets something else?

Less Than A Week To Go For An Unclaimed $50,000 Powerball Prize Won In Bettendorf

Head’s up in the Quad Cities! A $50,000 Powerball® prize won months ago in Bettendorf will expire in less than a week if it isn’t claimed in time. 

The $50,000-winning ticket was purchased at Kwik Star, 2283 53rd Ave. in Bettendorf. It matched 4 of the 5 white balls and the Powerball in the game’s July 29 drawing to win a $50,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 11-27-30-33-44 and Powerball 16.

The prize will expire next Monday (Jan. 27) if it isn’t claimed in time. So if you've got a ticket you haven't checked yet, the clock is ticking!    

The $50,000 prize can be claimed at any Iowa Lottery office, and our prize-claim hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. So the functional deadline for this prize to be claimed is before 4 p.m. next Monday.

Players in Iowa have 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim Powerball prizes. If the prize expiration date falls on a weekend or holiday when lottery offices are closed, the winner has until the close of business on the next business day to turn in the ticket.

The money from lottery prizes won in Iowa 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.

In the last fiscal year (FY 2024), nearly $5 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.

If you have questions about the unclaimed prize in Bettendorf, please feel free to reach out to us at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or [email protected].

2 New InstaPlay Games Debut Sunday While Another Will End Soon

Update on Tuesday, January 21: The final progressive jackpot in the Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay game had reached $23,551.75 when it was won yesterday with a ticket purchased in Stacyville. So that game now has ended.   

Hey, InstaPlay fans! Here’s a head’s up that 2 new games will debut on Sunday, while a long-time existing game is on the list to end.

These updates are the final pieces of a refresh in our InstaPlay product line that’s been underway since September. In the months since then, we’ve introduced more than a dozen new InstaPlay games while a corresponding number of older games have ended.

It’s the first major update to our InstaPlay lineup since we began offering the product back in 2016. And it’s been fun to introduce new games for you to check out and have a shot at new prizes!

The updates continue on Sunday when ticket sales begin in the Big Money Doubler Progressive and Ultimate Winnings InstaPlay games.

As the name indicates, Big Money Doubler Progressive (a $5 game) has a progressive jackpot that starts at $5,000 and grows with each ticket sold statewide in the game until it’s won. Other prizes in the game range from $5 up to $1,000.

And, Ultimate Winnings (a $20 game) features set-amount prizes ranging from $20 up to $100,000.

While we’re gearing up for those games, another InstaPlay game is scheduled to end. The $5 Jumbo Bucks Progressive InstaPlay game has been on the game-ending list since Nov. 30. But the exact date it will be removed from sale depends on when the game’s current jackpot is won.

To be fair to our players, we never want to end an InstaPlay game while its progressive jackpot is still growing. Someone should get to win that prize! So as soon as the Jumbo Bucks Progressive jackpot is won, the game will end.

As we move ahead, it will be the norm for new InstaPlay games to regularly be introduced and older games to end. But for now, the refresh over the past few months has created a fun, new mix of games for you to try!

Truth or Myth: Is There A Better Chance Of Winning When The Jackpot Is Smaller?

Here’s another Truth vs. Myth question to test your lottery smarts: Do you have a better chance of winning when the jackpot is smaller?

Some people say they think that’s true. But it’s a myth.

All the plays in a lotto game (including Powerball® and Mega Millions®) have the same odds of winning, no matter the size of the jackpot.

That’s because the odds are based solely upon the numbers available to play in the game. They DON’T change with the size of the jackpot or the number of people playing.

From a practical standpoint, how would lotteries ever be able to tell you the odds if they were based upon the jackpot amount or the number of tickets being purchased? The details would change from minute to minute.

How The Odds Work

Here’s an example of how the odds really work. In Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292.2 million because that’s how many different ways you can combine the numbers available in the game to make a play. You choose 5 numbers from a pool of 1 to 69 for the white balls and another number from a separate pool of 1 to 26 for the red Powerball. There are 292.2 million ways those numbers can be combined.

