ialottery blog

A Milk Run With More: Errand Ends With $10,000 Lottery Prize

There’s something about the every-day aspect of this story, especially during these unusual times, that brings a smile. A southeast Iowa couple has taken home a $10,000 prize from a lottery scratch ticket purchased during a milk run.

Heather Love of Morning Sun claimed the prize earlier this week. She said that her husband, Nick, bought the ticket when he stopped at a local convenience store for milk on the way home from work. She said that Nick rarely buys scratch tickets but decided to get one that day in the “$100,000 Mega Crossword” game.

Heather said she was the one who scratched the ticket later that night after dinner. She thought they’d won big, but said it didn’t really start to sink in until she scanned the ticket on the lottery’s mobile app and it displayed the message: "Congratulations, you won $10,000!"

She said that she and Nick argued good-naturedly over which one of them would actually claim the prize, but agreed that they would use the winnings to buy new carpet and flooring for their home.

Heather said that winning a big prize “kind of makes your heart flutter.” She said she has often heard about people winning the lottery, but now it’s real to her.

Congratulations, Heather and Nick! Thank you for giving us a smile with your story!

Player Question: Can I Ever Win MORE Than The Top Prize?

Here’s a question we just got that I can’t remember seeing before. It came from a player who was very happy that he’d won the top prize in one of our scratch games. But even though he’d uncovered that big prize, he said he kept scratching the rest of his ticket on the off chance there could be more prizes to uncover.

His question was: Can I ever win MORE than the top prize amount? The quick answer is no, but I can see the line of thinking involved.

In some of our scratch games, you can uncover multiple prizes that add up to the total amount you’ll win on a ticket. In other games, you may win just one prize amount on the ticket. That’s the case with the winning ticket you see here in the “Lucky 7 Bonus” game.

We vary the play styles in our games, knowing that different people like different things, and variety is good!

But in any scratch game, the maximum you can win on a ticket is the top-prize amount offered in the game. You can’t win the top prize AND smaller prize amounts that would add up to more than the top-prize figure.

That same detail applies in pull-tab games and InstaPlay games, too. The maximum you can win on each ticket is the top prize amount in the game.

Iowa Falls Woman Claims $500,000 Top Prize In Lottery Scratch Game

After driving by Iowa Lottery headquarters for years and wishing she had a reason to go inside, an Iowa Falls woman stopped in today to claim a $500,000 prize!

Carolyn Carson claimed the second of six top prizes available in the “$500,000 Ca$h” scratch game, which debuted in early April. A Davenport man claimed the first top prize in the game during its first week of sales.

Carolyn said she was running errands yesterday when she bought a $500,000 Ca$h ticket. She said a store clerk told her that it was a new game, so she decided to give it a try. She bought her ticket at Casey’s, 1008 Grand Ave. in Alden, then took it home and played it in her kitchen.

She said she looked at the ticket’s results and immediately thought, “Oh, my gosh, I think I won!”

Unable to believe her eyes, Carolyn double-checked the results by scanning her ticket with the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app on her smartphone. It confirmed her win.

But lots of disbelief continued: Carolyn said she showed the ticket to her husband, Mike, but he also didn’t believe the news. So she scanned her ticket again on the lottery app and it again showed that her ticket was a $500,000 winner. Next up were the couple’s adult children, who didn’t believe the news until she sent them a picture of the scratch ticket.

Carolyn, who is 75, said that even she is having trouble believing the big win is happening to her. “You hear about it, but you don’t think it could happen to you,” she said. “But it can!”

Carolyn said that she and Mike plan to invest the winnings.

As for her decision to try the $500,000 Ca$h game, she has these thoughts: “This was a spur-of-the-moment thought to go get that ticket. So, I don’t know: If you’ve got an inkling, go do it!

Mistakes While Scratching: Leaving Some of the Coating on Your Tix

We’ve heard recently from a couple players who both had the same confusion about the scratch tickets they played. They hadn’t completely scratched off the security coating in the play area on their ticket and mistakenly thought they’d won a big prize.

The issue is especially important in “Crossword” and “Bingo” scratch games, where a number or letter could be mistaken for another.

On a Crossword ticket, it’s important to completely remove the security coating on the “Your Letters” area providing the letters you can play. In the ticket image shown here, I highlighted the Your Letters area with a yellow circle.

If you leave some of the security coating in place, it can lead to a mistake. For example, an E might be mistaken as an F, a Q might be seen as an O, or what is actually a B might be mistaken for a P.

On a Bingo ticket, it’s important to completely remove the security coating in the “Caller’s Card” space and any areas such as a “Bonus Numbers” or “Wild Number” spot.

