ialottery blog

Lottery’s Summer of Music = Your Chance to Win Tix to Big-Name Concerts in Iowa

We started off the season by giving you a chance to win prize packages to some of Iowa’s top auto-racing events, and now we’re turning our attention to music. And specifically, giving you the chance to win ticket prize packages to big-name concerts this summer in Iowa.

The Iowa Lottery’s eight-week Summer of Music promotion opened for entries this morning. Players can enter it with nonwinning tickets in the $10 “Wild Cherry” scratch game for a chance to win prize packages to 14 Iowa concerts by headline artists at the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend in Newton and the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

The promotion will have two entry periods, with the first for race-and-concert packages at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, and the second for Iowa State Fair concert packages.

Up for grabs in the promotion’s first drawing date on July 6 (from entries accepted through 9:59 a.m. July 5) will be 95 prize packages to the IndyCar race and Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney performances on July 22, and 95 prize packages to the IndyCar race and Zac Brown Band and Ed Sheeran shows on July 23 in Newton. Players will select the Race Weekend concert of their choice when they enter tickets in the promotion.

For each day of the IndyCar Race Weekend, 20 prize packages will be in a VIP suite and 75 will be grandstand prize packages. Winners will receive tickets for that day’s IndyCar race as well as the pre- and post-race concerts at the Speedway.

The promotion’s second drawing period runs from 10 a.m. July 5 through 9:59 a.m. July 31. Up for grabs in the promotion’s second drawing date on Aug. 1 will be 20 VIP grandstand concert prize packages at the Iowa State Fair for these artists:

• For King + Country
• Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line
• New Kids on the Block
• Eric Church
• The Black Keys
• Lindsey Stirling
• Maren Morris
• Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges
• The Chicks
• Jason Aldean

Players will select the Iowa State Fair concert of their choice when they enter tickets in the promotion.

Entries will not carry over from the first entry period to the second. However, a player could win a concert prize package in each category drawing they enter.

You CAN Use a Playslip as You Redeem Your Monthly Free Play in the VIP Club

Here’s a question that came our way about the free plays we send out each month to members of the Iowa Lottery’s VIP Club. We rotate the free-play offerings between our lotto and InstaPlay games, and the question focuses on the process of redeeming a free play for a ticket in a lotto game like Powerball® or Mega Millions®.

Some players wondered if they can choose their own numbers when redeeming their free play. The answer is yes, if you are at a lottery terminal. Here are the details:

When you present your free play to the store clerk at a lottery terminal, they will scan the code on it. The prompt shown in the image above then appears on the terminal screen.

The retail employee then has three options:

1. They can insert a completed playslip from the player, allowing the player to choose his or her numbers.
2. They can click the ‘Easy Pick’ button, which instructs the terminal to randomly assign the numbers to the free play.
3. They can click ‘Cancel,’ which cancels the transaction and allows the player to use the free play at another time.

Note that the ability to choose your own numbers can only be done at a lottery terminal. Players can redeem their free plays in lotto games at a self-service kiosk, but only for easy-pick plays. (And playslips are not used in InstaPlay games.)

The Iowa Lottery gives members of its VIP Club a free play every month. The free play is included in the VIP Connection newsletter that is delivered on the first business day of each month.

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.

Interesting Stats In Basketball Promo

Some interesting numbers have emerged from the first month+ of entries in the Suite Seats promotion that has some incredible VIP basketball packages on the line.

The chance to attend a Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game is the biggest single-category draw among entries in the promotion. But the national men’s college basketball tournament in Des Moines accounts for a majority of the promotion’s total entries when all three college sessions available are considered.

Members of our free VIP Club can enter nonwinning tickets from the “Money Madness” and “Triple Tripler” scratch games into the promotion.

When you make an entry, you choose between a session in a suite at the national men’s college basketball tournament this March in Des Moines, or a prize package that includes two suite tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game March 31 in Minneapolis.