Each play you buy contains 1 of those combinations. The winning numbers selected in the drawing also are 1 of those combinations. So, there are odds of 1 in 292.2 million that the numbers on your ticket will match all 6 winning numbers in the drawing to win the jackpot.

Those odds never change.

Whether or not you play, the Iowa Lottery wants everyone to have an accurate understanding of how the lottery works. This Truth vs. Myth series is part of that effort.

Minnesota Timberwolves & Iowa Wolves Ticket Packages On The Line In Lottery Promotion

Premium VIP basketball packages to see the Minnesota Timberwolves and Iowa Wolves are on the line in the new lottery promotion that opened for entries today.

The Iowa Lottery’s Feeling Lucky? It’s Timberwolves Time! promotion started at 10 a.m. today, with a total of 17 ticket prize packages up for grabs.

The promotion’s initial drawings will be for courtside-seat prize packages to 7 Iowa Wolves home games in Des Moines. And the grand-prize drawing will be for 10 VIP suite-ticket packages to the Minnesota Timberwolves-Phoenix Suns NBA game on March 28 in Minneapolis.

Members of the lottery’s free VIP Club can enter the promotion with nonwinning tickets from the “Feeling Lucky?” scratch game. Players can make promotion entries until 9:59 a.m. March 10, and there will be 3 drawing dates for the ticket prize packages.

All promotion entries not selected as winners of Iowa Wolves ticket packages will remain eligible to win the Minnesota Timberwolves ticket packages in the grand-prize drawing.

Please pay close attention to the entry deadlines involved. The Iowa Wolves games earlier in the season will be closed to entries once the deadline for them has passed.

The winners of the promotion’s first 6 prize packages will be selected in drawings on Jan. 23 and Feb. 11. Each of those prize packages is valued at nearly $1,400 and includes:

• 4 front-row seats at center court for the Iowa Wolves game the player selected when entering the promotion
• 2 VIP parking passes for that game
• Complimentary food and beverages in the Courtside Club.
  AND
• 4 courtside seats in a special Lotto Zone at the Feb. 28 Iowa Wolves game
• complimentary food and beverages in the Lotto Zone
• $500 spending money.

Also on Feb. 11, the lottery will hold a special drawing for an additional prize package to the Feb. 28 Iowa Wolves game. All entries not previously selected as a winner will be eligible for the special drawing. That prize package is valued at nearly $1,000 and includes:

• 4 front-row seats at center court for the game
• 2 VIP parking passes
• Complimentary food and beverages in the Courtside Club
• $500 spending money.

Then on March 11, the lottery will hold the promotion’s grand-prize drawing for 10 ticket prize packages to the March 28 home game of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Each of those packages is valued at more than $3,800 and includes:

• 2 suite tickets to the game at the Target Center in Minneapolis with complimentary food, water and soda in the suite
• 1-night stay with parking for the night of March 28 at a downtown Minneapolis hotel adjacent to the Target Center
• Exclusive meet-and-greet with Timberwolves center Luka Garza
• $1,000 spending money
• 2 co-branded shirts.

As part of the fun, the Iowa Lottery will sponsor Timberwolves Night on Feb. 28 when the Iowa Wolves take on the Osceola Magic in Des Moines. We’ll have more details soon about how VIP Club members can get in on that event!

Central Iowa Man Walked Around For Days With Big Winning Ticket In His Wallet

A central Iowa man walked around for days without realizing he had a lottery ticket in his wallet had won a prize of $25,000 a year for life.

Brandon Richey of Dallas Center claimed his prize today at lottery headquarters in Clive. He says he generally waits to check his lottery tickets until he has a few to scan at a time.

So nearly a week after the Lucky for Life® drawing where he won at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a week for life, he finally checked his ticket.

Checking It Once, Checking It Twice 

Brandon says he had stopped for coffee on his way to work, and while it was brewing, he decided to check his lottery tickets.

But when the lottery self-checker displayed the amount he’d won, he had trouble believing it. So he took his ticket to another store and checked it again. The results were the same!

