ialottery blog

Iowa Co-Workers Celebrate $1 Million Win

Eleven members of the Cedar Rapids office pool sharing the $1 million prize in the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway” had fun celebrating today as they claimed the group’s winnings!

An Anamosa woman made the winning entry into the promotion on behalf of her office pool at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids. The 34 co-workers in the office pool who call themselves The Dream Big Team each received about $29,000 before taxes.

Click on the video above to see the team members tell their story!

From May 29 through last Tuesday morning, lottery players could enter the Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway with any Powerball ticket they purchased in Iowa during that three-week timeframe. Players made a total of 165,265 entries into the promotion.

Laurie Ginder purchased the ticket that became the $1 million-winning entry at Casey’s, 500 E. Main St. in Anamosa. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling that lucky ticket at one of its stores. 

This is the fifth lottery prize of at least $1 million won in Iowa so far in 2019.

Eastern Iowa Woman Wins Promotion’s $1 Million Prize, Will Split With Office Pool

An eastern Iowa woman won the $1 million prize in our “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway” with a ticket she bought on behalf of her office pool.

We held the promotion’s prize drawing today, and an entry that Laurie Ginder of Anamosa made on behalf of her office pool was selected as the $1 million winner. Laurie and the 33 other co-workers in her office pool at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids call themselves The Dream Big Team. 

Click on the video above to see Laurie’s reaction when Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn called to share the big news with her.

In April, a $1 million Powerball® prize expired in central Iowa without being claimed. The Iowa Lottery had issued several reminders about that unclaimed prize and held repeated events at the Nevada store where the winning ticket was purchased, but a winner never came forward.

Under Iowa law, the money from lottery prizes that expire without being claimed goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions, so the lottery decided to hold a promotion this spring to give away the $1 million. The promotion’s name was a nod to the lottery’s long-time catch phrase of “Woo Hoo For You™.”

From May 29 through yesterday morning, lottery players could enter the promotion with any Powerball ticket they had purchased in Iowa during that three-week timeframe. Players made a total of 165,265 entries into the promotion.

Laurie purchased the ticket that became her office pool's $1 million winning entry at Casey’s, 500 E. Main St. in Anamosa. Casey’s will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling that lucky ticket. 

This is the fifth lottery prize of at least $1 million to be won in Iowa so far in 2019.

Entries Have Ended & The $1 Million Prize Drawing Is Tomorrow!

Entries have ended in the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway,” and the prize drawing to determine the $1 million winner will be tomorrow!

Iowa Powerball players made a total of 165,265 entries in the promotion during its three-week entry period that closed at 8:59 a.m. today. I’d say the possibility of winning a $1 million prize in an Iowa-only promotion definitely caught people’s attention!

You’ll obviously want to know who won the big prize as quickly as possible – and we want that, too! Just know that behind the scenes, there are layers of security protocols involved and details that have to be double-checked. We do our best to complete the process as quickly as possible, but that work takes some time.

That’s why in the rules for the promotion, we explain that we’ll post the winner’s name on the lottery website by the end of the day on Thursday, or as soon as the information is available. We’ll announce the details just as soon as we can!

We’ll reach out directly to the $1 million winner at the email address provided in their VIP Club account and we’ll also call that person.

There’s no annuity option for the $1 million prize in the promotion, meaning that the winner will receive a check from the lottery for the net prize amount after withholdings. Here in Iowa, 24 percent federal withholding applies (which in the case of the $1 million prize is $240,000) along with 5 percent state withholding ($50,000 in this instance), so the winner will receive a prize check from the Iowa Lottery for $710,000.

The winner will need to claim the prize in person at lottery headquarters in Clive by 4 p.m. on June 27. Good luck to everyone in tomorrow’s drawing, and thank you for playing!

Check Out Our First Silverado Winners

The first Silverado winner in our “Summer of Silverado” promotion predicted to her husband that she'd win a new truck for him. Cindy Weems of Cumming admits she never thought it would actually happen -- and then it did!

Click on the video above to see Cindy and Rick Weems as they got to see their new truck for the first time and then very carefully drove it out of the dealership! 

And don’t forget: The next drawing for another all-new 2019 Silverado LT Trail Boss and five prizes of $5,000 will be July 18!

The Latest Player Mail Questions About Our $1 Million Promotion

Entries have been coming in for a little more than a week now in our “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway,” and players have been asking some really good questions about the promotion, too. I’m sharing the Q-and-A here on the blog so you’ll have the same info.!

