ialottery blog

Hoops Winners Having A ‘Suite’ Time At The Tourney!

We had two sessions of “Suite Seats” winners who got to enjoy men’s college basketball tournament games yesterday in Des Moines and we’ve got another round to go tomorrow!

A total of 48 promotion winners and their guests are joining us this week at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines to watch the tournament games. Our winners have gotten to hang out in a private suite, cheer for some of the best college players in the country and watch for the big upsets that this time of year almost always seems to bring!

In the photos here, you can see four of our winners: Ed Heritage of Grimes, Dennis Mokaya of Ames, Dawn Devito of Indianola, and James Doeden of Ankeny.       

Des Moines is getting good reviews in its second go-round as one of the tournament’s regional hosting cities. And even as the basketball games are still being played this week, Des Moines officials are already looking ahead to the next time they’ll have the chance to bid to host the men’s tournament again.

Congratulations again to all our Suite Seats promotion winners! We hope you’ve had fun with us at the tournament.

I Lost My Ticket! What Can I Do?

A player from northeast Iowa emailed us with a question that made us so sad about the lottery ticket she’d bought, because there was no way for us to help her. The same thing could happen to you, so please learn from her situation.

The woman said she bought a scratch ticket at a convenience store in Waterloo on her way to work. She didn’t play it right away, and continued on her way. When she arrived at work, she noticed that her purse must have fallen open at some point, and her ticket was gone.

The woman said she went back to look for the ticket, but she never found it. Because she didn’t know whether it had won a prize, she wondered if by letting us know that she had lost it, she could somehow have a claim to any prize if someone else later claimed it.

The woman said she hadn’t signed her ticket when she bought it, and that’s a key point. A lottery ticket without a signature on it is like a blank check. In legal terms, it’s what is known as a bearer instrument, meaning that the person bearing it is considered the owner.

That is why we urge our players to sign the back of their tickets as soon as they buy them. When you sign your ticket, you identify it – and any prize you may win – as belonging to you. It may seem like something that doesn’t matter, but this woman’s story unfortunately illustrates why it’s so important.

 

Record Sales & Prizes To Players In Lottery’s Latest Year

The results are in for our lottery’s latest year: Scratch-ticket sales set a record for the fourth year in a row as the Iowa Lottery hit record total sales in fiscal year 2018, had record prizes to players and finished with annual results in its overall Top 2.
 
Our preliminary figures for the year show that the Iowa Lottery generated $87.1 million in proceeds to state causes in FY 2018, which ended June 30. That’s the second-highest proceeds total in the lottery’s 33-year history and the fifth time that our annual proceeds have topped the $80-million mark.

Lottery players won a record $227.5 million in prizes for the year. And total annual lottery sales were a record $371 million, topping the $300-million mark for the seventh year in a row.

But those numbers aren’t the only way we judge the outcome of a year, and there were a lot of other positives during the past 12 months. We got a clean audit for FY 2017 from the State Auditor’s Office, had record exposure for play responsibly messages in March as part of our work to support National Problem Gambling Awareness Month, and we won an international award for gaming compliance in the long-running jackpot investigation case. We are extremely proud to have been able to achieve success on those fronts as well.

Scratch-ticket sales in Iowa have set records each year since FY 2015, did that again this past year, reaching a grand total of $244.3 million. Powerball and Mega Millions also both saw sales increases this past year in Iowa.

I give a huge shout-out to Iowa retailers for their work in helping lottery customers and selling tickets. Local businesses across the state received $24.2 million in annual sales commissions from the lottery in FY 2018, and we’re glad to be able to make a difference for their bottom line.

Another highlight for the year was the $2.5 million that the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to help our state’s veterans and their families. We’ve now has raised nearly $25 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since we began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.

The largest prize won by an Iowa Lottery player in FY 2018 was a $4.38 million Lotto America jackpot claimed by Chuck Anderson of Davenport on May 10. Four other Iowa  tickets won prizes of $1 million during the year, including a Powerball ticket purchased in Nevada for the April 11 drawing that's still unclaimed.
 
I know there is always a lot of interest in where people buy their lottery tickets. The Top 10 retailers for lottery sales in FY 2018 were in four different communities:

Can The Lottery Give Our Group/Cause/Team A Donation?

As the summer months have hit, we’ve gotten more requests from organizations and teams wondering if the lottery can give them a donation. There are so, so many good causes out there, and we’re always glad to hear about the way that people are helping out in their communities.

But for the Iowa Lottery specifically, state law directs that all lottery proceeds go to state causes, so it’s not possible for the lottery to provide funding to individual requests.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for our state’s veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund; 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 and build and repair schools.

