ialottery blog

Changes Coming To Powerball’s Starting Jackpot & Minimum Increases

Changes have been announced today that will impact the Powerball® jackpot after the next time it is won.

What’s behind the decision? The amount of the Powerball jackpot is driven by ticket sales, which have been lagging in the game. Normal consumer behavior has been largely disrupted nationwide by the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency. And the Powerball Product Group, like scores of other organizations around the world, is making necessary adjustments.

The changes announced in Powerball will take effect immediately after the next jackpot win in the game. The changes do not impact the jackpot amount for tonight’s drawing, or the jackpot’s growth up until the next time it is won. (The jackpot for tonight’s Powerball drawing is an estimated $150 million annuity, $114.8 million lump-sum option.)

The next time that the Powerball jackpot is won, it will reset to a guaranteed $20 million annuity, rather than the game’s usual starting jackpot amount of $40 million. And, rather than growing by at least $10 million in between drawings as currently occurs in the game, the jackpot will grow by at least $2 million between drawings.

It remains to be seen whether this change will be permanent. That decision rests with the directors of the U.S. lotteries that are members of the Powerball Product Group, who will continue to evaluate and monitor sales in the game.

The Look Of The Iowa Lottery In Your Local Store Will Change Next Year

One of the biggest projects we undertake here at the Iowa Lottery reached an important milestone today, and it means that the look of the Iowa Lottery will get an update next year.

The lottery itself won’t change, and we’ll still have the products you expect on the market. But much of the equipment now used here in our state to sell and cash lottery tickets will be replaced.

The project was discussed during today’s meeting of the Iowa Lottery Board, a public meeting held via teleconference due to the ongoing public health emergency. The Board voted 5-0 to allow the lottery to proceed with contract negotiations for a new statewide gaming system with Scientific Games International (SGI), a company based near Atlanta. The company was selected following a public and months-long competitive bid process.

Like any technology, lottery equipment needs to be replaced over time. Most of the lottery equipment now in the field in Iowa has been in use since 2011.               

SGI also supplies the Iowa Lottery’s current gaming system, and the lottery’s contract for it expires in July 2021. So during the next 15 months, new equipment for Iowa will be manufactured, and then our existing system will be changed out for a new version.

We’ll flip the switch to Iowa’s new lottery gaming system on July 11, 2021. Like our current system, it will link all 2,400 retail locations in Iowa where lottery tickets are sold. The gaming system includes a central communications backbone as well as the lottery terminals, self-checkers, self-service kiosks, and lighted jackpot signs in the local businesses where you buy lottery tickets.

I’ll emphasize again that with the new system, you’ll still be able to buy lotto tickets in Powerball, Mega Millions and your other favorites. And of course we’ll still sell scratch, pull-tab and InstaPlay games. But the machines that print and cash your tickets will change next year and the lotto and InstaPlay tickets you buy will probably look a little different once the new system begins use.

We’ll have more updates as the go-live date gets closer, but now you know to be on the lookout for cool, new lottery equipment next year!

(And you may have already seen our updates about the Iowa Lottery’s efforts to protect against the spread of COVID-19 illnesses as we continue doing business with safety first, but if not, please check out our Q-and-A here.)

Q&A About Lottery Restrictions To Keep Safety First

This FAQs list has been updated on Friday, March 20, to include new details.   

We've gotten questions about the new restrictions in place here at the Iowa Lottery as we all do our best to put safety first during this public health emergency. To provide the same details to everyone, I'm including a list of those questions and the answers to them here on the blog. 

The lottery is open for business, but we’ve made some changes to our daily operations to help achieve social distancing and slow the spread of COVID-19 illnesses.

Q: Is the Iowa Lottery closed?
A: We're open for business, but we have additional restrictions in place. Our district sales representatives are telephoning retailers rather than visiting businesses in person. And public access to lottery offices has been restricted to email and telephone only. Players are welcome to mail or ship tickets to us to claim most prizes, and we also have a secure dropbox option available exclusively at our headquarters building in Clive.

Q: As a member of the public, how do I reach you?
A: The Iowa Lottery can be reached during its regular office hours by email at wmaster@ialottery.com, using our contact us form, or by phone at 515-725-7900. We also are available on our social media sites.

Q: If I've won a prize, how can I claim it?
A: All lottery prizes won in Iowa of more than $600 must be claimed directly from the Iowa Lottery, but players are welcome to claim a prize of any size directly from us. In most instances*, customers can mail or ship a ticket to us at:
     Iowa Lottery
     13001 University Ave
     Clive, IA 50325-8225

*All prizes of $1 million or more as well as some special merchandise prizes must be claimed in person at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. If you're the lucky winner of one of those prizes, please contact us and we'll make an appointment so you can claim it. For all other prizes, you have the option of bringing your winning ticket and prize-claim documentation to our headquarters location in Clive and putting it in a secure dropbox. If you want to use the dropbox option, please contact us for the details involved.