Q: Why can’t I enter a ticket from the May 29 Powerball drawing?

A: The ticket must have been purchased on May 29 or after to be eligible for entry into the promotion. A ticket from the May 29 Powerball drawing may have been purchased on an earlier date, so double-check the details on your ticket.  

Q: If I have a winning Powerball ticket, doesn’t the retail location keep the ticket after it is cashed?

A: Yes, that’s what happens. Iowa Lottery retail locations keep the winning tickets they cash for accounting and security purposes. So if you want to enter a winning Powerball ticket into the promotion, be sure to do that BEFORE you claim the prize.    

Q: Do I need to keep my Powerball tickets after I enter them into the promotion?

A: No. The entry itself provides the information we’ll need in the promotion drawing. (Just be sure to keep the ticket until after the Powerball drawing you bought it for so you can check to see if you won a prize in that drawing.)

Q: I want to enter the promotion, but I can’t access your website.

A: Were you at work when you tried to log onto the lottery’s website? Many employers block access through their networks to any gambling-related website, and that applies when you’re using your own device through the company’s wifi or you’re on a computer directly connected to the company network. You may get several different error messages in that situation. Try accessing our website from home, where you’ll be using your own Internet connection.

Q: Can I enter tickets from other lotto games in the promotion? What about Powerball tickets from other states?

A: Tickets in any game other than Powerball are ineligible, and will be disqualified from the promotion drawing. Powerball tickets from other states also aren’t eligible. Only Powerball tickets purchased IN IOWA during the promotion’s entry period from May 29 through 8:59 a.m. on June 18 are eligible.

Q: If I bought a Powerball ticket in Iowa, does that mean I’m automatically entered in the promotion?

A: No. You have to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club and enter your ticket into your VIP Club account to be entered. If you’re not already a member, click here to join.

Q: My Powerball ticket was good for more than one drawing. Does that mean I’ll get multiple entries in the promotion?

A: No. Each eligible ticket entered counts as one entry into the promotion, regardless of the number of plays on it or the number of Powerball drawings for which the ticket is eligible. To put it another way, 1 ticket = 1 entry.

Only In Iowa: Powerball Players Have Chance At $1 Million Prize

Now is your chance: For the next three weeks, Powerball® players in Iowa can enter a promotion for a shot at a $1 million prize.

Any Powerball ticket purchased in Iowa from today through 8:59 a.m. on June 18 can be entered into the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway.” After the three-week entry period, we’ll hold a drawing on June 19 to determine the winner of the promotion’s $1 million prize.

Call it our version of recycling! Back in April, a $1 million Powerball prize expired in central Iowa without being claimed. Someone bought that ticket at a Casey’s store in Nevada for the Powerball drawing on April 11, 2018. But the prize was never claimed, so it expired on April 11 of this year.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a $1 million prize has ever gone unclaimed in Iowa. We repeatedly called attention to the prize to try to find the winner, and now we’re dedicating our efforts to ensuring that this prize money finds its way to a new Iowa Lottery winner.

This is a truly Iowa-made effort: Our leadership team at the Iowa Lottery thought through how we could give away this $1 million, one of the district sales representatives in our Cedar Rapids office came up with the promotion name, and only Powerball tickets purchased in Iowa can be entered into the promotion for a shot at the prize.

Please note this important detail: Simply buying a Powerball ticket during the next three weeks won’t automatically enter you into the promotion. You have to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club and enter your ticket in your VIP Club account to be entered. Click here for a direct link to the VIP Club homepage where you can find details about joining if you’re not already a member. 

You’ve heard us say many times that the money from lottery prizes that expire without being claimed in Iowa goes into our prize pools for future games and promotions. Well, this big unclaimed prize gives us the chance to demonstrate that!

Each eligible Powerball ticket entered will count as one entry into the promotion, regardless of the number of plays on it or how many drawings the plays may span.

The lottery retailer that sells the promotion’s $1 million-winning ticket will receive a $1,000 bonus from the lottery. That also was the case with the $1 million ticket in Nevada: Even though it was never claimed, Casey’s still got a $1,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling that ticket at one of its stores. Our retailers work hard every day to sell our tickets, and this is one more way we can thank them.

We know that Iowa has faced some really challenging weather-related events this year, and folks in a large swath of our state are still finding their way through those difficulties. Maybe the buzz surrounding this unclaimed prize mystery and new promotion can give us all a short break to think about something else – and then as Iowans, we’ll get back to work to ensure our state recovers. And the Iowa Lottery will keep doing its best to raise proceeds to help with vital state causes right here at home.

