In less than two weeks, Iowa’s throwback lotto game will add a drawing. Starting July 18, Lotto America will hold its first Monday drawing, according to Iowa Lottery officials in Clive. The game already has Wednesday and Saturday drawings.
If the Monday–Wednesday–Saturday schedule sounds familiar, Powerball holds drawings on the same nights. Iowa Lottery officials say other Lotto America features will remain the same including:
- the $1 ticket price
- odds of winning
- and the fixed (non-jackpot) prize amounts.
That means players will continue to choose five numbers from a pool of 52 white balls. The sixth number is the Star Ball. It comes from a separate pool of 10.
As with other lotto games, Lotto America offers an “All Star Bonus” multiplier. That add-on feature is available for an additional $1 per play to multiply non-jackpot prizes.
Lotto America prizes
The overall chances of winning per play are 1 in 9.63. These are the combinations that pay out:
- 5 white balls + Star Ball = Jackpot
- 5 white balls = $20,000
- 4 white balls + Star Ball = $1,000
- 4 white balls = $100
- 3 white balls + Star Ball = $20
- 3 white balls or 2 white balls + Star Ball = $5
- Star Ball or Star Ball + 1 white ball = $2
The jackpot for the Wednesday, July 6, drawing is estimated at $16.3 million.
Why add another drawing each week?
Iowa and 12 other states added another night of Lotto America drawings to “produce more winners and larger, faster-growing jackpots,” according to the Iowa Lottery.
The game debuted in 2017, but the format is a throwback to the first multi-state lotto game. Iowa was a founding member of the original version of Lotto America, which launched in 1988. Powerball brought the orginial Lotto America to an end in 1992.
The current version of Lotto America will mark its fifth anniversary in November. The jackpot has hit seven times in the game’s history. That includes a $4.38 million win by a Davenport man in May 2018.
As for the more well-known lotto games, the jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing is $35 million. The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday’s drawing is estimated at $400 million.
The state uses Iowa Lottery proceeds to augment approved projects in the general fund. Some of the revenue is earmarked for:
- the Iowa Veterans Trust fund and
- a fund to help families of Iowa peace officers, firefighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty.
