Iowans may soon buy Powerball and other lottery tickets online, official says

The day is coming when lottery players in Iowa will be able to purchase Powerball and other lotto-style tickets online on their computer, smartphone or tablet, says Terry Rich, president/CEO of the Iowa Lottery.

Rich, who was in Cedar Rapids as part of a tour of the state to talk about the Iowa Lottery, said the states of Illinois and Minnesota now permit in-state online lottery purchases and other states, including New Jersey and Georgia, also are looking to do the same.

"We know it's coming. It will happen," Rich said.

For now, though, he said he wants to see some other states add online sales before he pushes ahead with the idea in Iowa.

"We've done research on the companies and names and what's available," he said. "We're comfortable with security, with the geo(graphic) coding and age verification. … But we want to do it when it's strategically and fiscally prudent for the state of Iowa."

Rich said two factors could speed the Iowa Lottery's move to sell tickets online for lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions: If the federal government, in an effort to stop online gambling with offshore companies, allows Nevada casinos to offer online gambling nationwide; or if Iowa casinos win state approval to offer online gambling in Iowa.

Concern in other states about online lottery sales has come from convenience stores, which are primary sellers of lottery tickets. However, Rich said studies in Europe, where the online sale of lotto tickets has been in place for some time, have shown that online sales actually increase in-store sales of lottery tickets.

He said online sales would allow the purchase of tickets on smartphones and so might add new lottery players among those from ages 21 to 25, who he said depend on smartphones for most of their transactions.

In any event, online sales promise to provide an "incremental" increase of 1 to 2 percent in lottery sales not an "exponential" growth in sales. Only giant Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots result in exponential growth, Rich said.

Earlier this month, Mike Lang, spokesman for the Illinois Lottery, reported that the Illinois Lottery's online sales have not been as large as hoped since the option became available in March 2012. Weekly sales have grown "slightly" since the start on online sales, and now has surpassed a total of $6 million.

"We do see growth," Lang said.

Some states allow or are looking at allowing the purchase of lottery tickets at the gas pump or at ATMs, the Iowa Lottery's Rich said, and some, like Illinois, have machines for people to self-purchase lotto tickets.

Rich noted that some states allow the purchase of tickets at age 18, but in Iowa the minimum age of purchase is 21 so Iowa needs to be more cautious about how it sells tickets.

At the same time, he said the Iowa Lottery is looking to place self-purchase machines for lotto games like Powerball and Mega Millions in Iowa taverns.

Rich said the Iowa Lottery has the authority to move into online sales now, but he said it would not do so without plenty of discussion with elected officials, the governor, the public and retailers.

The central message of Rich's tour around the state is that the Iowa Lottery had a banner year in sales for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2013. The Lottery took in more revenue, $339.3 million, than at any time in its 28-year history.

Rich added that Iowa's state government is in pretty good financial health, and so it and the Iowa Lottery don't feel any pressure to seek additional lottery revenue that online sales might bring.

Told about the wish at City Hall in Cedar Rapids for more state support for basics like city streets, Rich said, "That's why I think it's also a political discussion."

"We want to use the business model that maximizes the dollars with the least social impact as a total product," he said.