We’re Declaring It The “Summer of Silverado”

We’ve decided to call it the “Summer of Silverado®” because during the next four months, we’ll give away four all-new 2019 Chevy Silverados. They’re the grand prizes in our summer promotion that that runs through mid-September.
 
It all starts with the “Silverado” scratch game you’ll find in lottery retail locations statewide. The $5 Silverado tickets are easy to spot because they have an image of a Chevy Silverado on them! You can win instant prizes in the game of up to $50,000, but if your ticket is a nonwinner, you can Play It Again® by entering it into our Summer of Silverado promotion for a chance to win a truck or a cash prize.

We’ll hold four drawings in the promotion and each time, we’ll give away a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss and five prizes of $5,000. The drawings will be on June 13, July 18, Aug. 15 and Sept. 12.

It’s been five years since the Iowa Lottery has given away a vehicle as a prize, but the Summer of Silverado is definitely changing that!

Later This Spring, We’ll Give Away That $1 Million Unclaimed Prize

Lottery players in Iowa will get another shot at the money from that $1 million prize that expired last week without being claimed.

On Thursday, the prize-claim deadline passed for a $1 million Powerball® prize won in April 2018 in central Iowa. We had issued several reminders about the unclaimed prize and held events at the Nevada store where the winning ticket was purchased, but a winner never came forward.

So later this spring, the lottery will give players another chance to win the money.

From May 29 through June 18, 2019, Iowa Lottery players will be able to enter a promotion called the “Woo Hoo A Million For You Giveaway” for a chance to win the $1 million prize. Any Powerball ticket purchased in Iowa during that three-week period will be eligible for entry. The drawing for the promotion’s $1 million prize will be held June 19. (You likely already picked up on the fact that the promotion’s name is a nod to the lottery’s long-time catch phrase of “Woo Hoo For You.”)

We believe this is the first time that a $1 million prize has gone unclaimed in the lottery’s 34-year history. Under Iowa law, the money from unclaimed lottery prizes goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games and promotions. So with this one-time, $1 million giveaway, we’re putting that into action!

The $1 million prize was won in the Powerball drawing on April 11, 2018, with a ticket purchased at Casey’s, 1800 S. B Ave. in Nevada. The ticket matched the first five numbers that night but missed the Powerball. The winner or winners had until the close of business at 4 p.m. on Thursday (April 11, 2019) to claim the $1 million prize at lottery headquarters in Clive. We repeatedly called attention to the unclaimed prize during the past year, and now we’ll dedicate our efforts to making sure that this prize money finds its way to a new Iowa Lottery winner.

Casey’s received a $1,000 bonus from the lottery for selling the $1 million prize at one of its stores, and that payment was made shortly after the prize was won.

There’s another distinction that also applies to this particular unclaimed prize money: When a jackpot prize in Powerball expires without being claimed, the money is returned to the states in the game in proportion to the percentage of sales that came from each state. But because the $1 million prize that expired was at Powerball’s Match 5 level, the entire $1 million will remain in Iowa to be given away as a prize here.    

When the promotion starts on May 29, we’ll have the rules and full details on our website at www.ialottery.com.

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.

48 Winners Headed To Bball Tourney In Des Moines!

Our Suite Seats promotion ended yesterday, and 48 lucky winners scored tickets to next month’s men’s basketball tournament at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Click here to see the list of winners!

 

We had winners from all around Iowa, and even one from Burnsville, Minn.! Each prize package includes a pair of tickets in an exclusive Lottery suite on either Thursday, March 21 or Saturday, March 23, along with food, beverages and a parking pass – everything they’ll need for a fun time at the tournament!

 

If you’re one of the winners, please check your inbox for an email on how to claim your prize.

These Lucky Ducks Have Gotten A Break From Winter

I will admit this photo makes me jealous right now as we brave snow and frigid temps here in Iowa.
 
This bunch of Iowa winners has been someplace much, MUCH warmer this week, enjoying the Caribbean cruise vacation they won in last year’s “Power Cruise” promotion.

We got this group shot of our winners onboard the Royal Caribbean® “Majesty of the Seas®.” They’re just getting back today to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from their five-night cruise!

Holiday Promo Starts Today! 61 Cash Prizes Totaling $125,000 On The Line

Psssst! This blog entry will get you thinking about winning cash for the holidays. :)

A total of 61 cash prizes, including a grand prize of $20,000, will be up for grabs over the next few months in our “Fa la la Loot” holiday promotion that started at 9 a.m. today.

