ialottery blog

Player Question: Do I Need To Keep My Ticket After I Enter It In the Promotion?

We’ve gotten the same question from a few different players about our “Winner Wonderland” promotion, so I’ll answer it here to give the details to everyone. And, while the question is specifically about the holiday promotion, the specifics apply to any ticket you’ve entered into a promotion through your VIP Club account.

The question is pretty basic: Do I need to keep my ticket after I enter it into the promotion? As in, will I need to present that ticket to claim any prize I might win in the promotion?

The short answer is no, you don’t need to keep the ticket. Here’s the backstory: Entering an eligible ticket into one of our promotions meets the requirement of presenting that ticket to the lottery. So, you do not need to keep the ticket after entering it to claim a prize through the promotion. That detail is spelled out in the rules for the Winner Wonderland promotion, but I’m happy to provide the info. here as well. 

Only nonwinning scratch tickets from this year’s eligible holiday-themed games can be entered into Winner Wonderland, but if you ever enter one of our promotions that involves tickets in lotto or InstaPlay games, be sure to check the results of the tickets themselves before you discard  them. If you win a cash prize on the ticket itself rather than in the promotion, you would need to present the ticket to the lottery to claim that prize.

Good luck on your Winner Wonderland entries, and thank you for playing!

‘Winner Wonderland’ Promotion Has Started Today, With $640,000 In Prizes

The biggest prize pool ever offered in one of our holiday promotions is up for grabs in our “Winner Wonderland®” promotion that just opened for entries today.

The promotion features 181 cash prizes totaling $640,000, including a grand prize of $250,000. We’re applying the “max bet” concept in the promotion, meaning that the size of the prize players can win increases along with the purchase price of the scratch ticket they’ve entered.

Players could start making entries in Winner Wonderland at 9 a.m. today, and the promotion runs through early January, with its final drawing date on Jan. 7.

Players can enter the promotion using non-winning tickets in the 13 holiday-themed scratch tickets we’ll have available this year. Tickets in six of those games started sales last week, and they’ll be followed by five more on Oct. 5 and the final two on Nov. 2.

In each of the promotion’s three initial drawings, 60 prizes will be awarded: 20 prizes of $500 from among the $1 and $2 entries; 20 prizes of $1,000 from among the $3 and $5 entries; and 20 prizes of $5,000 from among the $10 and $20 entries.

The initial drawings will be on Nov. 5, Dec. 3 and Jan. 7, with the $250,000 grand-prize drawing also on Jan. 7.

Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next, except for the grand-prize drawing.
All entries submitted over the course of the promotion that are not selected as a winner in one of the initial drawings will automatically be eligible for the grand-prize drawing.

Player Question: How Do I Enter 'Jewel Game Book' Tickets In Your Promo?

One of the scratch games that can be entered into our big “Summer Cash Bash” has stumped some players who weren’t able to find the codes on the ticket that they need to enter the promotion.

We’ve added the details to answer that question on the FAQs page for the promotion in the hope that we can help folks get their tickets entered before the deadline on the morning of Sept. 8. I’m also giving those details here, along with photos to help highlight the areas involved.

The Jewel Game Book is a little different than our other scratch games because it has multiple pages of play, all in one ticket. That means there are more possibilities for where the codes involved might be printed.

If you're using our mobile app to enter a Jewel Game Book ticket into the promotion, you’ll find the square code that you’ll need to scan at the bottom of Page 6, under the security coating on the Scratch 2 Cash area.

If you're entering a ticket in the game manually using our website, you’ll need to enter two codes of numbers. You’ll find a 10-digit code at the top of Page 6 of the game book, which contains the “Emerald Riches” game. That code is under the header reading "Your Numbers, Winning Numbers, Prize." And like any other scratch game, there's a 9-digit code you’ll need to enter that is above the barcode on the back of the ticket.

I hope these details help with your ticket entries!

It’s Started Today: Our Summer Promotion Will Give Away $250,000 In Prizes

We’re making the move into summer here at the Iowa Lottery with today’s start of the “Summer Cash Bash” Prize Zone promotion that will give away a total of $250,000 in cash prizes by mid-September.

The promotion will award 90 cash prizes totaling $250,000 during the next two months. To keep things interesting, every two weeks, we’ll change up the prizes on the line and the scratch games that can be entered inti the promotion.

The Summer Cash Bash officially started this morning, and the first entry period runs through the morning of July 28. The first drawing takes place on July 30, and we'll give away 22 prizes that day totaling $60,000. Nonwinning tickets from five scratch games can be entered into this first round of the promotion: Quick 5s, Money Ball, Amazing Money, $50,000 Classic Black, and $100,000 Mega Crossword.

We’ve got details about the next couple upcoming rounds of the Summer Cash Bash on our promotions page, so feel free to check out the current games that can be entered as well as the details that are on deck.