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

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

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

Great question, Marie!

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

Player Mail: Questions About Power Cruise

Now that folks have been entering tickets in the “Power Cruise™” promotion for about a week, we’re seeing some repeat questions about the process and have done our best to answer them on the Frequently Asked Questions page we put together for the promotion.

We try in advance to think of the questions people may have about a particular game or promotion, and in this case, we listed a lot of those Q-and-As on our website when the promotion started last week. But just when we think we’ve thought of all the possible details, our players surprise us and ask about something that wasn’t yet on the list!

So, if you have a question about the promotion, please check out the FAQs for it. And if we haven’t provided the answer there that you’re seeking, let us know. We’ll get the answer for you and then we’ll add it to the website, too!

POWER CRUISE™ is a trademark of Alchemy 3, LLC. Used under license. │Royal Caribbean International logo is a registered trademark of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and is used with permission. ©2018 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.® │ Powerball® and Power Play® are federally registered trademarks and are used with permission of the Multi-State Lottery Association. All rights reserved.

New Record Set For IA Scratch-Ticket Sales

We’ve just gotten our sales figures for March, and, holy buckets! We were officially BUSY last month!

Sales of lottery instant-scratch tickets in Iowa set an all-time monthly record in March, helped by the release of “Colossol Crossword,” the game with oversized, double-sided tickets that debuted March 5. 

Scratch-game sales totaled nearly $24 million in March, an increase of more than $900,000 from our previous monthly sales record for those games that had been set a year earlier.

So what’s behind the numbers? We always concentrate on the mix of games that we have in the field, doing our best to keep different colors, ticket designs and price points out there so you’ll have choices. And we like to try new innovations, like double-sided tickets. A scratch game was the first product that the Iowa Lottery sold back when it started in 1985, and scratch tickets have traditionally been our leading sales category. 

Part of the fun for us is investigating new ideas that we think will appeal to players, and then releasing the product to see if our predictions hold true.

The lottery’s top three months for scratch-ticket sales have all been in March, from 2016 to 2018:
        March 2018: $23.96 million
        March 2017: $23.04 million
        March 2016: $22.75 million

We’ve theorized that maybe there’s a spring-fever phenomenon in there, too, that gets us all out and about more in March after a long winter. That could be reflected in our numbers!

Our ‘New’ Winning Numbers Line

We’ve revamped the recorded line you can call to get the latest winning numbers in our lotto drawings. The new format just took effect yesterday, and it lets you choose the game you want without having to listen to the results for other drawings first.

The number itself has not changed – it’s still 515-323-4633, so there’s no need to reprogram your phone!  But now when you call, each of our lotto games has its own prompt. So, you push “1” for Powerball, “2” for Mega Millions, etc.

Up until now, we’ve just had one recording for all the latest results in our games. So, you might have had to listen to the winning numbers for a few other games before getting to the results you wanted. We know that time matters, and we hope that the new format can shorten the call for you.

If the voice on the line sounds familiar, that’s because you may have heard it before. It’s me reading the numbers, but the process is automated as well, so I think of the voice as Computer Mary. We’ve done our best to pace the results so you can write down the numbers as they’re announced.

The winning numbers line is just one of the ways we provide the results in our lotto drawings, but it’s a popular option, getting tens of thousands of calls each month.

Let us know what you think of the new format! I can pass your comments along to Computer Mary.

Iowa Lottery Named Finalist For International Gaming-Compliance Award

 

It’s a case we were involved in for more than seven years, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I share some good news to come out of that situation.

The Iowa Lottery is a finalist for an international gaming-compliance award for its work in the long-running lottery jackpot investigation that uncovered fraud against U.S. lotteries and resulted in guilty pleas from three men.
 
The Iowa Lottery is one of five finalists for the 2018 award for outstanding achievement in compliance from GamblingCompliance, which provides independent legal, regulatory, and business intelligence to the global gambling industry. GamblingCompliance presents annual awards to recognize excellence in 11 categories focused on regulatory compliance and responsible gaming. Its 2018 Global Regulatory Awards will be presented April 18 in London.

The jackpot investigation culminated last year with guilty pleas from three men who admitted they illegally claimed prizes by rigging lottery drawings in five states. Eddie Tipton, the man at the center of the investigation, installed malicious computer code that allowed him to predict winning numbers in some lottery drawings.
   
Tipton pleaded guilty to three felony charges in Iowa and Wisconsin and was sentenced in August to up to 25 years in prison. He had conspired with friends and family to claim lottery prizes in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin and attempt to claim a lottery jackpot here in Iowa, which ultimately was not paid.  