Q: What if I don't want to mail or ship my winning ticket to you?
A: We are making available a secure dropbox option at our headquarters location in Clive for those who want to bring winning tickets directly to us. We will not be able to meet with you in person, but you can put a packet containing your winning ticket and prize-claim documentation in the dropbox for us to process. Prizes will not be paid immediately, but rather, claims will be processed in accordance with our virus-mitigation procedures. The dropbox is under 24-hour surveillance as part of our security requirements. If you want to use the dropbox option, please contact us for the details involved.         

You also can delay claiming your prize if by doing so the expiration date for it will not pass. If you have a question about when your prize would expire, please email or phone us.

We know this can be frustrating. What once would have been routine and fun, like meeting with our winners and celebrating their wins, now is an interaction that could threaten the health of others. We’re working to best find our way safely forward, as we know you are, too.     

Q: Where can I find the winner claim form?
A: Full details about claiming Iowa Lottery prizes, including links to the Iowa Lottery's Winner Claim Form and required tax documents, are available on the How To Claim A Prize page here on our website.

Q: What if I'm having difficulty with your website?
A: If someone has trouble accessing our website, they are welcome to call or email us and we will answer their questions. We can send prize-claim documentation to you if you're having trouble downloading the information from our website.

Q: With public access restricted at lottery offices, is there a way I can check my ticket without going to a retail location?
A:  The Iowa Lottery has a mobile app you use to check the results of lotto, scratch and InstaPlay tickets from wherever you are. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices. Full details about it are available here.

Q:  How long will it take for me to receive my prize?
A: The answer to that question is dependent upon many different factors, including how long it takes for us to receive your ticket after you’ve sent it to us. We will process all prize claims as quickly as we can, but it’s reasonable to anticipate it will take several days at a minimum for you to receive your prize.  

Q:  If I’m a retailer, how can I reach you?  
A: Lottery retailers are welcome to call the Iowa Lottery regional office that serves your area. Here are the phone numbers for our regional offices:
            Cedar Rapids: 319-395-9313
            Mason City: 641-424-6011
            Clive: 515-725-7884
            Storm Lake: 712-732-6662
            Council Bluffs: 712-242-2161

Q: How long do you anticipate the lottery restrictions will remain in place?
A: The State of Public Health Disaster Emergency declaration is effective until April 16. Our social-distancing restrictions may remain in place until then.

Q:  If I have a COVID-19 question that's not lottery related, where can I find information?
A: The state of Iowa has established a website to answer COVID-19 questions, and a direct link to it is here. The Iowa Department of Public Health also has expert resources concerning COVID-19 on its website. If you have difficulty navigating the Internet, the statewide telephone number you can call with COVID-19 questions is 211.

Safety First: Public Access To Iowa Lottery Offices Limited To Email & Telephone

The Iowa Lottery is now limiting public access to its offices to email and telephone as we do our best to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 illnesses. We anticipate this will continue until April 16.

We took this step in keeping with the State of Public Health Disaster Emergency that Gov. Kim Reynolds issued yesterday.

If you want to reach us during our regular office hours, our email address is wmaster@ialottery.com and our phone number is 515-725-7900.

If you have an Iowa Lottery prize to claim, in most instances you can mail or ship the ticket to us. We have full details including a link to our Winner Claim Form on the How To Claim A Prize page of our website. If you can’t reach our website, you’re welcome to contact us and we’ll send prize-claim documentation to you. 

All lottery prizes won in Iowa of more than $600 must be claimed directly from us at the Iowa Lottery, but you can claim a prize of any amount directly from us. If you decide to mail or ship your ticket to us, for your peace of mind you may want to send it with tracking and delivery notification enabled.

I’ll note that all prizes of $1 million or more as well as some special merchandise prizes have to be claimed in person at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. If you’re the lucky winner of one of those prizes, please contact us and we’ll make an appointment with you so you can claim it.

Be safe, be well, and let’s keep looking out for each other. We’re all in this together!

Our Weird Week: Spring Forward, A Full Moon & Friday the 13th

This week will likely give us all the opportunity to pause and remember to be kind, even if it’s hard sometimes!

By Friday, we’ll have experienced three different events that each can tend to kick up stress levels. This weekend, we moved our clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time. Tonight brings us a full moon. And this coming Friday will be Friday the 13th.

Our yearly process of “springing ahead” throws our internal clocks off for a time, and that can take a toll on our overall mood. And we’ve all likely experienced the difference that a full moon can make on humans’ levels of insistence/enthusiasm/noise. Add in Friday the 13th and the beliefs surrounding that particular date, and we’ve got a really interesting week ahead.

