ialottery blog

You Liked It, Now ‘Game Book’ Is Up For Game Of The Year!

You made the “Game Book” one of our most popular scratch games in the Iowa Lottery’s 28-year history, and apparently, the experts agree! Game Book is now in the running for a big honor: It’s one of two finalists for the lottery industry’s Best New Instant Game award in North America.  

Lotteries in the United States, Canada and Mexico are members of an industry organization called the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL). Each year, NASPL awards are given to games and campaigns that have been identified as innovative and successful.

Out of all the games nominated this year, it’s down to just two for best new instant-scratch game: Our Game Book and the “Big Cash Crossword” from our neighbors to the north, the Minnesota State Lottery.

We’ve blogged about the Game Book a couple times here before. It began sales back in January, and even though we ordered what normally would have been a two-year supply of tickets for a $20 game, they sold out in four months. And that led us to move up the start date of our current game book product, the “Blazing Hot 7s” game. It hit the market in June and also has proven popular with our players.

Just like its predecessor, Blazing Hot 7s offers multiple games spread across six pages of playing fun, all in one booklet. The game’s top prize is $100,000 and you can win multiple times in each booklet.

So which game will come out on top? We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out. 
A panel of judges will review the two finalists, evaluating their innovative aspects, cost/benefit analysis and other features including visual appeal and ease of play.

The NASPL awards will be given during an annual conference in early October. So, may the best game win! (But I have to admit I’m pulling for Iowa!)

One Week Left To Enter Tickets For Points In VIP Club

A deadline is approaching for the members of our VIP Club. There’s a week left for you to enter eligible nonwinning scratch tickets for points in the club.

We announced last month that we’re responding to our players’ feedback by revamping the Iowa Lottery’s free VIP Club. We also announced some deadlines as part of that transition. The first of those arrives a week from now.   

You can enter eligible nonwinning scratch tickets for points in the VIP Club until 11:59 p.m. next Wednesday, May 15. And don’t forget the “Cash Blowout” promotion that gives you a new option for your points! 

The Cash Blowout offers 12 cash prizes ranging from $100 up to $20,000! From now until June 30, you can use some or all of the points in your VIP Club account to enter the promotion. Each prize level requires an equivalent number of points for entry. For example, it takes 100 points to enter the drawing for five prizes of $100 and 1,000 points for an entry into the drawing for a $1,000 prize. There are corresponding entry points and prize levels for $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $10,000, and ultimately, 20,000 points for an entry into the drawing for a $20,000 prize.

You can enter the Cash Blowout until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 30. All unused points in the VIP Club also will expire at that time and the Points For Prizes™ store will close. We’ll select the Cash Blowout prize winners in drawings on July 2. The complete winners list will be posted on our website and we’ll also notify winners individually at the contact information provided in their VIP Club accounts.               

As we announced last month, the VIP Club will be in transition for the next couple months, with our focus shifting to cash prizes and additional drawings as the club’s merchandise store is closed down. Moving ahead, we plan to have both cash and merchandise up for grabs as prizes in drawings through the VIP Club. We also want players to be able to use both their lotto and scratch tickets for entries. And of course, we’ll still email monthly coupons to you and have special offers and contests that are exclusive for VIP Club members.   

Revamp Coming For VIP Club

Head’s up: We’re excited to announce that some changes are coming to our players club!

We’ve had fun watching our VIP Club grow, with about 86,000 Iowa Lottery players joining it in the past two years. Nearly all of our club members have entered the prize drawings we’ve offered through it, and some also have used the points they’ve accumulated in their accounts to order items from the VIP Club store.

Over time, though, more and more VIP Club members have told us they’d like to see cash prizes and more prize drawings through the club. The popularity of those drawings is reflected in the huge numbers we just saw in our “Winter of Winners” holiday promotion. Players made nearly 8.3 million entries in Winter of Winners, making it the biggest holiday promotion the lottery has ever offered.

With our players’ requests in mind, we’re excited to announce that you will be seeing more prize drawings through the VIP Club.