Tipton’s younger brother, Tommy Tipton, also pleaded guilty in the case, as did Tipton’s long-time friend, Robert Rhodes.

Iowa Winners Are On Their Caribbean Cruise!

This bunch of happy Iowa winners has been someplace much WARMER than their home state this week, enjoying the Caribbean cruise vacation they won in last year’s “Power Cruise” promotion. And before you say: “But it wasn’t ME,” know that we’ll have another promotion to give away cruise vacations starting April 14!

In the photo you see here, Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich (center) stands with the Iowa winners and their guests enjoying their Power Cruise this week onboard the Royal Carribbean® “Brilliance of the Seas®” ship.

Look for more details coming soon about our 2018 Power Cruise promotion!

$1 Million Powerball Prize Won In Colfax In Central Iowa

Someone who bought a Powerball ticket at a central Iowa convenience store has extra reason to celebrate this New Year’s weekend: The ticket won a $1 million prize in last night’s Powerball drawing.

The $1 million-winning winning ticket was purchased at the Kum & Go store at 1200 N. Walnut St. in Colfax. It came within one number of having at least a share of last night’s $390.1 million jackpot, matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball. No one matched all six numbers to win last night’s jackpot, so the big prize climbs to an estimated $440 million annuity ($278.3 million cash option) for Wednesday.

Last night’s winning numbers were: 28-36-41-51-58 and Powerball 24. The Power Play number was 2. The Colfax ticket was one of only three across the country that won a $1 million prize, with the others sold in New Hampshire and New Jersey.

Kum & Go will receive a $1,000 bonus from the 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 for the long New Year’s weekend, so Tuesday is the earliest that the winner or winners will be able to claim the prize. If you’re the big winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim the prize, please feel free to call us at the lottery at 515-725-7900.

How Many People Work At The Lottery? Can YOU Play?

A couple people have asked me this recently, so it must be coming up in conversation: How many people work at the Iowa Lottery, and can we as employees play the lottery?

The lottery has about 115 employees, many of whom are out and about each week visiting our 2,400 retail locations.

As Iowa Lottery employees, it’s against the law for us to buy tickets in Iowa or claim a lottery prize in this state. It makes sense that we shouldn’t be playing, since we know the ins and outs of the lottery and its games.

But it’s perfectly fine for Iowa Lottery employees to the play the lottery outside of Iowa because we don’t work for the lotteries in those other states. And I confess that reverse psychology works on me in instance. Since I can’t play in Iowa, I almost always stop to buy lottery tickets when I’m out of state. Hey, I want to win, too!

New First: Powerball & Mega Millions Jackpots Top $300 Million At Same Time

We joined other lotteries around the country in some research this week and it’s now been confirmed: This is the first time ever that the jackpots in Powerball® and Mega Millions® have topped the $300 million mark at the same time.

Powerball’s big prize is an estimated $307 million annuity ($193.2 million lump-sum option) for tonight’s drawing, while the Mega Millions jackpot is an estimated $382 million annuity ($238.3 million lump-sum option) for Friday. That ranks both jackpots in the Top 25 for each game.

The fact that both games are seeing big jackpots at the same time is extremely unusual, and it speaks to the unpredictable factor of lottery jackpots: You just never know when the next big winner will hit.   

Could One Person Win Both?

Is it possible for one person to win the jackpot in both games? The short answer is: Yes. But the odds of that occurring are long.

The odds of winning the jackpot in Mega Millions are about 1 in 258.9 million. The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million. (Those figures represent the total number of combinations available to play in each game.) To calculate the odds of winning both jackpots, multiply 258.9 million by 292.2 million. There are a lot of zeroes involved! The odds of winning both jackpots are about 1 in 75 quadrillion (that’s 75,000,000,000,000,000).

Winning both jackpots is something fun to daydream about, but it’s perhaps the ultimate long shot. That’s why we emphasize responsible play. Have fun playing the lottery, but remember to play with your head, not over your head.

What’s Behind The Numbers?

Mega Millions and Powerball are both well known for their giant jackpots but before January 2010, they were sold by separate groups of lotteries. U.S. lottery directors reached an agreement back then that allowed both games to be sold by all states. When more states sell a particular game, there’s a bigger population base playing it. That in turn produces higher sales overall and helps the jackpot climb higher.

Time also is a factor. The jackpots in both games have been growing for several weeks. The Powerball jackpot was last won on June 10 with a ticket purchased in California. It’s been growing since that time to hit its current level. Players can buy tickets here in Iowa for tonight’s Powerball jackpot up until 8:59 p.m. The Mega Millions jackpot was last won in the drawing on April 28, also with a ticket purchased in California. Players can buy tickets in Iowa for the next Mega Millions drawing up until 8:59 p.m. Friday. Tickets purchased after those deadlines will be for an upcoming drawing and won’t have a shot at that night’s big prize.