The promotion will have seven drawings and the value of the prizes involved will increase each time. We’ll kick things off with 10 prizes of $500 on the line in the promotion’s drawing on Oct. 24, and that will ratchet up to 10 prizes of $3,000 in the drawing on Jan. 9. A $20,000 grand prize also will be awarded Jan. 9 from any entries not selected in an earlier drawing.

Our players have always told us that cash is king, so we’re giving you lots of chances to win just that during this holiday season!

You can enter the promotion using nonwinning tickets from the 11 holiday-themed scratch games we’ll have available this year. Nine of the games hit the market today and two more will debut Nov. 5.

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 through the VIP Club website or by scanning your tickets on our app! 

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

Iowa City Man Says He Now Knows That People DO Win Lottery Prizes

Jim Rogers admits he used to wonder if anyone really won the prizes offered in lottery promotions, but now he knows they do. Rogers, of Iowa City, claimed the grand prize today in the Iowa Lottery’s “Tiny Home, Big Wins!” promotion. Click on the video above to see the highlights of his fun day.

Iowa City Man Wins Grand Prize In ‘Tiny Home, Big Wins’ Promotion

Jim Rogers of Iowa City had a PRICELESS reaction when we called this morning to let him know he’s the grand-prize winner in the “Tiny Home, Big Wins!” promotion. Check out the video above to see what Jim had to say about the good news. :)

And, demonstrating that he’s a savvy guy, Jim then called us back to double-check that we really do work at the Iowa Lottery and he really had won a big prize. And it’s true!  

Jim’s winning entry beat the odds to claim the grand prize out of nearly 116,000 total entries that players made in the promotion. As the grand-prize winner, Jim will get a $60,000 gift certificate from Wind River Tiny Homes in Chattanooga, Tenn., for a custom-built tiny home, along with two Home Depot gift cards of $500. (State and federal withholding taxes for the grand-prize package also will be paid.)

In addition to Jim’s grand prize, other Iowa Lottery players won 120 Home Depot® gift cards of $500 each in the promotion’s earlier drawings this year. CONGRATS to all our winners, and thank you for being part of the fun!

Iowa Lottery is not affiliated with The Home Depot®. The Home Depot is not a sponsor of this promotion. The Home Depot is a registered trademark of Home Depot Product Authority, LLC.
© 2018 Wind River Tiny Homes.

Our Power Cruise™ Winners Are From … All These Places!

With the results in from the final drawing in our Power Cruise™ promotion, we decided to take a look at all the spots in Iowa where this year’s trip winners live!
 
So here’s a map showing the communities that had cruise winners in the promotion. (And for those of you doing a careful count, the image is correct with only 24 pins. Iowa had 28 Power Cruise winners, but there were multiple winners in a couple communities.) 

Click here for the full list of winners. Thank you to everyone who entered and congrats to those folks who are now planning their 2019 Caribbean cruise vacations! 

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.

 

 

There’s No Surprise Like A Lotto Surprise!

Who doesn't love a good surprise? Starting Sunday, April 29, through Saturday, May 26, we’re giving away free plays to random Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky for Life and Lotto America players - there’s a different bonus offer each week!

Week 1 (April 29 - May 5):
Chance for free Lotto America play(s) when you buy Powerball.

Week 2 (May 6 - May 12):
Chance for free Lotto America play(s) when you buy Mega Millions.

Week 3 (May 13 - May 19):
Chance for free Lotto America play(s) when you buy Lucky for Life.

Week 4 (May 20 - May 26):
Chance for free Powerball play(s) when you buy Lotto America.

For details on how to make a qualifying purchase and more information, visit our website at ialottery.com starting Sunday.

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.

It’s Back! Powerball Promotion Offers Chance To Win Caribbean Vacation

After the huge response last year, we’re bringing back the Powerball® promotion that gives you the chance to win a Caribbean cruise vacation package.

The “Power Cruise™” promotion begins tomorrow and will have 28 cruise packages on the line for lottery players in Iowa – three more than in 2017’s initial version.

From tomorrow through June 6 here in Iowa, when you buy a Powerball ticket, you’ll automatically get a code you can use to enter the promotion on the lottery’s VIP Club website or the Power Cruise Collect ‘N Win app available through the App Store and Google Play™. (It’s the same app as last year, so if you still have the app downloaded you will be receiving an email to update the app.) More than 20 U.S. lotteries are participating in this promotion.