We’re jumping right in with “Cash Blowout” drawings for 12 cash prizes ranging from $100 up to $20,000! From now until June 30, you can use some or all of the points in your VIP Club account to enter the Cash Blowout. Each prize level requires an equivalent number of points for entry. For example, it takes 100 points to enter the drawing for five prizes of $100 and 1,000 points for an entry into the drawing for a $1,000 prize. There are corresponding entry points and prize levels for $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, $10,000, and ultimately, 20,000 points for an entry into the drawing for a $20,000 prize.

You can enter the Cash Blowout until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 30. All unused points in the VIP Club also will expire at that time and the Points For Prizes store will close. We’ll select the Cash Blowout prize winners in drawings on July 2. The complete winners list will be posted on our website and we’ll also notify winners individually at the contact information provided in their VIP Club accounts.               

The VIP Club will be in transition for the next couple months, with cash prizes being added to it while the club’s merchandise store is closed down. As we move ahead, we’re planning to have both cash and merchandise up for grabs as prizes in drawings through the VIP Club. We’re also looking at the possibility of allowing lotto tickets to be entered into the club. And of course, we’ll still email monthly coupons to you and have special offers and contests that are exclusive for VIP Club members.   

We know that some of you have enjoyed the Points For Prizes store. As we move ahead, look for cool stuff like you’ve seen in the VIP Club store to be given away in our drawings, along with cash prizes!

Remember these upcoming deadlines: You can enter tickets for points in the VIP Club until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15. And, you can use any of the points you have in your account right up until the Cash Blowout ends and the Points For Prizes store closes at 11:59 p.m. on June 30. We’ll have more VIP Club drawings for even more prizes to announce this summer as we move ahead with our revamped club.         

The Iowa Lottery has had a players club for 19 years now, and the program has been updated several times to keep things fresh. Do you remember when the club first started in 1994? It was called the Birthday Club back then and we only had hard-copy mailings to send to our members. My, how times have changed! These latest updates are part of our next chapter.

October Twitter Contest Results

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today. The winners will be enjoying some free tickets in one of our newest holiday games!

The contest question was: How many entries does a nonwinning $5 Peppermint Super Crossword ticket get you in the Winter of Winners promotion?

The answer was 5 entries! The number of entries is determined by the ticket value. For example: a $2 ticket receives 2 entries, a $5 ticket receives 5 entries, etc.

Our three winners have each won $30 in tickets in the Peppermint Super Crossword scratch game! It’s one of eight new holiday games and has a top prize of $50,000. And remember, if you have any nonwinning tickets, you can also enter them into your free VIP Club account to earn Points For Prizes™ and entries into the Winter of Winners promotion!

Congratulations to:
@blooidgirl88
@cindr29
@RachaelEWoods

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, to claim their prizes.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Mark your calendar now for November’s Twitter contest at 2 p.m. Nov. 20.

Did YOU Win? Twitter Contest Winners Announced!

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! Our entrants were “dashing” around the website in search of the answer.

Today’s question was: What is the name of our current promotion? Almost all of you got it right!

We’ve been talking about it for a couple of months now: the answer is Warehouse Dash! Players can enter nonwinning “Did I Win?” scratch tickets into their FREE VIP Club accounts for a chance to win the dash of a lifetime. We’ve blogged about that before here.

Today, we used a random number generator, or “RNG” to determine the winners of the contest instead of doing an in-house game. It allowed us to get you the results much more quickly.

Our three winners have each won $20 in the Did I Win? scratch game! And remember, if you have any nonwinning tickets, you can also enter them into your free VIP Club account to earn Points For Prizes.


Congratulations to:
@scoochnew
@rinniesmom
@Chas_Blakemore

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, to claim their prizes.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!

Cash or Dash! Twitter Contest

We know during our next Twitter contest, you’ll be wondering: “Did I Win?”

That’s the theme we’re going with to celebrate our latest promotion, Warehouse Dash. And in our Twitter contest, you can have the chance to win one of three prize packs of $20 in “Did I Win?” scratch tickets!

Currently, players can enter nonwinning Did I Win? scratch tickets into their FREE VIP Club accounts for a chance to win a trip to Chicago to dash through a warehouse full of merchandise. We blogged more about that here.

Our Twitter contest is set for noon on Tuesday, April 17. To be eligible to enter, just follow us on Twitter – it’s free to create an account if you don’t already have one. Then give us the correct answer to our super-easy contest question and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of the ticket prize packages.   