More than 43 percent of the entries into the promotion so far have been for the pro basketball prize package.

But entries across the different sessions at the college tournament account for 57 percent of the promotion’s total to date.

About 27 percent of entries are for Session 3 of the men’s college basketball tournament. Teams playing in that session will have advanced through the tournament’s initial games.

About 17 percent of entries are for Session 1 of the tournament and 13 percent are for Session 2.

The entry deadline is 9:59 a.m. on Feb. 28! The promotion’s drawings will follow on March 1.

You can win only once per category, but it is possible that you could win tickets to each men’s college tournament session in Des Moines and the Minnesota Timberwolves game.

Suite Seats Promotion Returns – With Some Exciting Additions

Some incredible VIP basketball packages are on the line in the Suite Seats promotion that started today.

The promotion’s entry period opened at 10 a.m. today. This year’s edition of Suite Seats is similar to a promotion with the same name held in 2019, but with several fun additions.

Members of our free VIP Club can enter nonwinning tickets from the “Money Madness” and “Triple Tripler” scratch games into the promotion for a chance to win. When they enter, they’ll choose between tickets to a session of the national men’s college basketball tournament this March in Des Moines, or a prize package that includes two suite tickets to the Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game March 31 in Minneapolis.

Each college basketball prize pack is valued at more than $1,600 and includes 2 suite tickets to Session 1, 2 or 3 of the national men’s tournament (you’ll choose the session you want when you make your entry), as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages, $400 spending cash, tournament merchandise and a parking pass. There are 16 prize packs up for grabs for each of the three sessions at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Each Timberwolves prize pack is valued at nearly $2,000. It includes 2 suite tickets for the Lakers-Timberwolves game on March 31 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, a 1-night stay at the Loews Downtown Minneapolis Hotel with valet parking, food and non-alcoholic beverages, merchandise and $400 spending cash. Ten NBA prize packs will be given away in the promotion.

The Suite Seats entry period runs through 9:59 a.m. on Feb. 28, with the promotion’s drawings to follow on March 1. A player can win only once per category, but it is possible that someone could win tickets to each men’s college tournament session in Des Moines and the NBA game.

As part of the fun, the Iowa Lottery will hold a special event at the Jan. 29 Iowa Wolves basketball game in Des Moines. VIP Club members will be able to request 4 free tickets to the game, and the lottery will be there with courtside scratch ticket sales, a contest, and giveaways before and during the game.

These Small-Town Iowans Are Lovin’ NYC!

Update following drawing: The winner of the $1 million prize in the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year® drawing was the contestant from North Carolina, but we think Iowa's Chris Manuel gets the award for the feel-good story from her trip to New York. Chris, thank you for sharing the fun with us!    

I blogged earlier this week about our winners from tiny Swan, Iowa, who were headed to New York City – and the update today is that they’re taking it ALL in while they’re in the Big Apple!

#LifeGoals. Seriously.

Chris Manuel of Swan, a Marion County community of 76, won the trip as Iowa’s contestant in the Powerball First Millionaire of the Year drawing. She and her husband, Randy, get to see the iconic New Year’s Eve ball drop tomorrow night during an exclusive Times Square party and Chris will have a chance at the $1 million prize in the special drawing.

But for now, Chris and Randy are out and about in NYC. They’ve done a double-decker bus tour of the city, they’re seeing a performance of the Radio City Rockettes this afternoon and they’ve also got Ellis Island and Lady Liberty on their list of things to see and do.

We love to see them having so much fun!

The $1 million winner in the special Powerball drawing will be announced live on air just after midnight EST during ABC’s broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023.”

If you want to follow along with tomorrow night's festivities, here are the times you could see Chris and the other contestants in the drawing. (All times below are for the central time zone, when we’ll see the broadcast here in Iowa.)

