Sales began Sunday, April 13, for tickets for the Iowa Lottery's first cash raffle game, which will offer 112 prizes, including a top prize of $1 million. Only 120,000 tickets will be sold for "Iowa's Million Dollar Raffle" and each will cost $20.
The Iowa Lottery has offered raffle-type games in the past with merchandise including vehicles as prizes, but this is the first cash raffle game that will be sold by the lottery.
Ken Brickman, the lottery's acting CEO, said that several states have offered raffle games in the past few years with much success.
"In many instances, tickets have sold out quickly," Brickman said. "Word has already begun to spread about our upcoming game here in Iowa, and based upon the number of calls we've received from folks wondering when they can buy tickets, we anticipate similar success in this state."
Sales begin Sunday in Iowa's Million Dollar Raffle game, with tickets available from the lottery's sales and validations terminals in retail locations across the state. Each ticket will bear a unique number from 10000001 to 10120000.
Prizes in the game range from $500 to $1 million. The prizes and odds are:
- One top prize of $1 million (1:120,000 odds of winning).
- One prize of $100,000 (1:120,000 odds).
- 10 prizes of $5,000 (1:12,000 odds).
- 100 prizes of $500 (1:1,200 odds).
The sales period for the lottery's raffle tickets will end June 14 with the game's drawing scheduled for June 17. The drawing time has not been specified by the lottery.
If tickets sell out early, the drawing date will be moved up to approximately three working days after all tickets have been sold.
Raffle players must keep their tickets to check them against the winning raffle numbers and to claim a prize.
After the drawing, the winning raffle numbers will be posted by the following day on Lottery Post's Iowa Lottery Results page (www.lotterypost.com/results/ia). The winning numbers also will be available at the lottery's regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Des Moines, Mason City and Cedar Rapids.
Prizes must be claimed within 90 days of the drawing date.
"We're pleased to offer this new twist on both raffles and the lottery," Brickman said.
Since the Iowa Lottery's inception in 1985, more than $2.1 billion has been awarded in prizes and more than $1.1 billion has been raised for state programs.