The Caribbean cruise on the Royal Caribbean® “Majesty of the Seas®” ship will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in January 2019 to give trip winners plenty of time to plan for their vacations.

Two of the cruise packages available to Iowa players will be for Balcony staterooms on the ship; 16 will be for Ocean View staterooms; and 10 will be for Interior staterooms. Each vacation package for two will include airfare to Florida; a one-night hotel stay in Tampa the night before the cruise departs; ground transportation from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to the port; a stateroom with all amenities for a five-night cruise to the Caribbean departing Jan. 19, 2019, to Nassau, Bahamas, and the exclusive island of CocoCay®; a $250 credit on the ship; and ground transfer from the port to the airport when the cruise has concluded. The cruise packages are each valued at more than $7,100.

Once the cruise begins, the fun will really get going for those on the ship. Each registered trip winner on the ship will have a chance at $250,000 in onboard cash prizes, including two prizes of $50,000 in the grand-prize event.

Those on the cruise liner also will be treated to an exclusive concert by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins.

To enter, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our free VIP Club. You’ll need to key in the entry code from a qualifying Powerball ticket either via the lottery’s VIP Club website or the Power Cruise Collect ‘N Win app. Each eligible Powerball ticket entered in the promotion will give the player entry symbols, with the goal of collecting enough symbols to complete a game card with six squares. Each card that a player completes will count as one entry in the promotion. The deadline to enter is by 11:59 p.m. June 6.

We’ll hold three promotional prize drawings beginning May 3. Here is the schedule and the number of prizes that will be awarded in each drawing:

Entry Period                                         Cruise Packages           Drawing Date
April 14 – May 2                                            8                                   May 3
April 14  – May 16                                         9                                   May 17
April 14 – June 6                                           11                                 June 7

Rules and complete details are available on our website at www.ialottery.com and winners’ information also will be posted there.

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.

 

You Can Tour A Custom Tiny Home This Weekend In Des Moines!

Just before the snow started to fall yesterday, the folks from Wind River Tiny Homes® arrived in Iowa with a custom-built tiny home that will be on display this weekend during the Des Moines Home + Garden Show. Being at the show can definitely get us all looking forward to spring!
 
We got a sneak peek at the tiny home yesterday at the Iowa Events Center and have included some pics of it here. Each home that Wind River constructs is custom built, and the home on display this weekend will give you a good idea of what they could build for you if you’re the grand-prize winner of a $60,000 certificate in our “Tiny Home, Big Wins!” promotion. (The tiny home at the show this weekend is for sale and the folks from Wind River can talk with you about that if you want to learn more.)

The lottery will have a booth beside the tiny home this weekend where we’ll be selling tickets in our “Tiny Home, Big Wins!” scratch game. You can spin the prize wheel at our booth for merchandise prizes with a minimum purchase of $10 and can get a T-shirt with a $20 minimum purchase. And remember, if you don’t win an instant prize on your Tiny Home scratch ticket, you can use it as an entry into the promotion for a chance to win your own tiny home.

The Home Depot® is doing landscaping around the tiny home on display and is tricking it out with home decorating that will get your ideas flowing. They’ll be doing their own give-aways throughout the show as well.  

See you this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Des Moines Home + Garden Show!  

Iowa Lottery is not affiliated with The Home Depot®. The Home Depot is not a sponsor of this promotion. The Home Depot is a registered trademark of Home Depot Product Authority, LLC.

© 2018 Wind River Tiny Homes

 

‘Tiny Home, Big Wins!’ Promotion: Your Chance To Join The Trend!

We’ve got a chance for you to be part of the tiny-home movement.

Whatever you call it – a tiny home, a small house or a not-so-big house – there’s no doubt that this trend has taken root all across the country. We’ve had fun brainstorming ways to give our players a chance to join in, and that led to today’s debut of a promotion that offers a custom-built tiny home as the grand prize.

A $5 instant-scratch game called “Tiny Home, Big Wins!” it hitting stores today. And we’re also opening the entry period for a promotion with the same name. Tickets in the scratch game feature an image of a tiny home in the woods and offer players the chance to win prizes from $5 up to $50,000.

Players who don’t win an instant prize can use nonwinning tickets in the game to enter the promotion from today through Aug. 29. The promotion will feature seven prize drawings, or about one a month. The first six drawings will each offer 20 prizes of $500 Home Depot® gift cards.