Brandon works as a server at a West Des Moines restaurant and says that while he arrived at work soon after that, he may have been a little off that night! He says he was probably more distracted than he should have been as he tried to absorb his lottery news.

How He Won

Brandon bought his winning ticket at Kum & Go, 3105 Grand Prairie Parkway in Waukee, for the Dec. 15 drawing in Lucky for Life.

His ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball to win at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life. That night’s winning numbers were: 9-12-22-36-45 and Lucky Ball 3.

Kum & Go received a $500 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the winning ticket.

Brandon chose to receive his prize in the lump-sum option of $390,000 rather than as annuity payments over time.

He says he plans to pay off bills and then invest the rest of his winnings for the future.

Iowa Winning Streak

Brandon is Iowa’s 3rd big winner in Lucky for Life in 3 months.

In November, a Des Moines man won the game’s top prize of $1,000 a day for life. And in October, another Des Moines man won at the game’s second prize level of $25,000 a year for life.

Iowa has now seen 23 winners at Lucky for Life’s top 2 prize levels since the game debuted here in January 2016.

Will The Lottery Terminal, Self-Checker & Mobile App Give the Same Results?

A player just sent us an interesting question about the lottery devices that can be used to check tickets: Will they all give the same result?

The quick answer is yes, and that’s a good security feature to keep in mind.

There are 3 devices for ticket checking in a lottery retail location:

• the lottery terminal. A clerk at the machine can check ticket results for you.
• a self-checker. This electronic scanner is usually installed away from the main cash register so you can be out of the flow of customer traffic when you use it.
• a lottery self-service kiosk. Where available, you can use a self-service kiosk to buy and check tickets on your own. (Kiosks are in about 360 of the 2,500 retail locations in Iowa where lottery tickets are sold.)

In addition, you also can use the lottery’s mobile app to check ticket results from wherever your smart device can connect online. 

The results of a lottery ticket are imbedded in the codes on the ticket itself, so any lottery device will give the same result for that ticket.

All of our devices will display the results of your ticket on the screen. If you’ve won a prize, the dollar amount will be shown. If your ticket has not won a prize, the words “not a winner” will be displayed. Printed receipts are also available from a lottery terminal or self-service kiosk.

If you think you’ve gotten a different answer about your ticket from one device to another, please take the time to verify the information you’ve received.

And if you still have questions after that, we’re glad to help. You’re welcome to reach out to us or send your ticket to us at the lottery so we can double-check it for you.

Giant Mega Millions Jackpot Won, 2 Iowa Tickets Just 1 Number Away

The giant Mega Millions® jackpot was won last night, with 2 Iowa tickets just 1 number away from having a share of the prize.

Last night’s Mega Millions jackpot was won by a ticket purchased in California. The prize of $1.22 billion annuity, $549.7 million lump-sum option, is the 5th largest jackpot in the history of the game and the 9th-largest U.S. lottery prize.

Prizes Won In Iowa, 2 Tickets That Came So Close

Iowa Lottery players won a total of 38,780 prizes in last night’s Mega Millions drawing, ranging from $2 up to $30,000.

Two Iowa tickets were just 1 number away from having a share of the jackpot, matching 4 of the 5 white balls and the Mega Ball.

One of the tickets won a $30,000 prize, while the other won $10,000. The player who bought the $30,000-winning ticket added the Megaplier® option to the purchase, which tripled the prize.

• The $30,000-winning ticket was purchased at New Co-Op Corning, 408 Sixth St. in Corning.
• The $10,000-winning ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 1850 22nd St. in West Des Moines.

Those 2 prizes can be claimed at any Iowa Lottery office.

The Winning Numbers & Iowa Sales

The winning numbers in last night’s Mega Millions drawing were: 3-7-37-49-55 and Mega Ball 6. The Megaplier number was 3.

Iowa Lottery players bought nearly $2.2 million in Mega Millions tickets for last night’s drawing, including about $1.5 million in tickets yesterday alone. But the average Mega Millions purchase in Iowa for the drawing remained about 3 plays, or $6 per ticket.

We’re glad to see that a lot of people got in on the fun and didn’t go overboard.