Those areas provide the numbers you can play in the ticket’s Bingo puzzle, and leaving some of the security coating in place could cause you to confuse one number for another. For example, a 7 might be mistaken for a 1, or an 8 could be seen as a 6 or a 3.

The same careful approach is important when you’re playing any scratch ticket, but it can make a big difference in a game like Crossword or Bingo.

If you ever have a question about how much you think you’ve won on a ticket, remember there are multiple ways to check. One of the easiest is by scanning the ticket on the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app. You can do that from anywhere.

You also can use a self-checker or self-service kiosk at a business where lottery tickets are sold, or you can have the ticket checked at a lottery terminal.

He Predicted It Himself: Davenport Man Wins $500,000 Prize In New Scratch Game

A Davenport man says that for three days, he told his co-workers he was going to win the $500,000 top prize in a new lottery scratch game. And then he did.

Today, Justin Strother claimed the first of six top prizes available in the Iowa Lottery’s “$500,000 Ca$h” scratch game. The game just debuted April 4.

Justin bought his winning ticket at a Davenport convenience store and says he scanned the ticket on the store’s self-checker. He says immediately ran outside to where his wife was waiting in the car and told her they needed to put the ticket in a safe right away.

Justin jokes that his mom spread the word about his good luck by failing to follow her own advice: She told him not to tell anyone about his big win – and then she told everyone!

Justin says that he and his wife, Kylie, have plans for the winnings: a three-bedroom house for them and their two children, a new pick-up truck and a camper.

He calls his lottery win “a re-start button to life” that will mean he can be debt free.

Why Do We Blur/Crop Out The Ticket Codes In Images?

Here’s an interesting question that came our way about the images we post of players’ winning tickets in our games. We know that you’re always curious about winning tickets and what numbers and symbols are on them, so we often post images to give you a closer look.

In the process, however, we always blur or crop out the security codes on the tickets as you can see in the image shown here. Some folks have asked why.

From a purely technical perspective, the security codes aren’t part of the play area on a ticket, so they aren’t necessary to show the winning numbers or symbols involved. However, the codes are what identify each individual lottery ticket and they’re used in the prize-claim process.

We blur the codes out so we don’t inadvertently cause a complication in the lottery prize-claim process. So, while we know you’re curious about them, there is a reason that those codes are blurred out.

We show as much of the ticket as possible, but the codes will continue to be left out of the images for security purposes.

Lottery, Country Artist Team Up To Offer Trips To Nashville Concert + Cash Prizes

Iowa Lottery players have a chance to win a trip to an exclusive Nashville concert with country recording star Luke Combs and cash prizes of up to $500,000 in a new scratch game and promotion.

The “Living Lucky with Luke Combs” scratch game hit store shelves today, offering instant prizes ranging from $10 up to $100,000. Tickets in the game feature an image of the country star in concert along with music-themed graphics of CDs and guitar picks.

If you don’t win a cash prize on your ticket, you can enter it into the Living Lucky with Luke Combs promotion that began this morning, offering 10 trips to Nashville for a private Luke Combs concert.

During the concert, a $10,000 winner will be selected from Iowa and each of the other lotteries sending players to Nashville along with one grand-prize winner of $500,000. The grand-prize winner will be announced by Luke Combs during his performance.

To enter the promotion, Iowa Lottery players must join or already be members of the lottery’s free VIP Club. The entry period continues through 9:59 a.m. on June 20. The promotion drawing will be held June 22 to determine the 10 Iowa trip winners who will go to Nashville.

The Nashville trips will take place Feb. 4-7 in 2024. Each trip package is valued at more than $20,000.

Included in each Living Lucky with Luke Combs Nashville Experience prize package will be:

• Round-trip airfare from Des Moines to Nashville.
• Three-night stay at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown Hotel, standard room with daily breakfast included.
• Private concert with Luke Combs at the iconic Ryman Auditorium.
• Chance at private meet-and-greet with Combs and VIP concert seating.
• Private dinner and self-guided tour at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
• Private lunch and entertainment at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.
• Private Taste of Nashville dinner at the Skye Lounge on top of the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown Hotel.
• $500 spending cash.
• Custom “Living Lucky with Luke Combs” welcome gifts.
• Ground transportation in Nashville from the airport to the hotel and scheduled event activities.
• Required state and federal taxes paid on behalf of the winner.

How You Play Your Ticket Is Up to YOU!

A photo of a recent winner’s ticket really got people talking, and it made us wonder: How do YOU play?

The player involved won a top prize earlier this month in the “$30,000 Crossword” scratch game. In the image of his ticket, you can see that he scratched off only the letters in the winning words on his ticket. He went word by word to see if he had all the letters involved.