Player Question: Why Do You Still Sell That Game After The Promotion Has Ended?

With the Prize Zone now an ongoing part of our VIP Club and the big Summer Cash Bash starting in a couple weeks, I’ll answer a question here on the blog that we’ve received from a few players in the past about the games that can be entered into our promotions.

Those folks have wondered why we continue to sell the games involved in our promotions after the promotions end. What they may not have realized is that the scratch games involved are often already available before a promotion starts and sometimes stay on the market after it has ended. That’s because the promotion isn’t the primary function of the game – it’s an extra, or an add-on, but the game itself is its own vehicle.

The prizes in our games themselves aren’t tied to a promotion – they’re separate and only a part of that game. That's why the game involved will often be on sale for far longer than a particular promotion is offered – players want the chance to win the prizes in the game itself and realize that the promotion is a temporary (and fun) addition with prizes of its own.

We refer to our promotions as “Play It Again” or second-chance opportunities because if you don’t initially win a prize on the ticket involved, you can play it again by entering the promotion for a chance to win the prizes offered there.   

The upcoming Summer Cash Bash is a perfect example of the timing issue I've discussed in this blog entry. The promotion doesn’t start until July 13, but some of the games involved are already on sale, and we’re letting players know that they can save their tickets to enter the Cash Bash when it starts. Those same games may end up being on the market after the promotion ends, it all depends on how long the supply of tickets lasts.

We do our best to come up with fun games and promotions and tie them together when we can for even more chances to win. But the games involved stand on their own and have their own timeline outside of the promotion.

What You’ve Asked For: Join the VIP Club & Change Your Password From The App

You’ve been asking about it, and we’re excited to share this update today: Now you can join the lottery’s VIP Club and change the password for your VIP account password from our mobile app.

We all live a lot of our lives on mobile devices these days, and these changes will make it easier for you to access the lottery info. you need while you’re on the go.   

We debuted our app for both Apple AND Android devices back in 2017, and like any technology, we’ve updated it over time. If you already have our app (it’s called the Iowa Lottery’s LotteryPlus) on your device, there’s nothing you need to do to receive this update. It happens automatically, so you already have the new feature available. If you don’t yet have the app, feel free to install it from the Google Play Store® or Apple iTunes Store® as applicable for your particular device.

The most popular way that people use our app is to check the results of their lottery tickets. You can check lotto, scratch and InstaPlay tickets on the app, so you don’t have to visit a store or a lottery office to see if you’ve won. Two other popular ways that people use the app is to enter their tickets into our VIP Club drawings and to check the winning numbers in recent lotto drawings.

Thank you for playing the lottery, and we hope this update makes it even easier for you to reach us!

Player Mail: Do I Need To Keep The Tickets I Enter In The Holiday Promotion?

As the entries continue to climb in the “Ho Ho Dough” promotion, we’ve gotten the same question from numerous players: Do I need to keep the tickets after I enter them in this promotion? The short answer is no, you don’t need to keep them.

When you successfully enter an eligible ticket in the holiday promotion, the entry itself provides the information we’ll need in the Ho Ho Dough drawings. And if one of your entries is selected as a winner in a Ho Ho Dough drawing, you won’t need to present the ticket you entered in the promotion to claim your prize. The entry itself will serve as the record involved.

Years ago, people did have to keep the actual tickets they entered into our promotions, but with advances in technology, we’ve been able to update our process to make it easier.

Good luck in the promotion to everyone who has entered!

Lottery App: The Results Screen For Winning Tickets Is Now Green

We’ve made an update to our lottery app after a player suggestion that we change the results screen that comes up when a winning ticket is scanned.

Back in May, we updated our app so it displays the prize amount when you use it to scan a winning ticket. The results screen for both winning and nonwinning tickets at the time was yellow, but a player reached out and said he thought the screen for winning tickets should be green. (I’m guessing the choice has to do with the color of money, right?)

We did the behind-the-scenes work on the app, and I’m happy to let you know we’ve come through with it: The results screen for winning tickets is now green! It definitely draws a distinction between winning and nonwinning tickets, helping to make it even more obvious when you’ve won a prize!

If you already have our app (it’s called the Iowa Lottery’s LotteryPlus) on your device, there’s nothing you need to do to receive the update. It happens automatically, so you already have the new feature available. If you don’t yet have the app, feel free to install it from the Google Play Store® or Apples iTunes Store® as appropriate for your particular device.

In addition to the details about what you’ve won, you can also use the app to enter tickets into our promotions and learn details about our games and the locations where you can buy lottery tickets in Iowa.

Thank you for playing, and we hope you like the change to our app!

17 Football Ticket Packages On the Line In ‘Kinnick Gridiron Giveaway’

Seventeen football-ticket prize packages to next month’s Illinois-Iowa game are on the line in a new promotion from the Iowa Lottery that just started.