7 p.m. – The live broadcast on ABC begins.
7:18 p.m. – The first Powerball segment is shown.
7:55 p.m. – The first drawing is held to select 5 finalists from among the 29 nationwide contestants.
8:41 and 10:20 p.m. – On-air interviews are broadcast with the 5 finalists.
11:16 p.m. – The $1 million drawing takes place.

Good luck, Chris! We're pulling for you!

‘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.

Ticket To Austin: How You Can Have A Chance To ‘Fly With Cy’

Last month, we announced the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion giving folks the chance to win football prize packages to two big rivalry games for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Today, the focus turns to Iowa State, and specifically, the chance to win an exclusive VIP trip to Austin for the Iowa State -Texas football game.

The Fly with Cy promotion has started today! Members of our free VIP Club can enter the promotion with nonwinning tickets in the “Hit It Big!” scratch game. We’ll draw for the Fly with Cy winners on Sept. 15.

Fifty winners and their guests will get to go on a private chartered flight that leaves Des Moines on Oct. 14 and returns from Austin on Oct. 16. Included in the trip package are:

• a 2-night hotel stay for two at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Austin University Capitol District,
• a reception at the hotel on the evening of Oct. 14,
• 2 tickets to the Iowa State - Texas football game on Oct. 15 at DKR Texas Memorial Stadium,
• Hotel and stadium transfers,
• Merchandise swag bag.

Each trip package is valued at nearly $7,300!

Entries can be made into the promotion until just before 10 a.m. on Sept. 13. We’ll post the winners’ names as soon as we have the details available after the drawing on Sept. 15.

Last year, Fly with Cy winners and their guests had a ball going to an ISU game in Las Vegas! We look forward to the fun this year in Austin.

(And for Hawkeye fans, remember that the entry period in the Iowa Ironmen Suite promotion runs through 8:59 a.m. on Aug. 17. You’ve still got time to enter!)

Where Are We Going Next? The List Is On Our Events Page

As the summer goes on and we’re making more stops around the state on our Explore Iowa tour, we’ve gotten questions from some folks asking if we’ll make it to their area.

The short answer is that we’re continuing to add new stops over time and we’re doing our best to hit all areas of Iowa. Our campaign is called Explore Iowa, after all!

To see the list of our upcoming events, please visit the Special Events page on our website here.

Some of the events are at retail locations while others are at football games, baseball games, local festivals and auto races.

We’ve already been to Waverly, Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Mason City, Council Bluffs and Davenport, to name a few. This week we’ll be in Cedar Rapids, Waukee and Cedar Falls.

We’ll keep updating the list of events as summer goes on. At some of the stops, we’re doing special presentations to highlight the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, one of the most important beneficiaries of lottery proceeds to state causes.

We sell tickets in our Explore Iowa scratch game at each stop, and all lottery products are available at the events at retail locations. And yes, our prize wheel is there! With a qualifying purchase, you can spin the wheel to win lottery merchandise.

Hey, I Didn’t Get My Coupon For A Free Play This Month

It’s a fact of life that email systems these days can block messages from going through, and every month that trips up some members of our players club who are looking for their free-play coupon.

The good news is, there’s an easy work-around in case our email to you ends up getting stuck out there in cyberspace.

When you log into your VIP Club account, you have access to a few months of the VIP Connection, our players club newsletter. The most recent month’s edition will contain your monthly coupon for a free play and you can print it from there. We still send out the newsletter by email as well, but this offers you another option to easily find it. 

As you likely already know, one of the perks of being a VIP Club member is that you get a coupon every month from us here at the lottery. The coupon is good for a free play in one of our lotto games – Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto America, Lucky for Life or in one of our InstaPlay games.

The VIP Club newsletter that contains the coupon is emailed out on the first business day of each month to VIP Club members who have opted-in to receive electronic communications from the Iowa Lottery.

Some of our VIP Club members have had trouble receiving their newsletter and coupon by email. In some instances, our emails were getting caught in spam filters or being blocked entirely by particular email service providers. (The providers weren’t doing anything wrong – they took the security steps necessary to best protect their members’ accounts from spam or other malicious content. But in some cases, those safeguards also prevented email from getting through that people wanted, including our monthly newsletter with coupon.)

