Iowa Lottery sales hit record $366.9 million last fiscal year

CLIVE — Having a world-record Powerball jackpot of nearly $1.6 billion proved to be a financial windfall for the Iowa Lottery.

Iowa's state-run gambling enterprise posted its best year ever in fiscal 2016, with annual sales hitting a record $366.9 million, generating a record $88 million in proceeds for the state treasury, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by lottery officials.

Topping the $300 million sales plateau for the fifth straight year enabled lottery players to reap a record $221.8 million in prizes — including six winning tickets that topped the $1 million mark — and netted Iowa retailers $24.6 million in commissions, which also was a yearly record. The Hy-Vee store at 20 Wilson Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids topped all Iowa retail outlets with more than $1.02 million in lottery ticket sales for the 12-month period ending June 30, according to lottery data.

'We're incredibly proud of the success we've achieved and what the lottery has been able to provide to Iowans,' Lottery CEO Terry Rich said in a statement. 'This was a really rewarding year: We celebrated with our winners, awarding them with a bigger prize total than ever before, exceeded our proceeds goals for state causes and helped the bottom line of local businesses.'

The unaudited figures indicated that lottery sales in fiscal 2016 increased nearly 13 percent from the previous year's total, while proceeds to the state's general fund were up 18 percent and prizes to players increased nearly $25 million from the previous fiscal year, he noted.

Rich attributed the lottery's banner year to record sales of instant-scratch games and huge lotto sales spurred by January's world-record Powerball jackpot. During the two-month-plus run-up (Nov. 5 to Jan. 13) leading to the nearly $1.6 billion drawing on Jan. 13, the Iowa Lottery sold about $34.2 million in Powerball tickets compared to the $52.2 million in total sales for the entire previous fiscal year. Powerball sales for fiscal 2016 finished at $74.9 million.

Also, Rich said, scratch tickets — the first product introduced by the Iowa Lottery in 1985 — hit a yearly sales record of $233.7 million last fiscal year, topping the previous high of nearly $212 million set in fiscal 2015.

Proceeds from lottery sales also raised $2.5 million for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit the state's veterans and their families, bringing to nearly $20 million the amount of lottery sales money that has flowed into the trust fund since 2008, according to lottery officials.

Here is a year-to-year comparison of annual lottery sales by product:

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Product FY 2016 Sales FY 2015 Sales

Scratch Games $233.7 million $212 million

Pick 3 $7.4 million $7 million

Powerball $74.9 million $52.2 million

Mega Millions $16.4 million $18 million

Hot Lotto $8.8 million $11.1 million

Pick 4 $3.6 million $3.2 million

All or Nothing $4 million $4.5 million

Lucky for Life* $3.2 million -----------

Monopoly Millionaires' Club** ----------- $0.6 million

Pull-tabs $15.1 million $16 million

*The Lucky for Life game was introduced in Iowa in January 2016.

**The Monopoly Millionaires' Club game was introduced in October 2014 and ended sales in Iowa in December 2014.

The Top 10 retailers in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2016 were in six different communities:

Retailer Address City FY 16 Sales

Hy-Vee 20 Wilson Ave. SW Cedar Rapids $1,026,343

Kum & Go 115 N. 22nd St. Fort Dodge $876,802

Hy-Vee 2540 E. Euclid Ave. Des Moines $773,828

Hy-Vee 1843 Johnson Ave. NW Cedar Rapids $745,887

Hy-Vee 3235 Oakland Road NE Cedar Rapids $698,647

Guppy's On The Go 235 Edgewood Road NW Cedar Rapids $687,116

Hy-Vee 2323 W. Broadway Ave. Council Bluffs $662,690

Pronto 810 Fourth Ave. S. Denison $637,806

Hy-Vee 4000 University Ave. Waterloo $631,344

Hy-Vee Drugstore 1520 Sixth St. SW Cedar Rapids $619,463

The largest prize claimed by an Iowa Lottery player in FY 16 was $2 million, while five other tickets that were claimed won prizes of $1 million during the fiscal year.

Winner City Game Prize Claimed

Bryon Stewart Onawa Powerball $2 million Jan. 14, 2016

Joel Dominguez Sioux City Powerball $1 million Jan. 11, 2016

Betty Downs Burlington Mega Millions $1 million Nov. 23, 2015

Mike Hartman Winfield Mega Millions $1 million Nov. 23, 2015

Richard and Elizabeth Martin Pleasant Hill Powerball $1 million Sept. 21, 2015

Brian Delagardelle Jesup Powerball $1 million Aug. 17, 2015

Source: Iowa Lottery