Not The Biggest Jackpots Ever, However 

Mega Millions and Powerball have both seen jackpots much larger than their current amounts, but not at the same time. Powerball currently has the world record lottery jackpot: a prize of nearly $1.6 billion that was split in January 2016 by three tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee. The largest Mega Millions jackpot to date is a $656 million prize won in March 2012 by three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

Jackpot News Galore/Dueling Jackpots!

Aug. 9 update: Nobody hit the jackpot in last night's Mega Millions drawing, so the dueling jackpots are still ON! The Mega Millions jackpot now stands an estimated $382 million annuity ($238.3 million lump-sum option) for Friday's drawing. So now we'll wait to see what happens in tonight's Powerball drawing ...       

This week is the first time that the jackpots in Powerball® and Mega Millions® have both topped the $300 million mark at the same time since the games began to be sold by all U.S. lotteries seven years ago.
 
Prior to January 2010, the two games were sold by separate groups of lotteries. U.S. lottery directors reached an agreement back then that allowed both games to be sold by all states.

The jackpot for tonight’s Mega Millions drawing is an estimated $350 million annuity ($218.3 million cash option), while the Powerball jackpot for tomorrow night is an estimated $307 million annuity ($193.2 million cash option). That puts both jackpots in the Top 25 for each game.

The fact that both games are seeing big jackpots at the same time is unusual, and it speaks to the unpredictable nature of lottery jackpots: You just never know when the next big winner will hit!

Both jackpots have been growing for some time now. The Mega Millions jackpot was last won in the drawing on April 28 with a ticket purchased in California. It’s been growing since then to hit its current level. Remember that you can buy tickets here in Iowa for tonight’s Mega Millions drawing up until 8:59 p.m.

And the Powerball jackpot was last won on June 10 with a ticket purchased in California. You can buy tickets here in Iowa for tomorrow night’s Powerball jackpot up until 8:59 p.m. tomorrow.

If you buy tickets after those deadlines, they’ll be for a later, upcoming drawing.

Mega Millions and Powerball have both seen jackpots much larger than their current amounts, but not at the same time. Powerball currently has the world record for a lottery jackpot: a prize of nearly $1.6 billion that was split in January 2016 by three tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee. The largest Mega Millions jackpot to date is a $656 million prize won in March 212 by three tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. 

Iowa Lottery players have won eight Powerball jackpots so far. The biggest Powerball prize won to date in Iowa was a $241 million jackpot claimed in June 2012 by The Shipping 20, a group of co-workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids. And while Iowa has seen several winners at the $1 million level in Mega Millions, we are still waiting for our first jackpot winner in that game here in Iowa.

Celebrations Aren't Just For Really Big Winners

Meeting our winners is a time to celebrate here at the lottery, and it’s always fun to hear their stories.

Last week, a Massachusetts man had an interesting story about how he ended up in Iowa buying a lottery ticket and winning $1,000!

Peter Martin of Leominster, Mass. (near Boston) told our Cedar Rapids team that he is traveling to South Dakota for the first time with a group of 28. They are headed to Sturgis, S.D. for the annual motorcycle rally that starts Aug. 4.

Along the way, Peter has purchased several souvenirs, including a hat, poncho and an inflatable swan. His souvenir from Iowa happened to be a “Black Ice” scratch ticket from Express Lane Gas & Food Mart, 4425 West Locust St. in Davenport, and that ticket ended up winning $1,000!

When he claimed his $1,000 prize July 27 at our regional office in Cedar Rapids he asked if he could get his photo taken (above) with some of the things he’s bought along the way. We of course said, "Yes!"

If you win the lottery, we hope to make your experience just as fun and memorable as Peter’s was last week.

Player Mail: Did The Lottery Get A New Email Address?

Members of our VIP Club and players who subscribe to our daily Winning Numbers emails may have noticed that our communications have been coming from a different address for the last few weeks.

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, we are using a different email address to send these messages.

The new email address is ialottery.wmaster@public.govdelivery.com and it’s part of a new distribution system we’re using to send batches of emails at one time.

The content of our emails remains the same – it’s just the sending email address that has changed. One thing you may want to consider is adding “ialottery.wmaster@public.govdelivery.com” to your address book or your “safe senders” list within your email account to help ensure you can continue receiving email messages from us.

Also note: We’re still accepting emails at our Wmaster@ialottery.com address and if you respond to one of our messages from the new email address, we’ll still get it.

