Iowa Lottery Celebrates 40th Anniversary by Breaking a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Title at the Iowa State Fair
1,380 Iowans scratch their way into the record books
Click link for footage from the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ achievement event..
Click links for JPEG images of tickets in the Iowa Lottery's original Scratch, Match & Win game
and the 40th anniversary version of the game.
Three JPEG images from the Iowa State Fair kickoff celebration in 1985 for the first day of Iowa Lottery sales are available here.
CLIVE, Iowa - The Iowa Lottery is now in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ book.
The Iowa Lottery is the new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title holder for the most people scratching scratch cards simultaneously. The new title was achieved Thursday at the Iowa State Fair’s Elwell Family Park, when the Lottery brought fairgoers together to simultaneously scratch a throwback version of its very first product: A 2025 version of the “Scratch, Match & Win!” game originally launched at the Fair in 1985.
A Record-Breaking Moment
With a total of 1,380 participants, the record — officially verified by an adjudicator from Guinness World Records — shattered the previous record of 550 participants, held by a lottery in Poland.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the Iowa Lottery’s 40th anniversary than sharing the experience of setting a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title with Iowans at the great Iowa State Fair,” said Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn. “Even after 40 years, the Iowa Lottery continues to deliver once-in-a-lifetime experiences for Iowans while responsibly generating revenue — over $2.5 billion to date — for good causes across our great state."
Celebrating 40 Years of History
Participants in the record-breaking event received a free Scratch, Match & Win! ticket, offering prizes of up to $50,000. In addition to the chance to win instantly, they were also entered into a special drawing held immediately after the record attempt, where one prize of $40,000 and two prizes of $4,000 were awarded. Sharon Hulsebus of Cedar Rapids and Anthony Gleichman of Council Bluffs won $4,000 prizes, and Katherine Pierce of Des Moines won $40,000.
The tickets used in the event were a 2025 version of the Iowa Lottery’s first-ever scratch ticket, featuring retro artwork reminiscent of the original 1985 design.
Thank You, Iowa!
“Fair Sweet Fair is all about making memories and celebrating Iowa traditions, and today we added a new one to the history books,” said Iowa State Fair CEO Jeremy Parsons. “The very first scratch ticket was sold at the Iowa State Fair, and today we teamed up with the Iowa Lottery to break a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title. Hosting this record-breaking moment is our sweetest record yet!”
Throughout its 40-year history, scratch tickets have remained the Iowa Lottery’s top-selling product with nearly $300 million in scratch tickets alone purchased by Iowa Lottery players last year.
The Lottery's Impact By The Numbers
By the numbers, here is a look at 40 years of lottery history in Iowa (figures current through April 30, 2025, unless otherwise noted):
| $10.4 billion | Total Iowa Lottery sales |
| $6.1 billion | Total prizes won by Iowa Lottery players |
| $2.5 billion | Total lottery proceeds to Iowa causes |
| $722.5 million | Total lottery sales commissions paid to Iowa businesses that sell lottery tickets |
| $343.9 million | Largest lottery prize claimed in Iowa to date. A Redfield woman claimed that Powerball® jackpot on Nov. 5, 2018 |
| 2,500 | Number of retail locations in Iowa that sell lottery tickets |
| 189 | Number of Iowa Lottery tickets to date that have won prizes of $1 million or more |
| 9 | Number of Powerball jackpots won to date by Iowa Lottery players |
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