The promotion’s grand-prize drawing on Aug. 31 will be for a $60,000 gift certificate from Wind River Tiny Homes of Chattanooga, Tenn., for a custom-built tiny home, along with two Home Depot gift cards of $500 for the winner. (State and federal withholding taxes for the grand-prize package also will be paid.)

To enter the promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our free VIP Club. You can enter tickets into the promotion through the lottery’s website or the Iowa Lottery’s LotteryPlus app available through iTunes® and Google Play®.

*Entries not selected as a winner in a previous Tiny Home, Big Wins! promotion drawing are automatically entered into the Tiny Home, Big Wins! grand prize drawing.

Iowa Lottery is not affiliated with The Home Depot®. The Home Depot is not a sponsor of this promotion. The Home Depot is a registered trademark of Home Depot Product Authority, LLC.

© 2018 Wind River Tiny Homes.

Where Did My Favorite Scratch Game Go?

We’ve heard from some players recently asking where they can find their favorite scratch game.

You may have noticed that nine new holiday scratch games went on sale Oct. 2 and two more will go on sale Nov. 6. Nonwinning tickets in all 11 holiday scratch games are eligible to win cash prizes in our Secret Santa Play It Again^® promotion.

Because of this, we ask that all of our retailers across the state sell at least some of our holiday scratch games. And since many retailers have limited space to display lottery games, some scratch games must be removed to make room for the new ones. Therefore, we’ve pulled some of our other games for the time being.

Don’t worry, though, we haven’t gotten rid of those other games for good. As you can imagine, the holiday games only run for a short time, so our other games, and their remaining prizes, will be coming back in early January!

Just In Time For Spring: Frogger!

​

 With the return of spring, lots of creatures are hopping around outside … and on the tickets in one of our new scratch games! The “Frogger” game begins sales today in Iowa, bringing with it a fun throw-back look at the early days of video gaming!

This new $5 scratch game comes complete with frogs; cars and trucks the frogs need to avoid as they cross the road; and turtles, alligators and logs the frogs can try to ride across the river to reach the finish line and win a prize. And hold onto your tickets because starting next week, you can use nonwinning Frogger tickets to enter a Play It Again® promotion with cash and merchandise as prizes. 

We filmed this how-to-play video so you can learn more about the new Frogger game. So, get hoppin’ and watch it!

©Konami Digital Entertainment

 

Our Power Cruise™ Winners Are From … These Places!

With the results officially recorded from the final drawing in our Power Cruise™ promotion, we decided to take a look back at all the locations where Iowa’s trip winners live!

So here’s a map showing the communities that saw cruise winners in the promotion. And for those of you doing a careful count, the image is correct with only 21 pins. Iowa had 25 Power Cruise winners, but there were multiple winners in a couple communities. 

Click here for the full list of winners. Thank you to everyone who entered and congrats to those folks who are now planning their 2018 Caribbean cruise vacations! 

Player Mail: FAQs About Power Cruise

We’ve gotten several great questions this week from players about our “Power Cruise™” promotion, so we’ve compiled them here in an overall Q-and-A list so you’ll have the details, too. 

Are all Powerball^® tickets eligible? Yes, both winning and nonwinning Powerball tickets purchased in Iowa between Feb. 5 and March 29 are eligible for this promotion.

Do I need to keep my Powerball ticket after I’ve entered it in the promotion? You should hold on to your Powerball ticket until the drawing for which it’s eligible occurs because you’ll need your ticket to claim any cash prize you may win in that drawing. But once the drawing has passed and you’ve successfully entered your ticket into the Power Cruise promotion, then you no longer need to keep your ticket. Should one of your entries be selected as the winner of a cruise package, you won’t need to present the tickets you entered in the promotion to claim your prize.

If my entry isn’t selected as a winner in the first drawing, do my entries carry over to the other drawings? Yes. Entries not selected in drawings 1-5 will roll to the next eligible drawing. Entries not selected in the sixth and final drawing will not be eligible for any prize. You can see the drawing schedule on our website.

Do you have to be a VIP Club member to participate? Yes, you must be a member of our free VIP Club to enter the promotion using Powerball tickets that you’ve purchased in Iowa. If you’re not already a member, we recommend that you register for an account first.

I’m a VIP Club member, but every time I try to enter my Powerball ticket into the Power Cruise promotion, I receive this error message: “Application has encountered an error. Please contact support.” Why is that occurring and how can I fix it?  Please double-check your VIP Club account to make sure that you have a phone number listed in your profile. We need a phone number to be able to contact you should you win a cruise package. To check for your phone listing, log in to your VIP Club account on our website and then click on the “Manage Profile” link on the left-hand side of the screen. Once there you can add a phone number and update any other contact information as needed.