Happy Birthday To You, Powerball!

Twenty-five years ago today, a game that would transform the face of lotteries got its start.

Sales in a new game called Powerball® debuted on April 19, 1992, in Iowa and 14 other states. The first drawing in the game came just a few days later on April 22, 1992.

In the 25 years since, Powerball has gone on to become synonymous with big jackpots. Today, the game is played by every U.S. lottery: Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Powerball began as a way for lotteries in smaller states to offer big jackpots by joining together to pool their combined populations and sales. The game also introduced the concept of two drawings in one: Powerball players choose numbers from two sets of pools for a chance at a big prize. 

When it was introduced, Powerball jackpots started at a guaranteed $2 million. Players chose five numbers from a pool of 1 to 45, and then one more, called the Powerball, from a separate pool of 1 to 45.

The game has been updated several times through the years to introduce new features and provide additional ways to play. And numerous other lottery games around the world have been modeled after Powerball.

Today, Powerball holds the world record for the largest lottery jackpot, a prize of nearly $1.6 billion that was split by three tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee in the drawing on Jan. 13, 2016. Powerball now is a $2 game and players choose 5 out of 69 numbers for the white balls, then 1 out of 26 numbers for the Powerball. The game’s jackpot starts at a guaranteed $40 million and grows until it’s won.

Here is a “by-the-numbers” look at Powerball in Iowa:

$241 million = largest Powerball jackpot won in Iowa. That prize was won in June 2012 by the Shipping 20, a group of co-workers from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids.

1,222 = number of Powerball prizes of at least $10,000 won in Iowa.

27 = number of Powerball prizes of $1 million won in Iowa.

5 = number of Powerball prizes of $2 million won in Iowa.

8 = number of Powerball jackpots won by Iowa Lottery players.

25 = number of years the Iowa Lottery has been part of Powerball. Former Iowa Lottery CEO Dr. Ed Stanek was a co-inventor of the game and Iowa was a founding member.

$5.2 million = first Powerball jackpot amount claimed by an Iowa player. Ed Brown of Washington split a $10.4 million jackpot with a Missouri woman in December 1992. 

$81.4 million = highest annual Powerball sales in Iowa, which occurred in fiscal year 2013.

New Twist In Scam Attempts

It seems like scam attempts have become a fact of life these days, but from the latest reports coming our way, some scammers are taking a slight twist in their approach.

We’ve heard from folks in the last week who all have received text messages claiming that they’ve won a big prize, or should enter a contest for a chance to win. In all of the instances, the scammers asked for the individual’s personally-identifying information – something you should never give out online for personal security purposes.

We’ve seen scams in the past that utilized telephone calls, letters and email, so we’re not surprised to see text messages in play as well. But it does appear to be a new twist. Scam operations are nearly impossible to trace and shut down because they generally are based outside the United States. You can have the most impact in thwarting their efforts by being alert and protecting yourself.

If someone contacts you and says you’ve won a big prize, ask yourself this basic question: Did I buy a ticket or enter that contest? If you didn’t, it’s likely a scam.

We have an entire section on our website dedicated to Player Security reminders, but here are a few quick highlights to remember:

• Keep your credit card, bank account and Social Security information private. Scam artists will often ask for them with the goal of accessing your accounts and stealing your money!
• Never pay processing fees, insurance or commissions to claim a lottery prize. Legitimate lotteries do not require winners to pay anything up front to receive a prize.
• Never believe a letter, phone call or Internet message from someone who claims they can guarantee you a prize. Legitimate lotteries do not guarantee that you will win a prize and do not require you to join a prize pool to play.

FREE Tickets To Be Randomly Given Away With Some Lotto Purchases

If you buy a Powerball^®, Mega Millions^® or Lucky for Life^® ticket this month, you could randomly win a FREE ticket in one of our InstaPlay games.

Starting Sunday, thousands of players will randomly receive free InstaPlay tickets with a qualifying lotto game purchase in our “Fast and Fun” promotion.

During this promotion we’ll be randomly surprising players with a FREE InstaPlay ticket when purchasing a different lotto game each week. First up will be first Powerball (Sunday – Jan. 14), then Mega Millions (Jan. 15-21), and finally Lucky for Life (Jan. 22-28).

Just buy the lotto game that qualifies for a chance to win a free InstaPlay ticket that week and listen for a special “Surprise, Player Bonus” sounder. If you hear that sound, the terminal will automatically print your free $1, $2 or $5 InstaPlay ticket. We’ll randomly give out free tickets across the state, so it could happen at any time!

Player Mail: What’s With Those ‘AutoLotto’ Ads I’m Hearing?