So if it seems like your patience is being tried this week, remember that the calendar and Mother Nature are just having their way! Use the moment to remind yourself that you alone control your reactions and emotions. And then choose to be kind.

We’re all in this together, after all, and hopefully others will follow your lead.

And maybe this weird week will end up making YOU a lottery winner. You never know!

Player Question: Can I Win A Jackpot In Iowa If I Don’t Live There?

A man who lives in another Midwestern state recently contacted us to ask if he could win a jackpot in Iowa even if he doesn’t live here. The short answer is yes. Keep reading for further details.

It’s perfectly OK for people from other states and countries to play – and win – the Iowa Lottery. 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 purchased at a lottery retailer here in Iowa.

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 you definitely can play and win!

If you’re from another state, you’ll still pay the Iowa withholding rate that applies to your prize, then you’ll file that tax paperwork back in your home state to see if any adjustments should be made due to a difference in the tax rates between the two states.

Our prize winners through the years have of course included lots of Iowans, but also folks from other states and countries. Sometimes we’ll hear grousing that only Iowans should win in Iowa Lottery games, but I would guess the same folks who make that argument also want the chance to play the lottery in other states when they’re traveling. So on that point, as that old saying goes: Turnabout is fair play!

Happy playing to everyone who buys tickets in our games, and we hope to see YOU as a big winner soon.

NW Iowa Man Claims $1 Million Powerball® Prize From Leap-Day Drawing

A northwest Iowa man stepped outside of his normal routine when it comes to buying Powerball tickets and that spur-of-the-moment decision brought him a $1 million prize.

Shane Saxen of Correctionville claimed his big prize this morning at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. He said he usually waits until the jackpot has climbed really high and then he’ll buy a ticket. But last week while he was running errands, he decided to buy two Powerball plays even though the jackpot for Saturday’s drawing was “only” an estimated $80 million.

He said he just decided: Why not?  

Saxen’s ticket came within one number of having at least a share of Saturday’s Powerball jackpot. He matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize.

News that someone had won big in Correctionville spread quickly in the Woodbury County community of about 800.

Saxen said his sister heard that someone locally had won big and asked if he’d bought a ticket. They checked his numbers and quickly realized he was the winner who had everyone talking. Saxen said his stomach dropped to his feet and then he paused for a second and realized it was just such a cool moment!

Saxen bought his easy-pick ticket at Brew, a convenience store and coffee shop at 404 11th St. in Correctionville. His big win came on Feb. 29, the Leap Year date that falls on a Saturday, one of the days when Powerball drawings occur, only about every 28 years.

Saturday’s winning Powerball numbers were: 24-44-46-50-51 and Powerball 13. The Power Play® number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win that night’s jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $90 million annuity ($67.9 million lump-sum option) for Wednesday.

Brew will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Saxen, 31, works as a campus security officer at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. He said he plans to invest most of his winnings for retirement planning, and there likely will be a new set of wheels in his future.

And he’s glad that his sister sped up his timeline for checking his ticket. He said he eventually would have checked it, but with her help, he claimed his prize much more quickly!

In addition to Saxen’s big win, Iowa also had a $50,000 winner in Saturday’s Powerball drawing. That ticket, which matched four of the five white balls and the Powerball, remains unclaimed. It was purchased at Hy-Vee, 1005 E. Hickman Road in Waukee.

Leap Year Lottery Luck Hits In NW Iowa

Leap Year luck has struck in northwest Iowa! Someone who bought a Powerball® ticket in the Woodbury County community of Correctionville won a $1 million prize in last night’s drawing.

It was the only $1 million-winning ticket nationwide in the Feb. 29 drawing. That leap-year date falls on a Saturday, one of the days when Powerball drawings are held, only about every 28 years. 

The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at Brew, a convenience store and coffee shop at 404 11th St. in Correctionville. The ticket came within one number of having at least a share of last night's $80 million jackpot.

The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. Last night’s winning numbers were: 24-44-46-50-51 and Powerball 13. The Power Play® number was 3. No one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $90 million annuity ($67.9 million lump-sum option) for Wednesday.

Brew will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

Prizes of $1 million must be claimed at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive. The lottery’s offices are closed on the weekend, so tomorrow is the earliest that the prize can be claimed.

If the winner or winners have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, they’re welcome to give us a shout at the lottery at 515-725-7900.

Powerball players in Iowa have 365 days from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes.

The Powerball Jackpot Hasn’t Been At This Level In 10 Months

The Powerball jackpot is back up at a level it hasn’t seen in 10 months.

That’s not a typo. The game’s jackpot hasn’t climbed this high since last March. The jackpot for tonight’s drawing is at an estimated $394 million annuity, $274.6 million lump-sum option.

It hasn’t been at this level since last year, when it kept climbing all the way up to $768.4 million annuity in the drawing on March 27, 2019. It was won that night with a ticket in Wisconsin.
     