Some people commented that they don’t play Crossword tickets that way – they scratch off the individual letters one at a time that they find in the “Your Letters” area and then look to see how many words they’ve completed in the Crossword puzzle. Others said they have their own unique systems: One woman said she scratches off three letters at a time.

Some players wondered if the way the man played the ticket meant that he was more likely to win. The answer to that question is no: The odds of winning are the same for every ticket in our games, and winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout our scratch games.

It’s fun to see the different ways that people play their tickets. It really brings home the concept of you do you! From our perspective, there are no wrong answers.

He ALMOST Let His Wife's Car Roll Away After Winning A $100,000 Prize

A northern Iowa man came THIS CLOSE to having to explain to his wife why he let her vehicle roll away!

The story started with Travis Hovey of Riceville doing something to help: He went to a local convenience store to fuel up his wife’s car. While he was inside the store paying for the gas, he decided to buy a lottery scratch ticket.

Travis said he scratched the ticket when he got back out to the car and saw what he thought was a $100,000 prize in the play area.

Travis says he almost forgot to put the vehicle in park before he ran back into the store to have the clerks there double-check his ticket! It turns out he was right: He won one of the top prizes of $100,000 in the “Cash Blast” scratch game.

After confirming his win, Travis said he went right home to share the news with his wife, Tammy. And he got her car there safely!

Travis bought his winning ticket at Casey’s 208 W. Main St. in Riceville. He said that he and Tammy plan to use the lottery winnings to pay bills and retire debt.

Such A Relatable Story: He Had To Check His Winning Ticket A BUNCH Of Times

This player’s story made me smile because it’s just so relatable. I think we can all imagine ourselves in his situation – and the disbelief we might have!

An eastern Iowa man who claimed a $10,000 prize at our Cedar Rapids office said that after he played his scratch ticket, he checked it and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. So, he scanned it three more times on the lottery’s mobile app and then went back into the gas station where he bought it to have them check it, too.

Louis Janecek II of Shellsburg said he just wanted to be sure! In the end, he realized he was the winner of a $10,000 prize. He claimed the eighth prize of $10,000 available in “The Perfect Gift” holiday scratch game.

Louis bought his winning ticket at Palo Mini Mart, 1204 First St. in Palo.

He said he plans to use his winnings to pay bills and buy Christmas gifts for his four children. Louis said his lottery win will just make everything that much nicer for the holidays.

Congratulations, Louis! I’m thinking that your big win may finally seem real by now!

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

Now that our holiday-themed scratch games are in stores for the season, we’ve gotten player questions about the number of prizes available in them and their odds of winning.

Our holiday-themed games by design are only on the market for a short period of time – about four months. Many of our other scratch games are sold for a year or two or even longer.

We order smaller quantities of tickets in our holiday games, which means there will be a smaller number of prizes involved. But the key detail to note is that the odds of winning in our holiday games are very similar to those in our other games, so your playing experience won’t change.

“Crossword” games are always a favorite for players, so here is a list of this year’s four holiday-themed versions with their non-holiday counterparts. You’ll see how similar the odds are in them.

    • $2 games: $20,000 Holiday Crossword and Four Corners Crossword.
    • $3 games: Candy Cane Crossword and Bonus Crossword.
    • $5 games: Peng-win Crossword and $50,000 Super Crossword.
    • $10 games: Very Merry Crossword and $100,000 Mega Crossword.

In the $2 games, the $20,000 holiday game has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.42 while its non-holiday counterpart has overall odds of 1 in 3.33.

Both of the $3 Crossword games have the exact same overall odds of winning: 1 in 3.52.

At the $5 price point, the Peng-win Crossword game has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.34 while its non-holiday counterpart has overall odds of 1 in 3.53.

And for the $10 games, Very Merry Crossword has overall odds of winning of 1 in 3.29 compared to overall odds of 1 in 3.30 for the non-holiday version.

We do our best to keep the game designs in line with each other because we want you to have the same “feel” as you play them. We know that’s part of the fun.

Then there are the folks who say they like our non-holiday games and want to see them come back. And 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.

‘Holiday Cash Bash’ Promo: 91 Prizes On The Line, Including Top Prize of $100,000

Dozens of prizes ranging from $1,000 up to $100,000 are up for grabs in the lottery’s “Holiday Cash Bash” promotion that just opened for entries today.

Last year, we mixed things up and offered warehouse dash shopping trips as well as cash prizes in our holiday promotion. This year, we’re returning to all cash prizes.

The Holiday Cash Bash promotion features 91 cash prizes totaling $355,000, including a grand prize of $100,000. We’re applying the “max bet” concept in the promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you can win increases along with the purchase price of the scratch ticket you’ve entered.

