KANSAS, IOWA LOTTERY BEGIN THIRD EDITION
OF POPULAR 'MIDWEST MILLIONS' GAME

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Joint Instant-Scratch Game Has Successful Record, Begins 2009 Sales This Week

DES MOINES, Iowa – The popularity of the nation's first instant-scratch game sold jointly in two states has led the Kansas and Iowa lotteries to release a third version of "Midwest Millions."

Tickets in this year's version of Midwest Millions have a retro-postcard design and feature different scenes of outdoor activities and attractions in both Iowa and Kansas. Players in both states will again buy tickets in this year's game and compete for prizes as part of one big pool.

"Lottery players have shown they appreciate this new generation of lottery product," Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said as Midwest Millions began sales Monday. "By working together, we've been able to produce a game that offers a high percentage of prizes overall and a significant $500,000 top prize in its second-chance drawings."

The idea behind the game is to apply to another product line the "Powerball concept" that has enabled states to join together in lotto games and offer bigger prizes and more chances to win than they would have been able to achieve on their own.

Tickets in Midwest Millions cost $10 and the game offers instant prizes ranging from $10 to $50,000. There also will be two second-chance drawings that each will offer a top prize of $500,000 along with five prizes of $10,000. The overall odds of winning in the game are some of the best the lotteries have offered: 1 in 2.84.

The two states are tied after Midwest Millions' first two years: Iowa Lottery players won both $500,000 prizes in the 2007 version of the game, while Kansas Lottery players won the $500,000 prizes in the game's second round.

Kansas Lottery Executive Director Ed Van Petten found inspiration for Midwest Millions in the successful track record that lotteries outside the United States have built by joining together to offer scratch games with millions of dollars in prizes.

"Midwest Millions has joined the list of multi-jurisdictional games that have achieved success by offering players better chances to win and larger top prizes by pooling resources," Van Petten said. "We look forward to improving upon our earlier successes with this year's game."

Instant-scratch games are a staple of the modern lottery industry, with multiple games for sale at one time and players annually buying billions of dollars worth of latex-covered tickets that they scratch off to determine whether they've won a prize. But until Midwest Millions, instant-scratch games had been an individual product for each U.S. lottery.

Statewide sales in this year's version of Midwest Millions began Monday in both states. The game's first drawing will be Jan. 15 in Kansas, with the second drawing April 16 in Iowa. Entries in the second-chance drawings will be determined as a percentage of sales (e.g. if one state sells 60 percent of the tickets in the game, it will get 60 percent of the entries in the second-chance drawing).

Rich said he's looking forward to the latest results.

"Midwest Millions has given us the opportunity to present a new twist on lottery games," he said. "Our players have definitely found it intriguing and fun to play."