What’s the story behind our recent “jackpot drought”? There have been a lot of winners in Powerball and Mega Millions, but as luck would have it, the jackpots in both games have been won in the past handful of months at what some would call a “lower level.” Now, all those prizes were still in the tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars. But if it seems like things have been kind of quiet lately on the jackpot front, that’s because they have.

Mega Millions got some steam going last month when it reached $372 million annuity in the drawing on Dec. 17. It was won that night with a ticket in Ohio.

The Powerball jackpot was last won in the drawing on Nov. 2 by a ticket in California.  The next time it’s hit, it will be the first Powerball jackpot won in 2020.

There will always be peaks and valleys in lottery jackpots, so we’ll all just have to wait and see how high the jackpots climb this time around. Maybe we just got used to all the big jackpots we saw in the past couple years!

Christmas Gifts Lead To Two $10,000 Lottery Prizes

Two family Christmas gatherings led to two $10,000 prizes for Iowa Lottery players – both in the same game.

First up was Dylan Day of Monroe in Jasper County. He got a scratch ticket as a Christmas gift from his mom and said he played the “$100,000 Happy Holidays Crossword” ticket the next day. But he said he didn’t realize he’d won big until he counted up all the words he’d uncovered. 

Day says he was pretty much jumping up and down and was so happy, he didn’t know what he was thinking. He said he plans to use his winnings to pay off debt, begin finishing his basement and will treat his mother to a nice dinner – or two.

Next up was a Minnesota woman who claimed a $10,000 prize in that same game. Stephanie Charpentier of Rosemount, Minn., said that her father, who lives in Shell Rock, gives his family lottery scratch tickets as stocking stuffers every year. And when they played this year’s tickets at their recent holiday gathering in Clear Lake, they found multiple winners among the bunch.

Stephanie said they thought they had a $20 winner, a $50 winner, and a $100 winner. But when they checked the tickets at a local convenience store, the clerk gave them the customer receipts from the lottery terminal showing that one of their tickets had actually won a $10,000 prize. Stephanie said they just stood there counting the zeroes.

In the spirit of her family’s holiday gathering, Stephanie said she plans to share the winnings with her family.

Post-Holiday Question: Can I Use A Gift Card To Buy Lottery Tix In Iowa?

Now that holiday celebrations are winding down for a lot of us, we’re hearing from folks asking if they can use gift cards to buy lottery tickets in Iowa. The quick answer is: Yes. But there are more details involved, so please keep reading. 

From a legal perspective, a gift card is the same as cash, so under Iowa law, it can be used to purchase lottery tickets.

But some retail locations may have policies that bar the use of gift cards for lottery purchases, just as they may ban personal checks for any purchase. Stores can and do develop their own policies for what’s allowed in their place of business, and we understand that.

The same thing applies to the use of debit cards to buy lottery tickets. While it’s legal for debit cards to be used to buy lottery products in Iowa, some stores may have policies against that. To be sure, please check with the business involved.

(Here are some further notes about the use of debit cards: In Iowa, state law prohibits the use of credit when making a lottery purchase. But a debit transaction is always tied to available funds, so as long as the card says DEBIT on the front, it’s OK to use it for a lottery transaction so long as the store involved allows that. If it’s a CREDIT card, it’s illegal to use it to buy lottery tickets in Iowa.

When you’re using a DEBIT card, even if it’s run on the credit setting, the money involved is still coming from available funds, so it is still a DEBIT transaction. A debit card never involves anything other than available funds, meaning cash. We had wondered about that particular detail ourselves, so we checked with the network folks who process the transactions. They confirmed that DEBIT always = available cash.)

Player Mail: Hey! They Carded Me!

With the holiday rush underway, I’m sharing a conversation here on the blog that we had with a player in case you encounter the same thing while you’re out shopping and running errands.

The player reached out to us after being carded at a convenience store as he was buying lottery tickets.

“They made me show my I.D,” he wrote. “The clerk said anyone who looks under 40 must show I.D. I’ve been buying lottery tickets there for several years and never heard this before. I am 55 years old. Is this a thing?”

Now, some people might interpret that situation as a huge compliment to their youthful good looks (insert smile emoji here), but the fact that stores ask customers to verify their age before buying certain products is a reality, and it’s a step they take to protect their business.

Lottery tickets are an age-controlled product, meaning that you must be a certain age before you can purchase them. Here in Iowa, the minimum purchasing age for lottery tickets is 21.

Retail locations receive licenses to sell age-controlled products, and one of the ways they can violate the terms of their lottery license is by selling tickets to those who are too young to legally purchase them. The business’ license will be suspended or even revoked if that happens, so we explained to the player that some stores have adopted the policy that they will I.D. anyone, not just those they think may be under 21.

We understand the businesses' concerns and support our retailers’ decisions to ensure that laws and regulations are being followed.