We’ve gotten inquiries this week from players in different parts of the state who all appeared to be hearing the same radio ad, and they wanted to know if it was from us. The quick answer is: No, the ad for a service to check lottery tickets is not from the Iowa Lottery. And the AutoLotto website advertised is not associated with our lottery.

We have legal and policy concerns about the information we learned after doing some digging. We urge lottery players in Iowa to get lottery results and the details about our games directly from us here at the Iowa Lottery.

The radio ad appears to be playing in heavy rotation in different markets around the state. We’ve heard it in central Iowa at different times of the day. The spot references unclaimed lottery prizes and encourages listeners to use a free “AutoLotto app” to check the results of Powerball® tickets. The ad also directs listeners to AutoLotto’s website to learn more.

When we visited the website, it appears to involve more than just checking the results of lottery tickets. Information on the site indicates that people can use the app to purchase tickets online via a credit card that the user would keep on file with the service.

It’s illegal here in Iowa to use credit in the purchase of lottery tickets. And under Iowa law, lottery tickets can only legally be purchased from a licensed lottery retailer. Obtaining a ticket in any other fashion could call into question the legitimacy of the prize.  

Internet gaming also remains a big topic of discussion among our state’s lawmakers. They’ll convene Jan. 9 for the start of the 2017 legislative session, and we anticipate that Internet gaming will be among the many issues soon under debate at the state Capitol.

Bottomline, we do not recommend that you use any outside service to purchase our products or receive information about the Iowa Lottery. Through our website, our offices around the state and our presence on social media, we always have information available. We pride ourselves on customer service, so if you contact the Iowa Lottery, we’ll do our best to answer your question right away. And if we need to do more research, we will get back to you.

As we say in the Player Security reminders that are a permanent feature on our website: We want you to take fun seriously and protect yourself. And if you ever have a concern about Iowa Lottery products or operations, please call us at 515-725-7900, email us at wmaster@ialottery.com or reach out to us here on the blog or elsewhere on social media. We’ll be glad to help.

P.S. You know that the Iowa Lottery already has an app that you can use to check the results of your tickets, right? We currently have an iPhone app, but we anticipate that we’ll have an Android version also available early next year. The iPhone app is available on iTunes under the “Iowa Lottery’s LotteryPlus” listing.

Holiday Envelopes Make Gift-Giving Easy

As you work through your holiday shopping list trying to find those perfect age-appropriate gifts for everyone, we wanted to remind you that we distribute holiday envelopes to retail locations, but they’re popular, so supplies in some places may run out. That’s why we also make them available electronically, so you can print them on demand.
 
This is just one of the many perks of our free VIP Club. Simply log in to your account then click on the “Free Downloads” tab. From there you’ll click on the “Learn more” under the Lottery Envelopes section.

 

There are quite a few holiday envelope options to choose from so pick your favorites and print them out on standard letter-size paper. And they’re easy to fold together. Then stuff with a few fun lottery games and check another person off your list!

 

What’s In It For Me If I Join The Free VIP Club?

Oh the perks our players enjoy by being a VIP Club member. To keep it short and sweet check out the benefits you’ll receive:

• Free monthly lotto play coupon – the next coupon goes out Nov. 1
• Latest lottery news and winners
• Exclusive Play It Again^® promotions where you can enter eligible tickets for chances to win cash and prizes
• Random pop-up contests where you could win things like scratch tickets, concert tickets and more
• Free seasonal lottery envelopes that you can print at home and stuff with lottery tickets to make someone’s day
• Personalize your desktop, laptop or mobile device with free lottery-themed wallpapers you can download
• Sneak peeks of upcoming promotions and games

Our VIP Club members enjoy exclusive content and chances to win, and anyone who is at least 21 can join for free. Just remember when you register to check “Yes” to receiving email communications from us. Otherwise you’ll miss out on some of the exclusive perks listed above that are sent directly to your inbox. We promise not to overload your inbox with emails. To help make sure you get our emails, add wmaster@ialottery.com to your email provider’s Safe Senders list. And now that you know all the benefits you can enjoy, be sure to sign yourself up today.

VIP Club Newsletter Goes Out On First BUSINESS Day Of The Month

When the newsletter for members of our players club went out as scheduled on Oct. 3, we got questions from some folks who wondered if that was the right day. It was, and here’s the background:

Our VIP Connection newsletter, which gives sneak peeks about new games and promotions and contains the monthly free-play coupon for members of our free VIP Club, is sent out on the first business day of each month. Oftentimes, that’s also the first calendar day of the month. But this month goes to show that’s not always the case. Oct. 1 was a Saturday, so the newsletter went out on Oct. 3, the following Monday.