You can access your newsletter and coupon by logging in at ialottery.com, clicking on VIP Connection & Coupon and choosing the current month.

Please note that you must be logged into your VIP Club account to access the newsletter. If you visit the VIP Club site without logging in, you won’t see the member-exclusive areas, including the link to the VIP Connection newsletter.

And remember that each VIP Club coupon has a unique, single-use code, so even if you have multiple images of your coupon, it can only be redeemed once.

THIS Is How You Update Your Email Address In The VIP Club

We’ve added a step-by-step guide to our website to answer one of the questions we get the most about the VIP Club: How do I change my email address?

We get it. Over time, your email can change as you move, switch Internet providers, update your computer and mobile phone, etc. Some folks said they were having trouble finding the spot under their VIP Club profile to change the email address associated with their account.

We now have a page that maps out the process, including screenshots with the instructions.

To help you get started, I’ve included the initial steps of the process in the image you see here. You’ll first need to log in to your VIP Club account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see the main links along the left side of the page. Click on the “Account Management” link at the top and that will take you to a page with several options.

The first one listed is “Change Email,” which walks you through the remaining steps you’ll follow. But the last link on the list – Update Profile – also will take you to the spot where you will key in your new address and then click the “Submit” button to save your changes.

It’s a quick and easy process with either link. And having the correct contact information in your account is important because if you win a prize in one of our VIP Club drawings, we’ll use the email and telephone number you’ve provided to contact you!

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.

THIS Is How Things Went For Our Warehouse Dash Winners!

They were selected as winners a few months ago during our holiday Warehouse Dash promotion, and now we have the details about how our contestants did during their 90-second dash to grab all the items they could!

This past weekend, the Iowa Lottery’s four Warehouse Dash winners got an exclusive, all-expense-paid trip to Chicago. After a welcome dinner Friday night at Michael Jordan’s Steak House, they each got to make their warehouse dash on Saturday.

Angela McClelland of Des Moines went first, followed by Shelby Nyweide of Tipton, Mike Thompson of Storm Lake, and Fawn Berstler-McCrabb of Marengo. They each had a partner with them for the dash, and their goal was to grab all the items they could fit into two giant wheeled carts. (Under the rules for the dash, one person pushes the cart while the other grabs items off the shelves.) It was fun to see the strategy the teams put into their selections!

Drones were high on the list of the hottest items snagged by this year’s teams! And of course big-screen televisions, laptops and portable speaker systems, but also camping gear and premium cooking sets.

In the end, each winner ended up with an entire pallet piled high with items from their dash. And hopefully, memories of a very fun and unique trip.

Congratulations to our Warehouse Dash winners! Enjoy your loot!

And for all our players, know that we’re making plans now for more exclusive prizes in our upcoming games and promotions! Doing another Warehouse Dash is definitely a possibility. 

Player Question: Why Do You Need Those Details About Me For The VIP Club?

A member of the lottery’s VIP Club who entered tickets in the recent Lotto America® promotion reached out to ask why we need the information required for membership in the players club. He said he didn’t think the lottery needed all those details.

There are reasons we ask for the information, including that we need to ensure the lottery is following the law, and that we can get any prizes to you if you win.

When players join the VIP Club, the membership form includes details such as your date of birth, mailing address, telephone number and email address. Each of those details has a purpose.

Your date of birth is required so the lottery can verify that you are of legal age to buy Iowa Lottery tickets. (In Iowa, you have to be at least 21 years old to make a lottery purchase.)

Your phone number and email are needed as ways for us to contact you if you win a prize in our promotions. And your mailing address is needed because that’s where we’ll deliver prizes or necessary prize-claim paperwork.

Combined, the information helps establish that it really is you we’re awarding a prize to and not someone trying to claim that they’re you.