At noon next Tuesday, we’ll pose our question on Twitter. Reply with your answer within the 15-minute time limit and you’ll be entered in the contest! Reply to @ialottery on Twitter. (Don’t direct message us on Twitter, as direct messages aren’t eligible for entry.)

We’ll select the three winners in our contest, then we’ll blog about the results and link to that blog entry on Twitter and Facebook.

If you win, you’ll need to contact us with your name, date of birth and mailing address so we can send out your tickets. Winners will have until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, to contact us with their information in order to claim their prize.

A few other details:
• You must be at least 21 years old to enter.
• You must live in Iowa.
• There’s no purchase necessary to enter or win!
• Only one entry per person. Duplicates will be removed.

And now for the fine print: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Twitter. You understand that you are providing your information to the Iowa Lottery and not to Twitter. The information you provide will only be used for the lottery’s Twitter Contest. The risk of loss for electronic misdelivery, late delivery or failure of receipt for information entered electronically remains with entrant regardless of the cause of the transmission failure.

When Will My Package Be Delivered?

Lately we’ve seen an influx of questions regarding shipping time for items redeemed from our Points For Prizes™ store in the VIP Club. We’ll try to clear up any confusion here.

The most common question is, “How long will it take for my package to be shipped to me?”

We keep this information in the rules section and in the FAQs on the VIP Club website, but sometimes people don’t think to look there. When you shop for prizes in our online store, you’ll see we have products from many different manufacturers. Fulfillment of those prizes can often take longer than you’d see on other e-commerce websites.

Our rules state: Prizes will be delivered within four (4) to six (6) weeks of the date of the player's placing the order.

It’s a bit different than seeing a package come within a week or even a few days, so please plan accordingly when choosing items from the store! Expedited shipping is available for some items, but not all.

Another question we get quite often is, “My order says it’s still processing. What does that mean?”

Basically, the “processing” stage of the process means that your order has been received and is being processed at the warehouse prior to shipping. If it has been less than six weeks since you ordered your item, please hang tight! It should get to you soon.

If for some reason your package does not make it to you within the six-week timeframe, or you have other questions about your order, you can always fill out a help form with all the details. Our support staff will get back to you within 48 hours to get things figured out.

Our ‘Lucky’ Twitter Contest Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered our Twitter contest today! We had lots of ‘buzzing’ on our Twitter page.

Today’s question was: how many top prizes have been claimed in the “Bee Lucky” scratch game? We had lots of you get it right!

In case you missed it, there has only been ONE top prize claimed in the game. There are currently 12 of those top prizes still out there, which you can find on our handy “remaining prizes” web page, along with lots of other prizes!

Today, we used a random number generator, or “RNG” to determine the winners of the contest instead of doing an in-house game. It allowed us to get you the results much more quickly.

Our three winners have each won $20 in the Bee Lucky scratch game! And remember, if you have any nonwinning tickets, you can enter them into your free VIP Club account to earn Points For Prizes.

Congratulations to:
@ryanlarends
@justkrzy
@Thomas_J_White

The winners need to contact us by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, to claim their prizes.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s contest. Stay tuned for the next one coming soon!

Your Chance To Be In The Warehouse Dash

I am so excited to tell you about our new promotion that just kicked off at noon today. Six Iowa Lottery players will get the chance to make what may be the most lucrative run of their lives in the Warehouse Dash promo. And plus, they’ll have a ton of fun, just like the folks in the video above.

Here’s how it works: We’ll be giving the promotion’s six winners the chance to go to the warehouse that supplies all of the items in our VIP Club store, including televisions and other electronics, housewares, jewelry, camping gear, sporting equipment and more. The six contestants will each get to choose a partner for a weekend getaway to Chicago, where they’ll go on a 90-second dash through the prize warehouse to grab as much top-brand merchandise as they can.

We anticipate that the winners will walk away with thousands of dollars in prizes. So now’s the time to start thinking about your perfect partner and doing some calisthenics to get ready!

To enter the promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our VIP Club. On the ticket-entry page at www.ialotteryvip.com, you’ll be asked to enter the 10-digit entry number from the front of a non-winning $10 “Did I Win?” instant-scratch ticket along with the ticket number from the back. You’ll need to use a different non-winning Did I Win ticket for each entry.