So if you’re asked for an I.D. when you buy lottery tickets, know that the store is doing the right thing. (And if you suspect that you definitely do not look 21, maybe choose to have fun in that moment!)

Five Iowa Friends Split $1 Million Prize

Five friends who chipped in to buy lottery tickets together had quite a moment today as they claimed a $1 million Mega Millions® prize.

Tim Harless of Eldora bought the group’s $1 million-winning ticket at a local convenience store for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. The friends call themselves “Just Us” and have played the lottery together for about 15 years. Harless said they’ve won smaller prizes during that time, but now they have a very different story to tell!

Harless is in the middle in the photo here. The four other members of the group are (left to right): Dave Twedt, Steve Wright, Dennis Dickenson, and Julia Salazar. They all live in Eldora and know each other through the Hardin County community of about 2,700.

The four men say that Salazar keeps the rest of them fed. She has managed the local Casey’s convenience store for 20 years, and it’s their regular stop for lunch, snacks and drinks.

Salazar said she checked the results of the drawing and called Harless yesterday morning to share the news that they’d won big. He said she was talking so fast he couldn’t understand her at first, but it finally sunk in.

Salazar also said she was contacted by the Iowa Lottery’s Security Division as part of its verification work for a ticket winning a sizeable prize. That review includes checking the store’s security-camera system for footage of the ticket purchase.

Salazar said that as she watched the security footage with the lottery’s security investigator, she hoped she would see Harless on camera coming into the store and buying a ticket. And there he was!

Dickenson, who works for Harless at the city’s street department, has a story of double good fortune: Last month, he survived quadruple bypass surgery, and now he and his friends have won a big lottery prize. He said he definitely feels lucky!

Harless bought the $1 million-winning ticket at Casey’s, 1807 Edgington Ave. in Eldora. The group’s easy-pick ticket came within one number of having a share of Tuesday’s $372 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. A ticket purchased in Ohio won that night’s jackpot. Tuesday’s winning numbers were: 22-30-53-55-56 and Mega Ball 16. The Megaplier® was 2.

Six prizes of at least $1 million have now been won this year in Iowa. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the $1 million-winning ticket at one of its stores.

All the members of the Just Us group talked about putting their winnings into savings, paying off bills or investing for retirement. And for Wright, who’s already retired, another possibility is on the list. He said there might have a new pickup in the spring.

Iowa City Ticket Wins Prize Of $25,000 A Year For Life

Someone who bought a lottery ticket in Iowa City has an extra reason to celebrate this holiday season: Their ticket won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life game!

It’s Iowa’s sixth big winner in the game since it debuted here in January 2016.

The Iowa City 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 the Kum & Go at 1310 S. Gilbert St. in Iowa City.

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 would prefer that rather than lifetime annuity payments.

The winning numbers in last night’s Lucky for Life drawing were: 1-16-27-39-45 and Lucky Ball 10. Kum & Go will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket at one of its stores.

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. You 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. If you think you’re the Iowa City winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, please give us a shout at the lottery at 515-725-7900 or email us at Wmaster@ialottery.com.

Thanksgiving Thought: We’re Thankful For The Chance To Make A Difference In Iowa

During this week of Thanksgiving, we’re taking a moment to thank YOU for helping the lottery to make a difference in Iowa.

You likely already know that total lottery proceeds to state causes have topped the $2 billion mark. And during the past couple weeks, we’ve had fun celebrating that as we recognized one of today’s most important recipients of lottery proceeds: the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund.

Members of the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs joined the lottery in on-field presentations at the Texas-Iowa State game and the Illinois-Iowa game to highlight the nearly $30 million that the Iowa Lottery has raised for the Veterans Trust Fund since lottery proceeds were first dedicated to that cause in 2008.

The money that the lottery raises for the IVTF provides state support to Iowa veterans and their families above and beyond the federal benefits that are available to them. Not every state has something like the Veterans Trust Fund, and we’re thankful that this home-grown success story is working here in Iowa!

So, if you play the Iowa Lottery, thank you. Every time you buy one of our tickets, it makes a difference right here at home.

A quick housekeeping reminder that our offices will be closed tomorrow and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we’ll see you again when business hours resume on Monday, Dec. 2!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Billions For Iowa, And A Special Thank You To Our State's Veterans

Sometime in the past month, a lottery player in Iowa purchased the ticket that pushed total Iowa Lottery proceeds to state causes over the $2 billion mark. (And yes, that’s billion with a “B!”) The lottery is still finalizing its results for October, but it’s already clear that we’ve topped that significant new threshold!

Lottery tickets in Iowa made their debut back on Aug. 22, 1985. In the 34 years since then, lottery players have won $4.5 billion in prizes while more than $2 billion in proceeds has been raised for state programs. Lottery sales in Iowa through the years total $7.9 billion.

