Iowa Lottery posts incorrect Powerball numbers — and those who claimed prize before mistake was noticed can keep the cash



Some lucky players in Iowa received an early Christmas present this year after the state lottery posted the wrong Powerball numbers earlier this week but still allowed some of those with winning tickets for the wrong numbers to keep their prize money.

The confusion began with the Powerball drawing on Monday night. Even though the Iowa Lottery requires two people in two separate locations to record the winning numbers before those numbers can become official — a process that an Iowa Lottery blog post called "redundant reporting procedures" — the numbers somehow became garbled, and the lottery website accidentally posted the wrong Powerball numbers at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

By 7:15 a.m. that same morning, some lottery staffers noticed the error and immediately suspended the Powerball results on lottery terminals, the blog post said. After about 7:30 a.m., anyone who attempted to scan a ticket received the following message: "Draw has not occurred, more draws remain."

During that nearly seven-hour gap, however, early birds who had a ticket with the incorrect Powerball results could have sauntered into a nearby convenience store or other self-serve kiosk to collect their money. The Iowa Lottery has since passively indicated that it will honor those erroneous winnings, perhaps because it has no choice.

"Prizes were paid for any of those tickets presented during the time period that the incorrect results were posted," the blog post admitted.

Meanwhile, the lottery scrambled to record the correct numbers across the state. By 3:30 p.m., the correct numbers — 2-21-38-61-66 and Powerball 12 and a Power Play® number of 2 — were posted, and players with tickets corresponding to those numbers were able to collect their winnings.

The Powerball may sound like a major prize, but payouts actually range from $4 to $200. Though individual winnings are relatively insignificant, the lottery reported that by Wednesday afternoon, nearly 4,000 ticket-holders with the correct Powerball numbers had already collected winnings, bringing the statewide total to almost $25,000.

In the blog post, the lottery apologized for the mix-up, claimed that it affected just a "small" number of people, and promised "to review drawing procedures with an eye toward improvements in the future."

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Now the lottery is apparently another form of 'systemic racism,' critics allege



Is the lottery yet another example of "systemic racism" in America? Some researchers who recently spoke to CNN said "yes."

The allegations come after a single Powerball ticket won the biggest jackpot — more than $2 billion — in Powerball game history this week. The ticket was sold in Altadena, California, beating the astronomical winning odds of 1 in 292.2 million.

What are the claims?

Lottery critics allege lower-income communities are scammed with marketing that claims playing the lottery means getting rich quick.

The result, critics say, is that lower-income people spend more of their discretionary income — which they already have less of — on the lottery, often leading to losses or small wins that keep them playing, but ultimately resulting in transferring more wealth out of their communities.

Les Bernal, national director for Stop Predatory Gambling, even alleges the lottery is a form of "systemic racism."

"State lotteries are the most neglected example of systemic racism in the United States than any other issue or problem, I should say, in our country," he told NPR last week.

In his interview with CNN, Bernal explained the on-the-ground reality.

"[People are] hoping to pay their rent at the end of the month or pay an outstanding medical bill or put their kids through college or they just lost their job and they’re just trying to find a way to make ends meet," he said. "And here you have what is a government program encouraging citizens to lose their money on rigged games."

At least one study, conducted by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, has shown that lottery retailers are disproportionately placed in lower-income communities, luring nearby residents with the dream of getting out of poor economic circumstances.

In fact, while state lotteries are billed as helping with education and other public works, what actually happens is that people from poorer communities do not benefit.

"You have low-income people, essentially paying for college scholarships for middle-class and upper-class families to go to college. It's the American dream, completely in reverse," Bernal told NPR.

How much is spent on the lottery?

Americans reportedly spent more than $105 billion lottery tickets last year.

One Powerball ticket matches winning numbers for record $2.04 billion prize — but if a lump sum is chosen, far less will be taken home



A single Powerball ticket matched all the winning numbers drawn for a record payout of $2.04 billion, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

But if a lump sum is chosen, far less will be taken home.

What are the details?

The jackpot ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California — a community in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles, the AP said.

Joe’s Service Center will receive a maximum Powerball bonus of $1 million for selling the winning ticket, the AP added.

It's taken more than three months of drawings to get to a top-prize winning ticket, the outlet said, adding that the winning numbers were 10, 33, 41, 47, and 56 (white balls) and another number 10 on the red Powerball.

More from the AP:

The $2.04 billion jackpot was by far the largest lottery prize ever won, topping the previous record $1.586 billion prize won by three Powerball ticketholders in 2016. Only four previous jackpots have topped $1 billion, but none of those are close to the current prize, which started at $20 million back on Aug. 6 and has grown over three winless months. No one has won the jackpot since Aug. 3.

The jackpot was initially reported as an estimated $1.9 billion on Monday, but the prize was increased to $2.04 billion Tuesday morning after updated calculations.

The winning numbers were actually drawn Tuesday morning — almost 10 hours after the scheduled Monday night drawing — because of problems processing sales data at one of the game’s member lotteries, the AP noted.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, the outlet added.

The $2.04 billion prize is for an annuity paid annually over 29 years, the AP said — but nearly all winners choose a single cash payout, and this one is valued at $997.6 million.

Calm down, y'all

If the winner or winners chose the nearly 1 billion lump sum, Forbes said the IRS will get a mandatory 24% federal tax withholding of $239,424,000 — and that leaves a reduced total of $758,176,000.

The magazine added that the winner or winners get socked again with a federal marginal rate of up to 37%. Forbes said that means the total is lessened by another $126,560,096 — assuming there are no additional incomes, dependents, or itemized tax deductions such as charitable giving — resulting in a final total of $631,615,904.

The kicker? With all the legit complaints about California life of late, the Golden State has at least one thing going for it — it's one of 14 states that don’t tax prize winnings, Forbes said.

Here's a video of folks at Joe's Service Center reacting to the $1 million bonus prize:

Powerball jackpot-winning ticket sold in Altadena, Californiawww.youtube.com

Lottery Myths Debunked

Lottery Myths Debunked