Is the Collect ‘N Win mobile app available for both Apple and Android devices? Of course! You can find the Collect ‘N Win app in both iTunes® and Google PlayTM. And you can download it here. Don’t have a smartphone? You also can enter eligible Powerball tickets through our VIP Club website, so you don’t have to download the app or have a smartsphone to scan them.

Is there a minimum purchase required? No. Any Powerball ticket (winning or nonwinning) purchased between Feb. 5 and March 29 is eligible. And remember that each ticket can only be entered once – you will not receive more Collect ‘N Win symbols if your ticket has plays for more than one Powerball drawing.

We hope this helps answer your questions! But if you didn’t find the details you were looking for here, let us know by commenting on this post or by sending an email to Wmaster@ialottery.com.

 

Powerball Promotion Offers Players Chance To Win Caribbean Vacation

A new Powerball® promotion that starts Sunday gives lottery players in Iowa the chance to win one of 25 Caribbean cruise vacation packages.
 
It’s called the “Power Cruise™” promotion and it runs from Sunday through March 29 here in Iowa. If you make a Powerball purchase during that time, you’ll automatically get a code you can use to enter the promotion via the lottery’s VIP Club website or the Power Cruise Collect ‘N Win app available through iTunes® and Google Play®.

Iowa is one of 24 U.S. lotteries participating in this promotion, with 25 cruise packages available to players who enter with Powerball tickets they purchase in Iowa.

The Caribbean cruise on the Royal Caribbean® “Brilliance of the Seas®” ship will depart from Tampa, Fla., in January 2018 to give trip winners plenty of time to plan for their vacations.

Twelve of the cruise packages available to Iowa players will be for Balcony staterooms on the ship; seven will be for Ocean View staterooms; and six will be for Interior staterooms. Each vacation package for two will include airfare to Florida; a one-night hotel stay in Tampa the night before the cruise departs; ground transportation from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to the port; a stateroom with all amenities for a five-night cruise to the Caribbean departing Jan. 15, 2018, with two ports of call; a $250 credit on the ship; primary gratuities paid for the room attendant and dining-room staff on the ship; and ground transfer from the port to the airport when the cruise has concluded. The cruise packages are each valued at more than $4,800.

Once the cruise begins, the fun will really get going for those on the ship. There will be 200 pre-paid gift cards of $500 each awarded to registered trip winners on the ship. And on the final evening of the cruise, a $50,000 top prize will be awarded to one of the registered trip winners onboard.

Those on the cruise liner also will be treated to exclusive concerts by the rock group the Goo Goo Dolls; rap artist Flo Rida and pop singer Macy Kate.

To enter, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our free VIP Club. You’ll need to key in the entry code from a qualifying
Powerball ticket either via the lottery’s VIP Club website or the Power Cruise Collect ‘N Win app. Each eligible Powerball ticket entered in the promotion will give the player entry symbols, with the goal of collecting enough symbols to complete a game card with six squares. Each card that a player completes will count as one entry in the promotion. The deadline to enter is by 11:59 p.m. March 29.

We’ll hold six weekly promotional prize drawings beginning Feb. 22. Here is the schedule and the number of prizes that will be awarded:

Entry Period                                         Cruise Packages           Drawing Date
Feb. 5 – Feb. 20                                         4                                     Feb. 22
Feb. 5 – Feb. 27                                         4                                     March 1
Feb. 5 – March 6                                        4                                     March 8
Feb. 5 – March 13                                      4                                     March 15
Feb. 5 – March 20                                      4                                     March 22
Feb. 5 – March 29                                      5                                     March 31

Rules and complete details will be available on our website at www.ialottery.com and winners’ information also will be posted there.

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. ©2017 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.

 

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.

Player Mail: We Have Questions About The Holiday Promotion …

Our “Jingle Bills” holiday promotion has been up and running for about a week now, so it’s a good time to recap answers to some of the questions we’re seeing about it.

Each ticket entered in the promotion is good for one entry, it doesn’t matter the price of the ticket. And each entry is good only for the drawing in which it was entered as well as the $20,000 grand-prize drawing at the end if it’s not selected before then. You’ll need to enter an eligible nonwinning ticket during each entry period to have a chance of winning a prize in the current drawing.  

But entries don’t carry over from one of the initial drawings to the next. At the close of each two-week entry period, the entry cache is wiped clean and the count starts over at zero for the next drawing cycle.