Lottery proceeds have helped our state in a variety of ways over time, but today, they have four main purposes. They provide support for our state's veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund; support through the Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund for the family members of Iowa peace officers and fire fighters who die in the line of duty; help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund; and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.

To highlight the impact of lottery proceeds in Iowa and help spread the word about the help available to our state’s veterans in need, the lottery worked with the Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs to produce a new video highlighting the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund. The video has just gone live as we head into the Veterans Day holiday weekend and you can see it by clicking on the link above.

It’s a powerful piece that touches on the impact that war has on our veterans, and why it’s so important that help be available to them. Two Iowa veterans who serve on the commission share their own stories and talk about the unique role of the Veterans Trust Fund.

So to everyone who has played a role in the Iowa Lottery’s success through the years, we appreciate your support. And to all Iowa veterans this holiday weekend: Thank YOU!

What Player Mail Do YOU Have For Us?

You’ve seen me blog through the years about lots of the questions we get from players, and as we head into the weekend, consider this is an open-door invitation for you to reach out to us if you ever want to know something about the Iowa Lottery.

While the Internet has certainly given us all new ways to communicate, the amount of MIS-information out there these days is staggering. So if you have a question about the lottery or the tickets we sell, we’d really like the answers you get to come straight from us, rather than some random source online.

Feel free to reach out to us here on the blog or on any of our social media pages, check out our website, or email us at Wmaster@ialottery.com. We’d love to hear from you, and if you have a lottery question you’d like to see answered, leave a comment here!

Holiday Promo Starts Today! 93 Cash Prizes Totaling $200,000 On The Line

You’ve asked us to give you plenty of time to have a shot at winning cash for the holidays, so our holiday promotion this year is starting today! We’ll give away 93 cash prizes totaling $200,000 in our “Ho Ho Dough” promotion, with six drawing dates between now and early January.

We’re applying the “max bet” concept to this year’s promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you can win will increase along with the purchase price of the scratch ticket you’ve entered.

You can enter the promotion using nonwinning tickets in the 11 holiday-themed scratch games we’ll have available this year. Tickets in nine of those games are already in stores, and the final two games debut Nov. 4. 

The promotion’s entry period began at 9 a.m. today and the first drawing date is two weeks from now, on Oct. 24. We’ll hold three prize drawings that day: one for five prizes of $1,000, one for five prizes of $1,500, and one for five prizes of $2,500.

The drawing for the $1,000 prizes can be entered with nonwinning tickets in our $1 and $2 holiday games, while nonwinning tickets in our $3 and $5 games can be entered in the $1,500 prize drawing, and nonwinning tickets in our $10 holiday games are eligible for the $2,500 prize drawing.

That same process will apply to the rest of the promotion’s preliminary drawings, through Jan. 9. Any entries that don’t win a prize in the preliminary drawings will remain eligible for the grand-prize round.

The Ho Ho Dough grand-prize drawings will be held on Thursday, Jan. 9. Again, the max-bet approach will be involved, with grand prizes of $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000 on the line in the applicable categories.

To enter the promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our free VIP Club. And remember that you can enter by scanning your tickets on our app or through the VIP Club website. 

Here’s the entire Ho Ho dough drawing schedule and the prizes that will be awarded:

Our VIP Club Newsletter Went Out Early & Here’s Why

The members of our VIP Club got their October newsletter and free-play coupon a few days early, and there’s a reason why.

 

We’ll be doing some maintenance on the Iowa Lottery’s website beginning on Monday, and for a period of time, members of our VIP Club won’t be able to log in to their VIP Club account and may not be able to access their monthly coupon. So, bonus for them: This month’s edition of the VIP Connection newsletter, which normally would have gone out on Tuesday (Oct. 1), was sent out today. That means they’ll have extra time to redeem the coupon inside.
 

The October free-play coupon will be valid from today through Oct. 31.

The changes to our website should make it easier for everyone to navigate the VIP Club and enter Play It Again® promotions. Things should be back to normal on the website within 24-48 hours.

 

Once we’re done with the maintenance, if you have a bookmark or shortcut to the VIP Club website, you’ll need to update it because the link involved will change slightly.

We’ve Topped 3,000 Big Winners For The Year

Eight months ago we started providing this unique view of just how many prizes of $600 or more were claimed each month. And with August now in the books, we’ve topped 3,000 big winners for the year!

August brought us 337 more lucky winners of $600 or more, bringing the grand total thus far to 3,054 for the year. On average there are about 382 winning claims filed each month. August was just below that average, but with summertime coming to an end, vacations winding down and normal routines setting back in, we’ll likely see even more winners in September, as that seems to be the pattern.

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so there are a lot of them!

As always, remember that our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include those prizes won but not claimed yet.

Why Are There So Many Winners From (Insert Store Here)?