Another really important point: The information that the lottery gathers is for its internal purposes only and is not shared with outside parties.

190 INDYCAR Race Weekend Prize Packages In Newton On the Line In Powerball Promotion

The INDYCAR Series is staging back-to-back races this summer in Newton, and Iowa Lottery players can have the chance at tickets to the race weekend in a Powerball® promotion that started this morning.

VIP Club members can enter eligible Powerball tickets in the promotion with 190 prize packages to the INDYCAR Race Weekend on the line. Up for grabs are 20 VIP Suite Experiences and 75 single-day prize packages for the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 at the Iowa Speedway on July 23, and 20 VIP Suite Experiences and 75 single-day prize packages for the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 on July 24.

Each VIP Suite Experience includes two suite tickets (for either the Saturday or Sunday race), food, non-alcoholic beverages, $100 spending cash, lottery swag, and concert tickets. Each single-day prize package includes two grandstand race tickets (for either Saturday or Sunday), concert tickets, food vouchers, $100 spending cash and lottery swag.

All promotion winners get to attend the day’s pre- and post-race concerts. Tim McGraw will put on a pre-race concert on Saturday while Florida Georgia Line will put on the post-race concert the same day. Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton will be in concert on Sunday.

If you’re a VIP Club member, you can enter winning and nonwinning Iowa Powerball tickets today through the morning on May 3. Each Powerball ticket entered equals one entry in the prize category you choose, regardless of the price of the ticket or the number of plays it.

The entry period runs through 9:59 a.m. on May 3, with the drawing to follow on May 5.

You Can Enter Lotto America Tickets For A Chance To Win Up To $20K In Cash

The Lotto America® game is in the spotlight right now in a promotion that gives you the chance to enter tickets for a shot at $100,000 in prizes, including a $20,000 top prize.

The Lotto America Promotion began at 10 a.m. this morning, allowing VIP Club members to enter eligible Lotto America tickets for a chance at one of 33 cash prizes. In the promotion, the lottery will award:
        • one prize of $20,000
        • two prizes of $10,000
        • five prizes of $5,000
        • 10 prizes of $2,000
        • 15 prizes of $1,000.

The three-week entry period runs through 9:59 a.m. March 29. Only recent tickets can be entered – any Lotto America tickets purchased on or after March 1, 2022, are eligible for entry. And in keeping with past lotto promotions, each ticket entered will equal one entry in the drawing regardless of the ticket value or the number of plays on the ticket.

A player can win only one cash prize in this promotion. To give all tickets the maximum chance of winning, the winner of the highest cash prize will be selected first, with the second-largest second and so on until all cash prizes have been awarded.

The lottery will announce the winners after the drawing on March 31.

Good luck with your promotion entries!

This Time, You Can Enter InstaPlay Tickets For A Chance To Win More Prizes

This time, InstaPlay games are in the spotlight in a promotion that gives you the chance to enter tickets for a chance to win more prizes -- A LOT more in prizes. To be specific, the InstaPlay promotion that began this morning has a total of $228,000 in prizes on the line!

We’re applying the “max bet” concept in this Play It Again® promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you could win increases with the purchase price of the ticket you enter.

There are five categories in the promotion based on the ticket price point involved:

• $20 tickets are eligible for a $20,000 prize.
• $10 tickets are eligible for a $10,000 prize.
• $5 tickets are eligible for a $5,000 prize.
• $2 tickets are eligible for a $2,000 prize.
• $1 tickets are eligible for a $1,000 prize.

The promotion will have two drawings. They’ll be held on Feb. 3 and Feb. 24, with 15 cash prizes awarded in each. That works out to 3 prizes per category in both drawings.

So, in the Feb. 3 drawing, there will be 3 winners of a $20,000 prize, 3 winners of a $10,000 prize, 3 winners of a $5,000 prize, 3 winners of a $2,000 prize and 3 winners of a $1,000 prize. That same thing will happen in the Feb. 24 drawing.