From today through the morning of Nov. 12, lottery players who buy Powerball® tickets in Iowa can enter the “Kinnick Gridiron Giveaway” for a chance to win one of 17 prize packages to the Illinois-Iowa football game Nov. 23 in Iowa City.

Each prize package includes two tickets for seats in a VIP area in the North End Zone at Kinnick Stadium, food and nonalcoholic drinks during the game, $100 spending cash, and two bags with University of Iowa and Iowa Lottery swag.

Please note that simply buying a Powerball ticket during the promotion period won’t automatically enter you into the promotion. You’ll need to buy a Powerball ticket in Iowa anytime from today through 8:59 a.m. Nov. 12. Then, you’ll enter that ticket into the promotion through your VIP Club account. (Click here to join if you’re not already a member.) And remember, you can enter both winning AND nonwinning Powerball tickets!    

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

We’ll hold the drawing Nov. 13 to determine the Iowa Lottery winners who will be going to the Hawkeyes’ final home game of the year. Each trip prize package is valued at more than $1,000.

Player Mail: What About The Odds In Your Holiday Games?

Now that our holiday-themed scratch games have hit store shelves for the year, we’ve gotten a couple player questions about the number of prizes available in them and the odds of winning those prizes. I always tell people that lottery players pay attention to detail – and our player mail has proven that point!

One player noticed that holiday games don’t have as many top prizes as our regular games and wondered why. That’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.

“Crossword” games are a perennial favorite for scratch players, so let’s compare the “$30,000 Holiday Crossword” game that’s available right now with the “Bonus Crossword” game. They’re both $3 versions of Crossword, and they have the same overall odds of winning: about 1 in 3.52.

That’s also the case with the $2 “Nutcracker Bingo” holiday game and the $2 “Wild Bingo” game. The overall odds of winning are the same in both: about 1 in 3.34.

Then there are the folks who tell us they like our non-holiday games and want to see them come back. Well, guess what? They will! Our holiday-themed games will only be on the market until early January, and then our other games will cycle back onto store shelves when the holidays are over.

The folks in our Storm Lake office say that it’s snowing there today, so I guess it IS starting to look like winter in Iowa!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Four Iowa Winners Going To NYC For New Year’s Are …

We held the drawing today to select the four Iowa winners who will go to New York City to ring in 2020 and have a shot at becoming the first Powerball Millionaire of the Year!

The winners are:

        Debb Pille, Carroll
        Linda Schellhorn, Elk Run Heights
        Deb Simpson, West Liberty
        Barb Wall, Hazel Green

From Sept. 4 through Monday, members of our free VIP Club could enter the Powerball New Year’s Rockin’ Eve promotion for a chance to win one of four trip packages to ring in 2020 in NYC. Each exclusive trip for two includes round-trip airfare; a three-night hotel stay in Times Square; two tickets to an NYC theater performance; a holiday dinner cruise on the Hudson River; $1,000 spending cash; and New Year’s Eve festivities including dinner, the Times Square party, and viewing of the iconic ball-drop.

Just after the ball drops to bring in the New Year, Powerball’s First Millionaire of the Year will be announced live on the broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020.” It could be one of the Iowa winners – we’ll all have to wait and see that night!

Lotteries from across the country are participating in the Powerball New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebration and each is sending players to NYC for the party. The $1 million winner will be one of those trip winners.

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

Congrats To Our 3rd Silverado Winner

Brittany Dana of Webster City said she never thought she’d win but she went ahead and entered the Summer of Silverado promotion anyway and hoped for the best. On August 15 she received a phone call from the Iowa Lottery letting her know she’d won the third Silverado truck!

Click on the video above to see Brittany’s reaction as she got to see her new truck for the first time! 

And don’t forget: The final drawing for the fourth 2019 All-new Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss and five prizes of $5,000 will be Sept. 12!

New Supply Of Tickets Added To Our ‘Silverado’ Game

Our “Silverado” scratch game is officially a summer hit – so much so that we’ve ordered more tickets in it!

The Silverado game went on sale here in Iowa on May 6 and it’s selling quickly. You likely know that the game is tied to our “Summer of Silverado” promotion where we’re giving away trucks and cash prizes in drawings that run through mid-September. But within the game’s first month of sales, five of its top prizes had already been claimed and with its tickets selling so fast, we were afraid the supply wouldn’t last as long as our promotion!

So, we placed a re-order. There now are more Silverado tickets available to purchase and that also means there are more prizes to win! You may have noticed that the total number of top prizes in the game went up this week from the initial eight to the current 11. That’s due to the additional tickets that have been added to the mix. The prizes at the game’s other prize levels (ranging from $5 up to $1,000) also increased, but it’s the top prizes that generally catch the most attention.

Click here to see the list of remaining prizes in Silverado, our other scratch games, and our InstaPlay and pull-tab games.

So, game on! Thanks for playing, and good luck with your lottery tickets.

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.