In November and December, the first calendar day and the first business day will be one and the same, so the newsletter will go out on the first of the month. But January will see two timing issues come into play: Jan. 1 will be on a Sunday and the lottery’s offices will be closed Jan. 2 for the New Year’s holiday. So the VIP Connection won’t go out that month until Jan. 3.

We may have to remind people about that as January gets closer, but you’ll be in the know if you look for our newsletter on the first business day each month.

(Here are some helpful hints if you’re a member of our VIP Club and you haven’t been seeing your coupon for a free play each month: Remember that you’ll find it in the monthly newsletter. It’s always right at the bottom of the page. You’ll need to have clicked “Yes” in your VIP Club account to receive email communications from the lottery. You can do that either when you sign up for the club or by visiting the “Manage Profile” page if you’re already a member.       

The emails come from our Webmaster address -- wmaster@ialottery.com. So if you’ve accepted communications from us and you’re still not seeing them, please check your spam folder and double-check your inbox. And, be sure to add our Webmaster address to your contacts or safe senders list. That can help ensure that our emails make it through to you.)

Can Stores Adjust That ‘You’re A Winner’ Sound?

My blog entry last week about self-checkers and lottery terminals prompted a reader to ask a great question that I’ll share with you here, along with my answer!
 
A man named Mike wondered if store personnel can turn down the volume on lottery terminals so no one will hear the “You’re a winner!” audio that plays when a winning ticket is scanned. Mike wrote: “While waiting for the clerk to check my tickets, I always listen for that. Then I thought, ‘What if it's turned down, or off?’”

As I shared with Mike, retail locations can’t adjust the sound. The volume level on our terminals is set by the lottery and it’s not possible for retail employees to adjust it. That’s a security feature in place so you’ll hear the “You're a winner!” message if you have a winning ticket scanned at a lottery terminal.

As Mike noted in his comment, it’s a good verification step to help you as a player realize you’ve won a prize.  

 

Player Mail: Why Haven’t I Gotten My Monthly Coupon For A Free Play?

We’ve heard from several players this month who haven’t received their September VIP Club free-play coupon, and we think we’ve figured out why.
 
Nearly all those who contacted us have Mediacom or CenturyLink (formerly Qwest) email accounts. Mediacom, CenturyLink and other email service providers routinely update their spam filters to help their customers avoid malicious emails. It appears that the latest security upgrades have kept our emails from getting through. It’s a situation we’ve seen a few times through the years with different service providers as they do their best to protect their customers’ accounts. 

If your VIP Club account is linked to an email address that ends in @mchsi.com, @mediacombb.net, @q.com or @centurylink.net, you most likely have not received your coupon for a free play this month. The lottery’s email to you likely got caught at the administrative level by those service providers.

We’ve found a work-around to get the monthly newsletter and free-play coupon through to players with email addresses from those providers. If you haven’t received your coupon yet, please email us at Wmaster@ialottery.com and we’ll try our best to send it to you.

And we’ll keep investigating possible options for better delivery of coupons to our VIP Club members. We know you enjoy getting the coupons and we want them to make it through!

 

Bettendorf Man Is Iowa’s 2nd Big Winner In Lucky for Life

A Quad Cities man says his boss had a little fun when it came to helping him figure out that he’d won a big lottery prize. That’s because management at the store where he works had a good idea he’d won before he even knew it.

Kevin Reynolds of Bettendorf said that store management had him sit down and then asked if he had something to tell them. He said he truly did not know what they were talking about. Then they asked if he’d checked his lottery tickets. He said he had two in his pocket that he hadn’t checked yet. So he scanned them right away and learned he’d won $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life® game. All he could say was: Wow.

Reynolds works in the produce department at the Davenport supermarket where he bought his winning ticket. And after reviewing security-camera footage with the lottery, store management thought Kevin might be the man they could see in the footage purchasing the ticket. And they were right!

Reynolds’ ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Lucky Ball in Monday’s Lucky for Life drawing to win the game’s second prize of $25,000 a year for life. He bought his winning ticket at Hy-Vee, 4064 E. 53rd St. in Davenport. Hy-Vee will receive a $500 bonus from the lottery for selling the winning ticket at one of its stores.

The winning numbers in Monday’s Lucky for Life drawing were: 13-21-27-35-43 and Lucky Ball 14. Players can win Lucky for Life’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.

The game’s top two prize levels are described as “lasting as long as you do,” meaning that they are truly for life. The minimum guaranteed payout for those two prize levels is 20 years, and there is a lump-sum option for players who prefer that.