A few folks have said they had trouble getting their tickets entered in the promotion. They said they keyed in their ticket numbers, but didn’t get a message saying that an entry had been made, and the ticket was not in their history of entries. In those instances, the players needed to make sure they clicked on the “submit” icon with their mouse rather than hitting the “enter” button on their keyboard. Just a few people have had that situation, and the entry process we’ve described worked for all of them.

We also got a question about the number of top prizes in our holiday-themed games. A player noticed that holiday games don’t have as many top prizes available as our other games and wondered why. 

It’s because our holiday-themed games by design will only be on the market for a short period of time while many of our other games are sold for a year or more. We order smaller quantities of tickets in our holiday games, which means there will be a smaller number of prizes involved. The key point, however, is that the odds of winning in our holiday-themed games are in line with those in our other games, and that’s what matters when it comes to the chance of winning a prize.

And with “Crossword” and “Bingo” being perennial favorites with our scratch-ticket players, we’ve gotten questions about when the non-holiday versions of those games will be back. Not to worry! They’ll return in January when the holiday promotion ends.

Holiday Promo Starts Today! 65 Cash Prizes Will Be Given Away

A total of 65 cash prizes will be up for grabs over the next few months in our “Jingle Bills” holiday promotion that started at noon today.

The promotion will have eight drawings, with the number of prizes increasing over time. There will be a $1,000 prize on the line in the drawing on Oct. 26 and that will ratchet up to 18 prizes of $1,000 in the drawing on Jan. 18. A $20,000 grand prize also will be awarded Jan. 18, with any entries not selected in an earlier drawing eligible for the grand prize.

You’ve told us that cash is your favorite prize, so we’re giving you lots of chances to win just that all the way through the holiday season!

You can enter the promotion using nonwinning tickets from the 11 holiday-themed instant-scratch games we’ll have available this year. Nine of the games hit the market Oct. 3 and two more will start sales on Oct. 31.

The promotion gives you three ways to win with each holiday-themed ticket that you buy: You could win an instant prize playing your scratch ticket; have a chance at a $1,000 prize if you enter one of the initial drawings; and have a chance at the $20,000 grand prize if your entry isn’t selected before then.

To enter the promotion, you’ll need to join or already be a member of our free VIP Club. Here’s the drawing schedule and the number of prizes that will be awarded:

Player Mail: Help! I Can’t Get The ‘Power For Life’ Deal!

We’ve gotten emails and heard from some folks on social media who say they’re having difficulty buying tickets at a discount in our “Power for Life” promotion that started last week. Here’s the inside scoop to help out, should you encounter that same situation.
 
We’ve provided information about the promotion to our retailers and our folks in the field who visit our retail locations each week will continue to provide them with updates and reminders. These are the details we’re sharing with them:

Retailers print plays in the promotion by using the Power for Life icon on the game screens for Powerball® and Lucky for Life® on the lottery terminal. The image above shows where to find the Power for Life icon along the right side of the screen.

By asking for the Power for Life bundle, you’ll get a $2 discount on plays in Powerball and Lucky for Life. They’re easy-pick plays for the next two drawings – a Powerball with Power Play ticket and a Lucky for Life ticket. That normally would be a $10 purchase but it costs just $8 during the promotion that runs through the end of this month. (This promotion is available at any retail location in Iowa where lottery tickets are sold.)  

When the Power for Life icon is pressed on the screen, a confirmation window will pop up. The store clerk should choose “yes” to sell the promotional bundle. An audio recording then plays from the lottery terminal. You’ll hear, “Woo-hoo! It’s your lucky day!” and two easy-pick tickets, one in each game for the next two consecutive drawings, will be printed.

Hope this helps!

 

The Cash Prize Winners In Our “Ghostbusters™” Promotion Are …

We just held drawings for the cash prizes available in our big summer “Ghostsbusters™” promotion, and congrats go out to 11 happy winners today!

Ten prizes of $1,000 and a grand prize of $5,000 cash were on the line in today’s drawings, and the winners were from all across the state. Click here to see today’s winners as well as the winners from the promotion’s two earlier drawings in June and July.

Thanks for being part of the Ghostbusters fun this summer. Our next Play It Again® promotion will begin this fall, so be on the lookout for those details!

TM & © 2016 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
          
© 2016 Sony Electronics. All Rights Reserved. 
Sony products, marks and logos are registered trademarks of Sony Electronics Inc. and are used with permission.