One of our players emailed to ask why there seem to be so many lottery winners from certain retail chains in our state. The answer comes down to number density and foot traffic.
 
For example, Casey’s General Stores sells Iowa Lottery tickets at 527 locations in Iowa. When you consider that a total of about 2,400 retailers statewide sell lottery tickets, you can see why a lot of Iowa winners would come from Casey’s. Hy-Vee, meanwhile, sells lottery tickets at 204 locations in Iowa. And because so many of those stores are large supermarkets with heavy foot traffic, you’ll see a lot of Iowa Lottery winners from Hy-Vee, too.

That’s the case for any of our retailers: Those with multiple locations and higher foot traffic will see higher lottery sales overall, and that in turn, will mean more winners from that company’s stores.

But as consumers we all have our favorite spots, so if you like to buy your lottery tickets at one particular store, know that it’s just as lucky as any other. Winning comes down to random luck, and you never know when – or where – the next big one will hit!

Player Mail: It's Gotta Have Scotcharoos!

One of our players wrote to us on Facebook to ask about how we come up with game ideas here at the lottery, and we LOVE the idea he offered up after we answered his question!

The player asked how the Iowa Lottery comes up with the names and themes of its scratch games, and who designs them.   

The short answer is that it’s often a team effort to find just the right game. There are times when just one of us at the Iowa Lottery comes up with something good, and other times we borrow from popular culture. The companies that print our scratch games also offer suggestions for games and ticket designs. Those companies print tickets for lotteries all around the world, so we’re glad that they share their expertise with us.

There actually is quite a science to choosing lottery game names, themes and colors. Part of it is common sense: If every scratch game for sale is green, people could have trouble telling them apart. So, we want to have a mix of game colors on the market at any one time.The same goes for the themes of our games. It’s good to have a few seasonal games each year, some holiday games, some gaming themes and maybe the theme of a popular movie, too.

But when it’s all said and done, people just like what they like. That’s why we have lots of different games for sale at any one time so you’ll have choices.

Over the years, a couple themes have always done well here in our state: Iowa and animals. The Iowa part is easy to understand: We like Iowa and we’re proud of our state! As for the animal part, maybe it’s because pets are such a big part of our lives, or because Iowa has a strong agricultural heritage.

The player who contacted us then gave his own suggestion for an Iowa-themed game. He said it would need to include artwork of corn stalks, pigs, the Eastern Goldfinch and Scotcharoo bars. Hey, we think Scotcharoos make everything better, so why not lottery tickets, too?

In any case, we’ll keep coming up with new game ideas, and we invite you to keep letting us know how we’re doing!

Winning Streak In Tiny NE Iowa Community

It may not seem unusual to know there were two big lottery winners in the same town -- until you hear it’s a community of just 315. But that’s what has happened in the Winneshiek County town of Ridgeway in northeast Iowa. Two of the tiny burg’s residents have won sizeable lottery prizes this month!
 
First up was Jill Mitchell of Ridgeway, who won a $30,000 top prize in the “Bonus Crossword” scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at a convenience store in Decorah. 

Five days later, Trisha Kountkofsky of Ridgeway won the 48th and final top prize of $100,000 in the “Mega Crossword” scratch game. She bought her winning ticket at a local convenience store in Ridgeway.

Some people have wondered if it’s something in the water, or whether four-leaf clovers have suddenly cropped up in the town. We know it all comes down to random luck, but what a fun moment for a not-so-big place!

Iowa’s Biggest Lottery Winners Were Here (And Here, And Here …)

Another month of 2019 is in the books, so it’s time to look back at the biggest lottery winners in Iowa during July. 

The map here shows all the Iowa Lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed in July. There are a total of 390 dots this time, compared to 315 on the June map.

In the first seven months of the year, Iowa Lottery players claimed a total of 2,717 prizes of $600 or more. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved, and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so there are a lot of them!

As always, remember that our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include those prizes won but not claimed yet.

Expiration Date Coming Close For $50,000 Powerball Prize In Central Iowa

A $50,000 Powerball prize in central Iowa will expire in about a month if it isn’t claimed in time and we’re reminding players to double-check their tickets.

The $50,000 unclaimed prize was won in the drawing on Sept. 1, 2018, with a ticket purchased at Fareway, 5500 E. University Ave. in Pleasant Hill. The ticket came close to winning that night’s $90 million jackpot, matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $50,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 11-54-55-61-66 and Powerball 9.

Players in Iowa have up to 365 days from the date of the drawing to claim prizes in the Powerball game. But if the expiration date falls on a weekend or holiday when the lottery’s offices are closed, the winner has until the close of business on the next business day to turn in the ticket.

The Pleasant Hill ticket would have expired Sept. 1, but since that date is a Sunday and Sept. 2 is the Labor Day holiday, the winner or winners have until 4 p.m. Sept. 3 to claim the $50,000 prize at a lottery office.