Only recent InstaPlay tickets can be entered. Any nonwinning InstaPlay ticket purchased on or after Jan. 3 of this year is eligible for entry into the promotion. And remember that you’ll need to be a member of the lottery’s free VIP Club to enter.

You can enter tickets for the first drawing until the morning of Feb. 1, and then entries will start over for the second drawing, with its entry period open until the morning of Feb. 22. Entries will not carry over from one drawing to the next.

You can win a prize in each category you enter. (Yes, the odds of that happening are long, but we’ve seen players win multiple prizes before in our drawings.)

Good luck, thank you for playing, and we hope you have fun with this moment in the sun for our InstaPlay games!

$1 Million Winner Moves Up Life Plans

A northeast Iowa woman has been able to move up some major life plans after winning the $1 million top prize in the Iowa Lottery’s “Million Dollar $ummer” promotion! Click on the video above to hear Susie Blazek of Delhi tell her story.

 

Player Question: Where Do I Find The Numbers To Enter?

Now that our Million Dollar $ummer is underway, we’ve gotten questions from players re-familiarizing themselves with how to enter tickets in our promotions for a chance to win. There are two ways you can enter: By manually keying in the numbers from your tickets or scanning them with our mobile app. Here are the details for both.

Nonwinning tickets in 15 current scratch games can be entered into the Million Dollar $ummer promotion.

To enter a ticket manually, you'll need to key in the 10-digit entry number from the front of the ticket and the ticket number, which is found on the back. The 10-digit entry number is under the security coating on the front of a scratch ticket and can't be seen until the coating is scratched off. (Three of the numbers in that 10-digit code are inside a rectangular box.) The ticket number is by the bar code on the back of the ticket.

The lottery's mobile app gives you an even easier way to enter: Just use it to scan the barcode under the “Scratch 2 Cash” area on the front of an eligible ticket. You don’t have to key in any numbers that way!

The image posted here shows examples of the numbers you would need to manually enter a ticket as well as the barcode that you can scan from the mobile app.

Good luck with your promo entries!  

Is This YOUR Million Dollar $ummer?

From now through late August, you can have a shot at nearly $1.2 million in prizes that are exclusively for Iowa Lottery players. Thirteen prizes ranging from $5,000 to $1 million are up for grabs in our Million Dollar $ummer promotion that just opened for entries today.

Iowa Lottery players who are members of our free VIP Club can enter the promotion through noon on Aug. 20. We’ll hold the promotion prize drawings on Aug. 26. We’re applying the “max bet” concept in the promotion, meaning that the size of the prize you could win increases along with the purchase price of the scratch ticket you’ve entered.

Players can enter the promotion with non-winning tickets in 15 current scratch games that range in price from $5 up to $30, including some of our popular “Crossword” and “Game Book” tickets. 

These prizes will be awarded in the promotion’s drawings: 
• 3 prizes of $5,000 from the $5 entries
• 3 prizes of $10,000 from the $10 entries
• 3 prizes of $20,000 from the $20 entries
• 3 prizes of $30,000 from the $30 entries
• 1 grand prize of $1 million from all promotion entries not previously selected. 

The initial category drawings and the grand-prize drawing will all be held on Thursday, Aug. 26. All entries submitted in the promotion that aren’t selected as a winner in one of the initial drawings will automatically be eligible for the grand-prize drawing.

And, if you enter tickets in each of the prize categories, you could win a prize at each level. (Yes, the odds of that happening are long, but we’ve seen players win multiple prizes before in our drawings.)

Good luck, thank you for playing, and we hope this turns out to be YOUR million-dollar summer!

Do You Have To Live In Iowa To Win?

We’ve gotten a few questions this month about who can play the Iowa Lottery and win prizes in its games and promotions. Specifically, do you have to be from Iowa to win?