Players could start making entries in the Holiday Cash Bash at 10 a.m. today, and the promotion runs through early January, with its final drawing date on Jan. 12. You can enter tickets on the lottery website or by using our mobile app.

Players can enter the promotion using nonwinning tickets in the 13 holiday-themed scratch games we’ll have available this year. Tickets in 11 of those games are already available in stores. Our final two holiday games for the year will hit the market on Nov. 1.

On each of the promotion’s three initial draw dates, 30 prizes will be awarded. Each time, there will be 10 prizes of $1,000 from among the $1 and $2 entries; 10 prizes of $2,500 from among the $3 and $5 entries; and 10 prizes of $5,000 from among the $10 and $20 entries.

The initial drawings will be on Nov. 17, Dec. 15 and Jan 12. The $100,000 grand-prize drawing also will be on Jan. 12.

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 Comments In the Middle Of The Night: Your Mobile App Isn’t Working

We’ve heard this week from some players who were having trouble in the middle of the night using the lottery’s mobile app to check their tickets or enter them into promotions. They told us that our app needed to be fixed.

But it’s actually working as it should. There’s just a period of time each night when the app is offline. If you try to use an app function that’s unavailable at that time, you’ll get a message asking you to try again later.

Many of the mobile app’s functions are tied into the lottery’s central gaming system, which links all Iowa Lottery terminals and self-service kiosks in real time along with some functions on the app.

As part of the lottery’s security procedures, the central gaming system is taken offline each night at midnight so that sales from the previous day can be balanced, all plays can be accounted for, and system updates can be made.

When the lottery’s statewide gaming system is offline, ticket checking doesn’t work on the mobile app because that function needs to access the gaming system. And lotto tickets (in Powerball®, Mega Millions®, etc.) can’t be entered into promotions at that time for the same reason.

Tickets in scratch games and InstaPlay games can be entered into promotions when the gaming system is offline because the process for those products is slightly different.

Some nights, the central gaming system is offline for less than half an hour. Other nights when bigger updates need to be made, the system may be offline for a few hours.

We choose to take the gaming system offline just after midnight knowing that’s when foot traffic is lighter in retail locations and there are fewer online visits to our website and mobile app.

So if you’re trying to use the lottery’s mobile app between about midnight and 3 a.m. and you get a message asking you to try again later, please do that. The app’s functions will be live again once the central gaming system is brought back up.

Player Question: When New Games Come Out, Do Your Dispensers Just Expand?

Here’s an interesting question that came our way on social media this week: When new scratch games are released like the five games that hit store shelves this week, do the lottery’s ticket dispensers expand to allow more room? The quick answer is no, but here is the backstory.

New scratch games and pull-tab games are introduced throughout the year to give players new chances to win prizes and keep the mix of games fun and entertaining. Variety is the spice of life for today’s consumers, and people vote with their pocketbooks when it comes to the items they choose to buy. Games that have been on the market for awhile generally have lower sales than our newest games because people like to try new things.

The Iowa Lottery certainly does its best to keep a game on the market if it still has top prizes available, but older games are generally removed from sale as newer games are introduced. There’s only so much room in the lottery’s ticket dispensers and self-service kiosks, so the replacement of older games happens as a standard part of our procedures throughout the year.

So the answer to the player’s question is that the lottery’s dispensers and self-service kiosks don’t expand when new games come out.

The five new scratch games that debuted on Wednesday are shown in the image above. They range from a $1 game up to a $10 game, so there are several new play styles and prize levels available for you to play. We hope you have fun with them!

Already Sold Out? That Store Didn’t Have The Tickets I Wanted To Buy

A lottery player who wanted to buy tickets in a new scratch game said that when she couldn’t find tickets at her local store, she thought the game had been removed from sale because all the top prizes in it had already been claimed.

In reality, the store was just temporarily out of tickets in that particular game. It was popular and the location’s initial supply had sold out. The store was able to order more tickets and the game was available there again within a few days.

When a new scratch game is released, businesses that sell lottery tickets place orders for a supply of tickets to have available in the first days that the game is for sale. Stores do their best to estimate the number of tickets they’ll need, but sometimes a particular game may sell faster than expected.

Stores can and do place additional orders for more tickets, but it can take a few days for the next batch to arrive. When that happens, there can be temporary outages.

The customer was correct that when all of the top prizes in a particular scratch game have been claimed, the game is removed from sale here in Iowa.

In this particular instance, that wasn’t what had happened, and we hope that the next time she visits her local store, she’ll find the game available!

Russell Smith Wins Again … Or Did He?

It’s apparently a really good time to be Russell Smith in Iowa!

Not one but TWO Iowa men named Russell Smith have claimed big lottery prizes this month.

