FY 2025 Results: Iowa Lottery Proceeds to State Causes Exceed $86 Million
Annual lottery sales top $400 million for fifth year in a row
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CLIVE, Iowa -The Iowa Lottery released its latest annual results on Friday, with its sales, proceeds to state causes and prizes to players all meeting, and slightly exceeding, budget projections for fiscal year 2025 despite low jackpot levels overall in signature national lotto games.
"The Iowa Lottery team is proud to deliver on the lottery’s promise to responsibly generate revenue for important state causes, such as the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund,” said Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn. “Thank you to our hard-working team of Iowans, nearly 2,500 retail partners, lottery players, and community stakeholders for contributing to a successful year."
Strawn noted that while the Iowa Lottery’s annual budget targets for sales and proceeds were exceeded for fiscal year 2025, they trailed the record-breaking sales results of fiscal year 2024 – a year that witnessed a record of five separate lotto game jackpots exceed $1 billion.
The Lottery's Preliminary Results
The preliminary figures released Friday show that the Iowa Lottery generated $86.1 million in proceeds to state causes in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Annual lottery sales in FY 2025 totaled $434.9 million, while prizes to players totaled $283.5 million. Lottery sales commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell tickets totaled $28.3 million. All are in the Iowa Lottery's Top 10 results for those categories.
The unaudited results show that Iowa Lottery sales in FY 2025 were 4.1 percent ahead of budget projections, but down 11.2 percent from the previous year's record total of $489.9 million. Lottery proceeds to state causes in FY 2025 were 11.8 percent ahead of budget projections, but down 19.3 percent from the previous year, while prizes to players decreased 9.3 percent from FY 2024's total. Lottery sales commissions to Iowa businesses decreased 11.5 percent from the previous year.
Katie New, chair of the Iowa Lottery Commission, noted multiple positives for the lottery during the year, including annual operating expenses that were below budget projections.
New, the controller at Ellipsis Iowa, also noted that the lottery delivered strong statewide visibility for awareness messages highlighting Problem Gambling Awareness Month and the help available in Iowa for those seeking information about gambling disorders.
"The Iowa Lottery’s ongoing demonstration of integrity and social responsibility carries great impact for me as a citizen Commission member,” New said. “The lottery team’s focus goes beyond the numbers to responsibly produce results."
The Factors Involved
The lottery’s FY 2025 results reflected two main factors: a slight decrease in scratch-ticket sales, which have always been closely tied to broader external economic factors, and the relative lack of giant jackpots in the Powerball® and Mega Millions® games.
The timing of giant jackpots and when they will occur can’t be predicted. But in FY 2024, the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots collectively climbed five times to more than $1 billion (three in Powerball and two in Mega Millions). That occurred only once in FY 2025, in Mega Millions. Sales in both games are largely jackpot driven, so FY 2025 sales in Powerball were down 51 percent from the prior year, while Mega Millions annual sales were down 29 percent from the previous year.
Sales of scratch games, the Iowa Lottery’s leading product, were down 4 percent from the previous year and accounted for about 67 percent of the lottery’s overall sales in FY 2025.
That, in turn, had an impact on lottery proceeds. In a year like FY 2025 when scratch tickets sell particularly well, lottery proceeds may be a smaller percentage of total sales because scratch games have a smaller profit margin than lotto games like Powerball. But while sales in lotto games can vary greatly with their jackpots from week to week and month to month, sales of scratch tickets are more stable over time.
How Lottery Proceeds Help The State
A highlight for FY 2025 was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit the state’s veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised more than $42 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.
The lottery also provides proceeds to the Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund and Department of Corrections Survivor Benefits Fund, which help with ongoing insurance costs for the families of Iowa peace officers, firefighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty. Lottery proceeds also benefit the state General Fund to help pay for everything from education to agricultural programs.
Here is a year-to-year comparison of annual sales by lottery product:
| Product |
FY 2025 Sales |
FY 2024 Sales |
| Scratch games |
$290.1 million |
$302.1 million |
| InstaPlay games |
$32.1million |
$28.0 million |
| Pick 3 |
$9.2 million |
$9.1 million |
| Powerball |
$37.5 million |
$77.3 million |
| Mega Millions |
$27.9 million |
$39.1 million |
| Pick 4 |
$5.8 million |
$5.9 million |
| Lucky for Life |
$8.3 million |
$8.6 million |
| Lotto America |
$9.0 million |
$6.7 million |
| Pull-tab games |
$15.1 million |
$13.1 million |
The Top 10 retailers in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2025 were in five different communities:
| Retailer |
Address |
City |
FY 2025 Sales |
| Hy-Vee |
1843 Johnson Ave |
Cedar Rapids |
$1,256,014.00 |
| Hy-Vee |
5050 Edgewood Rd NE |
Cedar Rapids |
$1,091,505.00 |
| Hy-Vee Drugstore |
1520 Sixth St. SW |
Cedar Rapids |
$1,066,311.00 |
| Hy-Vee |
3235 Oakland Road NE |
Cedar Rapids |
$994,890.50 |
| Hy-Vee |
20 Wilson Ave. SW |
Cedar Rapids |
$876,550.00 |
| Hy-Vee |
2540 E. Euclid Ave. |
Des Moines |
$853,041.50 |
| Hy-Vee |
2351 W. Locust St. |
Davenport |
$842,868.00 |
| Hy-Vee |
1107 SE Army Post Road |
Des Moines |
$835,707.50 |
| Hy-Vee |
2323 W. Broadway |
Council Bluffs |
$817,513.00 |
| Porter's Convenient 66 |
1512 Lincoln Way |
Clinton |
$781,309.50 |
Iowa Lottery players claimed 12 prizes of at least $500,000 during FY 2025. Here are the prizes of at least $1 million claimed in Iowa during the year (listed by prize amount and claim date):
| Winner |
City |
Game |
Prize |
Claim Date |
| Shelby Willis |
Des Moines |
Lucky For Life |
$1,000 a day for life |
Nov. 13, 2024 |
| Lynne Kannuan Living Trust |
Webster City |
Powerball |
$1 million |
Sept. 18, 2024 |
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