Reynolds, 56, claimed his prize today. He chose to receive his winning in annual payments and got his first check for $25,000 today. He said he’ll use his lottery winnings to plan for retirement.

The Latest Updates About Tonight’s Mega Millions Drawing

The Mega Millions^® jackpot stands at an estimated $540 million annuity, $380 million lump-sum option for tonight’s drawing, with sales picking up in Iowa and across the country as interest in the big prize grows.

Through the close of business yesterday, Mega Millions sales in Iowa for the week were running about double what they were during the same period last week (nearly $1.2 million vs. $635,000).

We see the pool of players expand when the jackpot continues to climb, with regular players buying tickets, but first-time and occasional players also jumping in to play.

The jackpot is No. 3 on the list of the largest Mega Millions jackpots of all time and No. 7 among the largest jackpots in North America.

THE LATEST 'COVERAGE' ESTIMATE

The odds of winning the jackpot in Mega Millions are about 1 in 258.9 million because there are about 258.9 million ways you can combine the numbers in the game to make a play. By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations will be purchased for a particular drawing. That figure has come to be known as the "coverage" for a particular drawing. The latest estimates are that about 46 percent of all the possible combinations will be purchased for tonight’s drawing.

DEADLINE FOR TONIGHT

Mega Millions drawings are at 10 p.m. central time on Tuesdays and Fridays. Here in Iowa, you can buy a ticket for tonight’s drawing up until 8:59 p.m. If you buy a ticket after that time, it will be for an upcoming drawing and you’ll miss out on tonight’s fun. 
 
STILL LOOKING FOR $1 MILLION WINNER IN IOWA

We’re continuing to spread the word about a big unclaimed Mega Millions prize in central Iowa. It’s been a little more than a month since a Mega Millions ticket won a $1 million prize in West Des Moines, and it’s still unclaimed.

The lucky ticket was purchased at the Kum & Go, 5967 Ashworth Road in West Des Moines, for the Mega Millions drawing on Friday, May 20. It matched the first five numbers that night but missed the Mega Ball. We’re still waiting to hear from the winner or winners of that big prize.

So if you have a Mega Millions ticket at home, please double-check it!

PLEASE PLAY RESPONSIBLY

With the jackpot climbing, we continue to urge the public to play responsibly. You’ve seen us say this many times, and we really mean it. It only takes one ticket to win. Play within your means and don’t get in over your head. The fun of our games is that you can do a lot of dreaming for just a few dollars.

What Are The Odds Of THIS Happening?

A woman from northern Iowa wrote to us this month about one of the coolest coincidences we've seen involving lottery tickets.

Barbara Pauk of Garner said she was playing the "Bonus Crossword" game when she found her last name - P-A-U-K - spelled out in the play area on her ticket. So she wanted to know: What are the odds of that?

We were able to provide at least part of the answer. The game rules for Bonus Crossword show that about 7.8 million tickets were printed in the game. So the odds that somebody would buy a particular ticket in it are about 1 in 7.8 million.

But to truly determine the odds of someone named Pauk buying the ticket that Barbara purchased, we would have to know how many people with her last name there are in the world, and the likelihood that a percentage of them would be in Iowa and buy a ticket. So I don't think we can completely answer the question. But what a great story!

(The picture you see with this blog entry is the photocopied image that Barbara sent us of her ticket. And who knows? Maybe she'll find her name on a ticket again someday...)

Sioux City Man Claims Iowa’s First Big Prize In Lucky for Life

 

Roy King of Sioux City is Iowa’s first big winner in Lucky for Life. And he won his prize of $25,000 a year for life with just the fourth ticket he bought in the new game. Click on the video above to see Roy’s story!

Trying Something New: Our Biggest Ticket Ever

A new game hitting stores today is a first for us here in Iowa. And when we say it’s big, we REALLY mean it! 

The game is called “The BIG Ticket.” Each ticket in it is an 8-inch square, and that’s the biggest physical-size ticket we’ve ever offered. The game has a gemstone-match theme (so much bling!), you can win up to 50 times on each $20 ticket, and the top prize is $100,000.

Some of our most popular games through the years have been extended-play tickets, meaning they take some time to play. Think of games like “Crossword, “Bingo” and “Game Book.” Players like matching the letters and numbers in those games and have told us that they like the entertainment value the tickets offer.

With The BIG Ticket, we’re taking extended playing time to a whole new level! For comparison purposes, check out the image here. We took a shot of The BIG Ticket along with tickets in the $1 “Yes or No?” game and the $2 “Double Your Luck” game that also are starting sales today. We think The BIG Ticket lives up to its name!

We’d love to hear what you think of it after you’ve given it a try. Feel free to send us a quick comment here on the blog!