First up was Russell Smith of DeWitt, who claimed a $10,000 prize in the Extreme Green Progressive InstaPlay game on Aug. 1. He got his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one for fun at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids.

Then yesterday, Russell Smith of Des Moines claimed a $25,000 top prize in the “Wild Bingo” scratch game. He visited lottery headquarters in Clive to get his real check and an oversized, ceremonial one.

Not the same guy, just a happy coincidence. And hey, there’s still a lot of time to go in August! Maybe even MORE Russell Smiths will win big prizes by the end of the month!

Congratulations to both Russell Smiths!

FY 2022 Results: Lottery Proceeds Top $97 Million, Near Previous Year’s Record

The Iowa Lottery’s annual results are out today, with sales, proceeds to state causes, and prizes to players all finishing near the previous year’s record highs despite strong inflationary headwinds in recent months. Fiscal year 2022 ultimately yielded the lottery’s second-highest results in its 37-year history.

The preliminary figures show that the Iowa Lottery generated $97.9 million in proceeds to state causes in the fiscal year that ended June 30. Annual lottery sales in FY 2022 were $432.7 million, while prizes to players totaled $274.2 million. Lottery sales commissions paid to the local Iowa businesses that sell tickets totaled $28.3 million for the year.

FY 2022 is just the second time that annual Iowa Lottery sales topped $400 million and the third time that its total proceeds to state causes exceeded $90 million.

High fuel costs have historically had the most direct impact on the sale of lottery scratch games, and that was evident again in FY 2022. Fuel prices in Iowa began to climb in the spring and by mid-May, the average retail diesel price was above $5 a gallon and retail unleaded gasoline had topped $4 a gallon.

Scratch-ticket sales in May were down 17.5 percent compared to the same month in 2021, and down 14.7 percent in June compared to the same time period the previous year.

Annual scratch-ticket sales were down 7.5 percent in Iowa, with the product category representing about 2/3 of total Iowa Lottery sales.

At the same time, the lotto category was positively impacted by the Powerball® and Lucky for Life® game groups’ decisions to increase the number of weekly drawings in those games. In July 2021, Lucky for Life moved from two drawings per week to daily drawings. In August of that year, Powerball moved to three drawings per week with the addition of Monday drawings.

Both games saw marked sales increases in FY 2022, with Lucky for Life sales increasing 45.3 percent and Powerball sales increasing 22.2 percent.

The biggest prize won in Iowa for the year was a $2 million Powerball prize claimed in January by a New Hampton woman.

The Top 10 retailers for lottery sales were in seven different communities, with the Hy-Vee on Johnson Avenue in Cedar Rapids topping the list. That store sold more than $1.2 million in lottery tickets during FY 2022.   

Another highlight for the year was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit our state’s veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised more than $34.8 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008. The lottery also raises proceeds for the Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund and Department of Corrections Survivor Benefits Fund, which help with insurance costs for the families of Iowa peace officers, fire fighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty.

Here is a year-to-year comparison of annual sales by lottery product.

Product	FY 2022 Sales	FY 2021 Sales
Scratch games	$293.1 million	$316.9 million
InstaPlay games	$23.4 million	$23.5 million
Pick 3	$9.3 million	$9.5 million
Powerball	$53.1 million	$43.4 million
Mega Millions	$20.4 million	$29 million
Pick 4	$5.6 million	$5.5 million
Lucky for Life	$8.1 million	$5.6 million
Lotto America	$7 million	$6.4 million
Pull-tab games	$12.7 million	$12.8 million

Player Question: Is A Ticket The Same As A Play? Hmmm … Maybe.

Here’s an inside-baseball question we got from a player this week that’s really interesting: Is a ticket the same thing as a play? The answer varies: Yes. No. Maybe. Sometimes? Here’s why.

In a lotto game, a play is the line of numbers on a ticket that you as the player have purchased for an upcoming drawing. Let’s take Mega Millions® as an example.

In the image shown here, you see a Mega Millions ticket that has one play on it. In this instance, the ticket is technically the document (the piece of paper) on which the play is printed. But sometimes, more than one play is printed on a ticket if you buy multiple plays at a time.

For our other products – InstaPlay, scratch, and pull-tab games – each ticket is a play in the game.

I think that’s why the two terms are used interchangeably. I don’t think you’re wrong if you use one reference or the other. It’s just interesting to see the details involved for the different games!

2 Big Wins On Scratch Tickets They Initially Didn’t Plan To Buy

Two big winners this month both have an unusual twist to their story: At first, neither of them planned to buy the ticket that delivered their moment of luck!

