Iowa Lottery sets record annual sales in fiscal 2024

The Iowa Lottery says that it saw record sales of $489.9 million in the just-completed 2024 fiscal year.

The Iowa Lottery released annual its unaudited sales results this week, finding that sales had increased by 1.7 percent from the previous year, beating the previous sales record. Proceeds from the lottery to the state totaled nearly $107 million, according to a news release. While proceeds to the state saw a decrease of roughly 1.6 percent from fiscal 2023, the lottery reported it was the second-highest total for proceeds in a year, behind $108.4 million in fiscal 2023.

Prizes to players also reached a record level at $312.6 million — a 2.4 percent increase — in the fiscal year, according to the news release, and lottery sales commissions to Iowa businesses grew by 2 percent.

“The Iowa Lottery continues to deliver on its promise to responsibly generate revenue for important state causes,” Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Matt Strawn said in a statement. “I’m grateful to lottery players, retail partners, and our amazing team of public-minded professionals who produced these record results.”

The highest-selling lottery products in Iowa during fiscal 2024 were scratch games at $302.1 million, followed by, in a distant second place, Powerball at $77.3 million, and by third-place Mega Millions at $39.1 million.

Fourteen Iowa Lottery players claimed prizes of at least $500,000 during the fiscal year, with the highest winnings being $2 million in Powerball games — one for a Clinton man in April, and one for a Treynor man in January. A Powerball Double Play prize of $500,000, won in March in Mason City, remains unclaimed.

Proceeds from the lottery go to multiple sources, including the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund and programs supporting Iowa law enforcement, firefighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty, as well as to projects through the state budget.

Dana Wingert, Des Moines chief of police and chair of the Iowa Lottery Commission, praised lottery efforts to highlight National Gambling Awareness Month and the services available in the state for people facing gambling addiction disorders.

“As a citizen commission member, it’s gratifying to me to see this ongoing demonstration of lottery integrity,” Wingert said. “And as a public servant myself, I appreciate the lottery team’s focus on responsibly producing results for vital causes.”

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.