Double Points To Kick Off New Scratch Game

An eye-catching new scratch game is hitting the streets here in Iowa today, and we’re celebrating by offering double points on nonwinning tickets in that game for a month in our VIP Club. Hint, hint: That’s your cue to deal yourself in on “Aces High.”

From noon today through noon on Feb. 6, when you enter a nonwinning Aces High ticket in your VIP Club account, you’ll get double points. You’ll know that happened when the double points starburst appears on the screen, so be on the lookout for it!

You likely already know the 411 on the VIP Club, but if not, remember that you can use points in your lottery VIP Club account for everything from music downloads to the hottest electronics, so be sure to enter nonwinning Aces High tickets for the next month to get those extra points!

You can ‘Super Tech’ the Halls This Year!

That’s right; our techie holiday promotion is back for its third year running, but with a twist! We had over one million entries in our “Tech The Halls” promotions in 2009 and 2010 combined, so we’re bringing you a bigger, better “Super Tech” this season!

Players who enter Super Tech have a chance at winning one of more than 250 prizes of Sony® electronics, including six Super Prize packages worth more than $4,900 each!

You can enter through noon Jan. 23 and the drawing is set for Jan. 24. As usual, results will be posted on our website.

There are 10 holiday tickets you can enter in the Super Tech promotion through your VIP Club account and different prizes are involved for different tickets. 

Here are the tickets you can enter and the prizes you can win:

•    Enter non-winning $1 Snow Bank or Winter Bucks for chance to win one of 50 Sony® portable DVD players

•    Enter non-winning $2 Lucky Elves Bingo, Betty Boop™ or Santa Games Doubler for a chance to win one of 50 Sony® 3D Bloggie® HD cameras

•    Enter non-winning $3 Merry Crossword or Sparkling Winnings for a chance to win one of 50 Sony® PlayStation® 3 packages (160GB)

•    Enter non-winning $5 Holiday Bonus Crossword and Holiday Wishes for a chance to win one of 50 Sony® Tablet™ S (16GB) prizes

•    Enter non-winning $10 Holiday Countdown for a chance to win one of 50 Sony® BRAVIA® 32-inch HDTVs!

And, if you enter one of each of the 10 holiday scratch tickets, you’ll automatically receive an entry at the Super Prize level. Each Super Prize package includes all of the following electronic prizes plus $2,000 cash: Sony® BRAVIA® 46-inch HDTV, Sony® NEX-C3 digital camera, Sony® Tablet™ S (16GB), Sony® PlayStation® 3 (160GB) and Sony® 3D Blu-ray Disc™ home theater system. State withholding taxes for the prize package also will be paid.
    
All holiday tickets entered into the Super Tech promotion also will earn players “Points For Prizes™” that can be used in the Iowa Lottery’s VIP Club store.

 © 2011 King Features Syndicate, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.
™Hearst Holdings, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc. www.bettyboop.com and www.bettyboopstore.com
Copyright © 2011 Sony Electronics Inc. All Rights Reserved.
®Sony products, marks and logos are registered trademarks of Sony Inc. and are used with permission.

Be Sure To Order In Time For The Holidays

The frost warnings out this week mean the holiday season is edging closer, and we want to give you an early heads up about shipping options available in the VIP Club store for the holidays.

Many of you in the next few weeks may be planning to use your VIP Club points to choose items from our store not only for yourself but for others. We’re looking into having expedited shipping available in time for the holidays for some items within our VIP Club store. But, if we are able to offer it, that option won’t be universal for all store items.

Remember that while we always want shipping time to be kept to a minimum, it can take 4-6 weeks for some items in the VIP Club store to reach their destinations. Please keep that timeframe in mind when you’re doing your holiday shopping so that any gifts you choose from the VIP Club store will arrive on time!

We plan to add more details to our VIP Club site about expedited shipping within the next few weeks, so be sure to check back there for the latest updates!

Is It That Time of the Year Already?

Ready or not, the holidays are coming! We kicked off the holiday season with our third tech-themed holiday promotion. This year, we’re calling it Super Tech; and we’re giving away some super prizes.

Since we changed things up a bit, we have a lot of information to dole out to our players about Super Tech, and we’re doing our best to make things as simple as we can. You can brush up on all the information on our website.