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

34 Years In The Making: Iowa Lottery Sets Records

The Iowa Lottery has just posted the best annual results in its 34-year history.

Lottery sales, proceeds to state causes, prizes to players, and retail commissions all set records in fiscal year 2019, which ended June 30. We think the results deliver on our promise to responsibly raise revenues for the state causes that are important to us all.

Click on the video above to see our thank-you message to our players, our retailers, and really, anyone who has an interest in the Iowa Lottery.

Our preliminary figures out today show that the Iowa Lottery generated a record $92.8 million in proceeds to state causes in FY 2019. Annual lottery sales were a record $390.9 million, while prizes to players totaled a record $241.9 million. Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across Iowa that sell our tickets totaled $25.4 million, also a record.

Scratch games have always been the lottery's leading product category and led the way again in FY 2019, with those games accounting for a record $250.6 million in sales in Iowa. 

The lottery retailer with the most sales in Iowa was again the Hy-Vee store at 20 Wilson Ave. in Cedar Rapids. That location has been the No. 1 lottery retailer in Iowa for five straight years, and it sold nearly $950,000 in lottery tickets in FY 2019.

The largest prize won by an Iowa Lottery player in FY 2019 was a $343.9 million Powerball jackpot, and six other prizes of at least $1 million also were won in the state during the year. 

Couple Both Buy Their Own Lottery Tickets And Both Win (But She Wins More)

Here’s a story out of South Carolina to give us all a smile: A husband and wife both bought tickets in the same lottery scratch game and both won. But she won more – a lot more.

The couple in Lancaster, S.C., both bought tickets in a $5 scratch game there called “Giant Jumbo Bucks.” He won $200. She won one of the game’s top prizes of $150,000!

As she claimed her prize, the wife told officials at the South Carolina Education Lottery that her hubs threw a fit when he realized she’d won so much more than him!

Hey, they’re definitely a lucky household in my book!

Checking An Item Off His Bucket List

 A northern Iowa man is planning a trip he’s always dreamed about now that he’s won a $100,000 lottery prize.

Brian Staudt says he’ll use some of his winnings for a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. The 60-year-old Charles City man says he’s always wanted to go there, and this is a fine opportunity to do it.

Brian claimed one of the $100,000 top prizes in the “Spectacular Riches” scratch game this week. And get this: He says absentmindedness set the stage for his big win. He says he meant to buy a ticket while out getting groceries, but forgot. Then on the way home, he stopped to buy another item on his shopping list, but again forgot to buy a lottery ticket. He finally went to a local Casey’s store and bought a handful of scratch tickets, including the Spectacular Riches ticket where he won big. He says that being forgetful pays off sometimes!     

All of us at the Iowa Lottery send you our congratulations, Brian. Now just don’t forget to go to Cooperstown! :)

Happy World Emoji Day!

If you’re a fan of emojis (and that’s pretty much all of us these days), today is for you. It’s World Emoji Day!

That’s according to the National Day Calendar™, the website that tracks unusual holidays and has a day for just about everything. Today is for celebrating the emoji: those small, digital pictures or icons that are used to express ideas, concepts, and emotions in electronic communications.

"Emoji" is a Japanese expression that roughly translates to: picture word. When Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, an emoji keyboard was embedded in it to help appeal to the Japanese market. But users all around the world quickly found the keyboard and began to use it!

Here at the Iowa Lottery, our favorite emojis of course are those that involve money, happy faces, celebrations and good luck!

The website emojipedia.org tracks emoji updates across all platforms and operating systems. It shows that there are now more than 1,800 emojis, with more being created all the time.

The suggested emoji to use as you celebrate today is the green-and-blue symbol of the earth to highlight that it's WORLD Emoji Day.

All The Latest About Iowa’s Biggest Lottery Winners

With the Independence Day holiday weekend behind us, we’re pausing today to look back at the biggest lottery winners in Iowa during the month of June. 

The map here shows all the lottery prizes of $600 or more that were claimed during June in Iowa. There are 315 dots in total this time, compared to 342 on the May map.

That means that during the first six months of the year, Iowa Lottery players had claimed a total of 2,327 prizes of $600 or more. 

Click here for a direct link to this map in an interactive format where you can see the details involved. Each dot shows the retail location where the winning ticket was purchased, the prize won, the game involved and the date the prize was claimed.

The dots are in different colors for the four types of lottery games here in Iowa: scratch games, lotto games, InstaPlay games and pull-tab games. Scratch tickets have always been the Iowa Lottery’s leading product and they’re represented on the map by red dots, so it makes sense that there are a lot of them!

As always, remember this detail about our mapping initiative: Our maps only show those big prizes that have been claimed. They don’t include prizes that were won but haven’t been claimed yet.