First up was Curt Smith of Des Moines, who claimed a $300,000 top prize in the “Win Big” scratch game. Curt said that after a long day of work, he went to a local store to buy a ticket in a scratch game he usually plays, but it was sold out. So, he said he decided to try Win Big.

Curt said he scratched the ticket in his car and couldn’t believe what he saw. He said he was a little shaky, so he ended up fumbling around with his phone before he finally was able to use the Iowa Lottery’s mobile app to scan the ticket and confirm that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.

After that, he said he just sat in the parking lot for about 10 minutes, in a bit of shock!

Curt, who’s 51 and works at a Des Moines tire plant, claimed his prize June 10 at lottery headquarters in Clive. He said that he and his wife, Anna, plan to use the winnings to buy a new home, pay off debt, and purchase a headstone for his mother’s gravesite.

The next business day after Curt got his prize, we met Michele Bautista of Waterloo, who claimed a $30,000 top prize in the “Bonus Crossword” scratch game. Michele said that when she asked for two tickets in the game at a local convenience store, the clerk accidentally grabbed three instead. She decided to buy them all.

She played the tickets when she got home and won her $30,000 prize on the third ticket. Michele, who’s 50 and manages a restaurant, said she was out of breath and called her son to come double-check the results. He confirmed that she really had won big!

Michele said she plans to save most of her winnings, but will use some of the money to fly her mom from California to Iowa for a visit.

Congratulations to these two unintentional winners!

You Can Enter For A Chance At Polaris® Vehicles & Cash Prizes In ‘Explore Iowa’

We’re kicking off a summer-long celebration today that focuses on getting outside – and offers you the chance to win some memorable prizes.

The Explore Iowa promotion began this morning and runs through mid-September. Lottery players can enter nonwinning tickets from the $5 Explore Iowa scratch game into the promotion for a chance to win gift certificates for Polaris® recreational vehicles and cash prizes. The promotion will give away a total of $400,000 in prizes.

The Explore Iowa scratch game is easy to identify: Its tickets show a Polaris® recreational vehicle on the front!

The lottery will hold initial drawings in the promotion on June 9, July 21 and Aug. 18 with the grand-prize drawings on Sept. 15. Each of the initial drawings will award three $25,000 Polaris® gift certificates and five cash prizes of $5,000. The grand-prize drawings on Sept. 15 will award a $50,000 Polaris® gift certificate and a $50,000 cash prize. (Each Polaris® gift certificate prize will include state and federal withholding taxes paid on behalf of the winner.)

Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next, except for the grand-prize drawings. Here’s how that works: All entries for a Polaris® gift certificate that aren’t selected as a winner in the initial drawings will be eligible for the grand-prize drawing for a $50,000 Polaris® gift certificate. And, all entries for a cash prize that aren’t selected as a winner in the initial drawings will be eligible for the grand-prize drawing for the $50,000 cash prize.

Polaris is an official licensed product of Polaris Inc. All rights reserved. POLARIS and the star design are trademarks of Polaris Inc.

Remember, There Are Two Areas That Can Be Matched In This Game

Some players have reached out to us about the “X The Money” scratch game, wanting to double-check the prize amount they won. Some thought they won less than they actually had, and a couple thought they didn’t win at all, even when the scan of their ticket showed the prize amount they won.

The disconnect came because they didn’t play the “X” multiplier spots at the top of their ticket.

In the play area on tickets in the X The Money game, the 15 numbers for you to play are in the Your Numbers section at the bottom. When you scratch off that area, you’ll uncover the numbers and the prize linked with each of them.

If you match any of Your Numbers to any of the five Winning Numbers in the middle of the ticket, you win the prize shown with Your Number. But don’t forget that you also will try to match Your Numbers to any of the five multiplier spots at the top of the ticket. If you match one of the X multipliers, the prize shown for Your Number is multiplied by the number in the X spot.

You can win more than one prize in each area, so be sure to check all the numbers. As an example, a player who contacted us had won a $5 prize by matching one of the Winning Numbers, but didn’t realize that she also had matched one of the multiplier numbers. That produced an additional $10 prize for a total of $15 in winnings on her ticket.

The X The Money game is named for its multiplier spots, so be sure to play them!

2 Big Prizes In 2 Years For This Iowan!

For the second time in two years, a southwest Iowa man has won a big lottery prize.

This afternoon, Delbert Littleton of Atlantic claimed the first of eight top prizes of $100,000 available in the Power 10X scratch game. That follows his big win from June 2020, when he won a prize of $25,000 a year for life in the Lucky for Life lotto game. He chose to take the lump-sum option of $390,000 for that prize.

Delbert said that both times, he was in his kitchen when he realized he’d hit big. And both times, he had a little trouble breathing and his heart started racing.