Last week, we got our first really great question about the promotion. One of you reached out to us via email and asked, “I entered ten holiday tickets into the Super Tech promotion using my VIP Club account, but I don’t have any entries into the Super Prize. Why?”

That IS a great question. And here’s the answer: You need to enter one of each of the 10 holiday tickets available this holiday season to receive one eligible entry for the Super Prize. Remember, our holiday tickets are hitting retailers in waves this season, but all 10 tickets will be available by the end of October.

If you’ve got questions about the Super Tech promotion, or anything for that matter, send them our way! You can submit questions here on the blog, via Twitter or Facebook, or through our email address, [email protected].

Have fun ‘Super Teching’ the halls this season!

Why Are There Different Points For The Same Game?

We just got a great VIP Club question that I want to share with you here because it’s something a lot of folks may be wondering about.

The issue has to do with the points you receive when you enter nonwinning scratch tickets in our VIP Club. One of our Club members sent us this question: “Why are the points given on the same type of scratch ticket different?”

The player is right: You don’t get the same number of points from ticket to ticket in our VIP Club, and that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work. Let’s take our “Crossword” game as an example, since it’s always one of the top tickets entered in our club. 

When you enter your Crossword ticket in the Club, the points you get will vary from entry to entry. One time you might get 20 points for your ticket and the next time you might get 35 points. We designed the process to work that way to keep things interesting. That way, it’s a surprise every time you enter a ticket!

Another question we’ve gotten has to do with those games where you get an entry into a promotion AND points in our club. “Great State Tailgate” is the current game where that applies. When you enter a Great State Tailgate ticket in our VIP Club, you get an entry into our promotion drawing for the tailgate trailer we’re giving away and you get the points for that ticket. You don’t have to do anything to get both options – it’s an automatic process built into our system.

Great questions, keep ‘em coming!

New Style of VIP Club Coupons

If you’re already a VIP Club member, you may have noticed a new look and feel to the monthly VIP Club coupons that you know and love.

Monthly VIP Club coupons are no longer being posted on our website. Through the old method, VIP Club players used to log in to their VIP Club account, click on the monthly coupon and print it.

With the new process now in place, VIP Club members receive an email  to the email address they used when they signed up to join the VIP Club containing that month’s VIP Club coupon. Each coupon issued has a unique number that can only be used one time within the specified time period.

Once you’ve received your emailed coupon, print it out and redeem it at your nearest lottery retailer. And here’s an added bonus, if you own a smartphone and can check your emails on your phone, retailers can scan the 2D barcode on your VIP Club coupon right from the email on your phone. However, some retailers may still require a printed copy. It’s up to each retailer.
 
If a retailer tries to scan or enter a coupon that has already been redeemed there or at any other lottery retailer, an error message will pop up letting them know that coupon has already been redeemed.

If you’re not a member already, you can sign up today and start receiving your VIP Club monthly coupon, too. It’s easy and free.

We hope everyone continues to enjoy the VIP Club coupon as one of the many perks of being a free VIP Club member. Be sure to tell your family and friends to join today so they, too, can enjoy the benefits.

Do I Have To Hang Onto My Scratch Tickets For This Promotion?

We’ve gotten a great question this week from a few of our VIP Club members, so we thought we’d take the time to answer it here in case you’ve been wondering the same thing.

The question is: Do I have to hang onto my nonwinning scratch tickets once I’ve entered them in the VIP Club?

That’s a timely issue, because in the past we’ve always asked players to hang onto the nonwinning tickets they’ve entered in second-chance promotions. But one of the beauties of our enhanced VIP Club is that you no longer have to keep all those old tickets lying around!

We’re hoping this will be a major convenience for players, especially those of you who like to stock up and may have trouble keeping track of your entries.

We implemented this new procedure starting with our current “Great Iowa Getaway” promotion and are continuing to evaluate it to ensure it’s working as intended. So, if you entered the “Play It Again” promotion that wrapped up in mid-July, you should still hang onto those tickets in case you’re called as an alternate.

With this new procedure, you don’t have to hang onto your nonwinning tickets after they’ve been successfully entered in the promotion. You also don’t need to hang onto nonwinning tickets after you’ve successfully entered them for Points for Prizes.

We hope that makes things easier! If you have any input or comments about this change, please let us know as we continue to monitor the situation. Now have fun entering!