The answer in almost all cases is that anyone from anywhere can play the lottery and win. There is only one instance where you have to be from Iowa to win the prize involved, and I’ll cover that here.  
 
I think there’s a home-state pride involved and it’s fun when someone from your county or maybe even your city wins the lottery. Hey, if you didn’t win the big prize yourself, it’s always nice to have a “close brush” with someone who did!

But the short answer is that people from other states and countries can play – and win – in the Iowa Lottery’s games. The requirements for them are the same as those for everybody else: They have to be at least 21 years old to buy a ticket and the ticket must be legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented to the Iowa Lottery to claim the prize.

By its very definition, a lottery is a game that can be won by anyone from anywhere, provided that they have a ticket. Within the past year, the vast majority of Iowa Lottery prizes were claimed by folks from right here in Iowa. But our winners have also included a Florida man who claimed a $250,000 prize, a Wisconsin woman and a Nebraska man who each claimed a $100,000 prize, and an Illinois man who claimed a $50,000 prize.         

If you win an Iowa Lottery prize and you’re not a resident of the United States, you may pay a higher amount in withholding than a U.S. citizen would, but it’s perfectly OK for you to play and win!
     
We’re pretty sure that our winners from out of state are glad that people from outside Iowa can buy tickets and win prizes here! And we as Iowans in turn can play the lottery and win prizes when we’re traveling out of state or out of the country. And bottom line, Iowa Lottery sales provide proceeds to help our state, no matter where the person is from who made the purchase.

Folks from outside of Iowa also can enter our Play It Again® promotions and win prizes in them. (As with prizes in our games, the withholding difference will apply to prizes in our promotions if you’re not a U.S. citizen.)

The only time that Iowa residency is required is in our contests that offer actual lottery tickets as prizes. It’s illegal for us to mail or ship lottery tickets across state lines, so in those instances, you do have to be from Iowa to win.

‘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.

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.

Player Mail: Can You Give Me More Details About The New Prize Zone?

Since our new Prize Zone launched yesterday, we’ve already heard from players entering their tickets for a chance to win the prizes up for grabs. But others have had questions about the Prize Zone, wanting to be sure they understand how it works.

So here are the details to give you the inside scoop on the new Prize Zone feature in the lottery’s VIP Club.

The Prize Zone is a new, ongoing part of our VIP Club that offers Iowa Lottery players more ways to win when they buy scratch tickets. Each month, if you’re a member of the VIP Club, you’ll be able to enter nonwinning tickets in certain scratch games into the Prize Zone for a chance to win select prizes tied only to those games.

Sometimes the prizes in the Prize Zone will be merchandise prizes, like they are now. Other times, they might be for tickets to exclusive events like concerts and sporting events. We’ll also offer cash prizes through the Prize Zone, so you’ll want to check back each month to see all the latest!

To kick off the Prize Zone, we’re giving away more than $36,000 in Apple iPads, and the tickets you’ll need to enter for a chance to win are in our “9s In A Line” family of games. The size of the iPad you could win goes up along with the “size” of the 9s In A Line game that you enter!

Tickets in the $1 9s In A Line Small game can be entered for a chance to win an iPad mini. The $2 “Medium” game is tied to the iPad Air, the $5 "Large" game is tied to the iPad Pro; and the $10 "XL" game is tied to the iPad Pro.

You can enter nonwinning 9s In A Line tickets into the Prize Zone through the morning of March 17, and we’ll hold the drawing for the winners of the iPads on March 19.

We’ll always keep the details about the current prizes available in the Prize Zone as well as the next two upcoming rounds so you can see those details and plan ahead if you’d like. (Hint: You’ll want to pay attention to the “Lucky Dog” scratch game starting next month.)

Thanks again for playing the Iowa Lottery, and for asking questions about the Prize Zone. Entries started coming in as soon as it debuted yesterday, so we know the word is spreading. We wish you the very best of luck with your Prize Zone entries!

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!

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.

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!