After his 2020 win, he said that he and his wife, Jodi, danced for joy in the kitchen. This time around, he called Jodi to share the news and then had to quickly pull the phone away from his ear when she started yelling in excitement.

Delbert said he bought tickets in the Power 10X game because it was new. He ended up with three winning tickets in a row. The first was a $20 winner that he redeemed for two more tickets in the game. One of those was a $10 winner and the other won the $100,000 prize.

Power 10X is a $10 scratch game that just began sales on April 5. Its tickets feature green-and-yellow graphics of arcing electricity. Prizes in the game range from $10 up to $100,000. Delbert bought his $100,000-winning ticket at Murphy USA, 1903 E. Seventh St. in Atlantic.

Delbert said that he and Jodi followed through on their plans after his 2020 win to buy a new house and get new vehicles. With this win, he has concrete plans again: He’s tired of using a push mower on their corner lot, so he says he’ll get a riding lawnmower. The couple also plans to take a nice vacation this year, and then they’ll invest the rest of the winnings.

Delbert said that this win makes the thought of retirement a little more relaxing.

Hey, He’s Wearing THAT T-shirt!

This photo of a northwest Iowa man who claimed a prize this week made me smile when I saw the shirt he was wearing!

To commemorate the moment, we’ve had T-shirts with the message “You’re lookin’ at a WINNER!” made for those who claim larger lottery prizes in Iowa!

As you can see, John Friedrichsen of Cherokee put his T-shirt on for his photo with a ceremonial check as he claimed the $50,000 prize he won in the “X The Money” scratch game.

That $5 game just debuted on April 5 here in Iowa, and John won its first top prize! There currently are six more prizes of $50,000 that remain unclaimed in the game.   

Thank you for embracing the moment, John! We hope your shirt helps spark conversations as you remember the moment that you took home a big lottery win.

Two $100,000 Winners At The Same Store Within About A Week

Every once in a while, a run of luck happens. And this time, it hit in southwest Iowa.

Two Glenwood men who bought scratch tickets at the same local convenience store have each won a $100,000 prize.

First up was Jacob Harper of Glenwood, who claimed one of the top prizes in the “$100,000 Mega Crossword” game on March 28. And then this week, Joshua Kisler of Glenwood claimed a $100,000 prize in the “Super 20s” scratch game. They both bought their winning tickets at Casey’s, 601 S. Locust St. in Glenwood.

So for now, the Mills County community of about 5,000 gets to claim the lucky title.

Where will luck strike next? In reality, we never know. Winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout our games so that no one – not even those of us who work at the lottery – knows when or where the next big winner will hit.

But it IS fun to see the stories of our winners as they claim their prizes!

The Message: Call Me. It’s Nothing Bad!

It’s a slice-of-life moment about how a southwest Iowan told his parents he’d won a big lottery prize.

The late-night message he said he left for them went something like this: “Call me when you wake up. I’ve got some major news. It’s nothing bad.”

(Good son points for including that last part!)

Jacob Harper of Glenwood won one of the top prizes this week in the “$100,000 Mega Crossword” scratch game. He laughed as he remembered leaving the message for his parents, saying his mom is a worrier, so he wanted to use the right tone!

When his parents called him back the next morning, he told them the news about his $100,000 prize. He said his mom started screaming and his dad was laughing in the background, and there may have been some jumping around on all their parts.

Jacob said he bought his ticket at a local Casey’s store but didn’t play it until later that night after a get-together with some friends. He said that when he realized he’d completed six words on his ticket to win one of the game’s top prizes, he counted again and again in case his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Jacob says his win comes at a great time – he plans to begin work full time at a computer business that he and his friends have started.

What The Odds Mean – And What They DON’T

A question that just came our way is a reminder that sometimes, you can’t touch on a topic enough. I’m talking about the odds of winning in our games – what they mean and what they don’t.

A player reached out to us after buying two tickets in the Lucky Numbers Game Book and not winning a prize. The player noticed that the game’s overall odds of winning are 1 in 2.51 and apparently thought that meant one of their tickets was guaranteed to win. But that’s not correct.

Think of it like a deck of cards: With four suits in a deck (spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts), there’s about a 1 in 4 chance that the next card up will be in a specific suit. But once you shuffle the deck, you can go through a lot of cards in a row before you find a card in a specific suit.

It’s the same thing in our scratch games: Winning tickets are randomly distributed throughout the game so no one – not even those of us who work at the lottery – knows when or where the next big winner will hit.

We’re not joking, we’re not lying, and our odds aren’t wrong.

We made the video below to explain the odds. I hope its visuals help tell the story.

