New lottery game expected to produce more millionaires in Iowa

DES MOINES - The Iowa Lottery is trying to improve the odds of its players becoming millionaires.

Responding to player complaints that lotto mega-jackpots only go to a small group of winners, Iowa is partnering with other states to offer a new premium lotto game Oct. 19 based on the popular Monopoly board game that will be tied in with a nationally televised game show.

The $5-per-play lottery game, called Monopoly Millionaires' Club, will offer players three chances on each ticket to win a prize of at least $1 million - through a weekly lotto drawing, via a separate drawing that is triggered only when the game's top prize is won, or by way of the TV show originating in Las Vegas, Lottery CEO Terry Rich told board members Tuesday.

'This new game spreads the wealth and does what consumers want,” said Rich, who predicted the new lottery product would have 'millennial” appeal to players in their 20s and 30s with its interactive components, while older players will get a 'throwback feel” from the new 'mainstay” game with an iconic Hasbro brand.

Rich believed the new game would reach 170 million homes nationwide when it launches next month and likely would grow to 225 million by the time it is adopted by most states already offering Powerball and Mega-Million drawings.

'Lotteries are following the same successful business model on the lotto side that we've used for years with instant-scratch and pull-tab games: We offer different games at different price points to provide the variety and choices today's consumers want,” he said. 'The Monopoly Millionaires' Club lottery game will be the first $5 multistate lotto game, further diversifying our offerings in the lotto category.”

Lottery officials said the new game will combine the high-stakes action of multistate lottery games with a national TV game show featuring players selected from among the lottery ticket holders who have registered their tickets online or via a smartphone app.

The game will feature a weekly lotto drawing held at 10:15 p.m. on Fridays where players can win a top prize capped at $25 million by matching the six numbers drawn. Players will choose five numbers from a pool of 52. They can select their own numbers or make an 'easy pick” and allow the numbers to be randomly generated for them.

After the first five numbers have been selected, the lottery terminal will automatically pick an additional number from 1 to 28 that also will represent a 'property” on the Monopoly game board. The top prize in the game's weekly lotto drawing will start at $15 million and can roll without being won only three times to a maximum of $25 million, after which it is capped until it is won, and the rest of the money will go to creating multiple $1 million winners.

The odds of winning the game's top prize will be about 1 in 73 million, as compared to odds of about 1 in 175 million of winning the Powerball jackpot and odds of about 1 in 259 million of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.

Rich said the game's unique design 'is expected to generate more millionaires than any other game in lottery history.” When the game's top prize is won, a separate drawing will be held that will enable players to win a $1 million prize.

Players also collect new Monopoly properties with their purchases, and forming a complete property set will enter them into a drawing for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas and possibly appear as a contestant on the national TV game show slated to debut next February with Billy Gardell as host. The game show will offer cash and other prizes valued at up to $100,000, with a final round on each episode where a player will have a shot at $1 million.

The announcement comes at a time when the Lottery is experiencing a six-month 'dry spell” of going with a mega-jackpot winner, although the top prize in Wednesday's Powerball drawing stood at $225 million.

The lottery board on Tuesday passed a preliminary budget request of $313.2 million, with projected proceeds to the state treasury of $69.1 million for fiscal 2016. That would be up slightly from the current year's projected $310 million budget and $68.7 million in proceeds, but down from fiscal 2014, when sales hit $314 million and generated net proceeds of nearly $73.95 million.

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