After Series Of Health Setbacks, Iowa Couple Celebrates THIS Unexpected News

After several health complications, a Des Moines couple is celebrating another kind of unexpected news: The husband won a $300,000 lottery prize!

David Martelli said that you never expect it, but yesterday it happened for them. Martelli claimed his prize at Iowa Lottery headquarters along with his wife, Amy.

David Martelli, 56, who is retired, said that the story started when he asked Amy to cash in a few tickets that had won small prizes and buy a couple more tickets. He said he specifically wanted a ticket in the “Win Big” scratch game.

David scratched off the ticket later that night. He said he noticed all the zeros in the prize amount, so he decided to surprise Amy with the news: He put his thumb over the prize amount and asked her if the numbers on the ticket matched. She said they did, and when he moved his thumb to reveal the prize amount, they both started to cry.

David and Amy are each in recovery from recent bouts with cancer and David said the situation makes them even more appreciative of this good luck.

Amy Martelli, 53, who works in health care, said the news is sinking in and becoming reality. She calls it a huge relief. 

The couple plans to use the winnings to help their immediate family and invest for their retirement.

David claimed the seventh of 11 top prizes of $300,000 in the Win Big game.

This Time, It’s A Little Different: You Can Still Enter For The $100,000 Prize

We switched things up a bit in our holiday promotion this year, and the change means you’ve got 2½ more weeks to enter for your shot at the grand prize of $100,000!

A lot of times in our promotions, entries for the grand prize drawing end at the same time as those in the last of the initial drawings. But that’s not the case with the Warehouse Dash® promotion.

The winners have been selected for the Warehouse Dash trips and the $5,000 prizes up for grabs in the promotion’s initial drawings, but the entry period for the $100,000 grand prize lasts until the morning of Jan. 4. You have until 9:59 a.m. that day to enter eligible tickets from our holiday scratch games for a chance to win that prize.

And, if you already entered tickets earlier in the drawing and those entries weren’t selected in one of the initial drawings, they also remain eligible for the grand-prize drawing for $100,000.
We’ll hold that drawing on Jan. 6.

So, congratulations to the 20 winners of $5,000 cash in the Warehouse Dash’s first four drawings and the four Warehouse Dash shopping spree winners:

     • Mike Thompson of Storm Lake
     • Shelby Nyweide of Tipton
     • Angela McClelland of Des Moines
     • Fawn Berstler of Marengo

We’re excited to see who will be selected as the $100,000 winner next month!

(We’ve heard from folks asking what it’s like to get to do the Warehouse Dash because they’ve had so much fun thinking about it. If you haven’t seen the videos of our 2012 winners, you can check them out here and here. As one of the winners says, there’s a whole lot of strategy and planning, but it all kind of goes out the window once the contestants start running!)

Warehouse Dash is a registered trademark of Hinda, Inc. Please note that sales in the "Reindeer Games" holiday scratch game ended Nov. 6, but any eligible tickets purchased in it can still be entered into the Warehouse Dash promotion.

The Number Of Prizes In That Game Went Up. What’s That Mean?

Here are the details we shared with a player who wondered if something unusual had happened with the prizes available in one of our scratch games. The game involved has been really popular – and the Iowa Lottery had to take some additional steps to ensure it could stay on the market a little longer. 

The player noticed that the overall number of prizes available in the “Colossal Crossword” game had increased, which also changed the number of claimed and unclaimed prizes in that game. The changes occurred because the Iowa Lottery ordered more tickets in the game, and that in turn increased the number of prizes available in it.

When we plan out the schedules for our games and order the tickets we’ll have on the market, we do our best to estimate the supply needed for a game to be offered for an anticipated period of time. But sometimes, sales in a particular game are stronger than we expected, which ultimately is a positive because it means players really like the game!

But that also creates the reality that the game won’t last for as long as we planned. One solution could be for the lottery to move up the release date for another game to fill the spot. But knowing that customers really like the existing game, we also can order more tickets in it. That’s what the Iowa Lottery did with Colossal Crossword. The additional supply of tickets in that game went live in late November.

We also released more tickets in the “Win Big” game earlier that month and in a few other scratch games this year, including “Super 20s” and “Wild Bingo.”

The same situation also can apply in our InstaPlay games. Back in March, the Iowa Lottery ordered more tickets in the “Cherry Twist Progressive” InstaPlay game to ensure an ongoing supply of tickets in it.

Another way to think of it is like the bulk order that a restaurant owner places for the meals they plan to serve. They estimate the number of, say, salmon dinners they anticipate customers will order, but on a particular night, the salmon may be really popular and sell out. Reality in the marketplace does not always match up with estimates in advance!                 

When we order additional tickets in one of our games, we always update the prizes available in it so you’ll have the latest details.

Thank you for playing!