Iowa – A Davenport man on Thursday claimed a $4.38 million lottery jackpot, acknowledging that he had beaten long odds to win a jackpot with a ticket he received as a free play in a lottery promotion.
But Chuck Anderson emphasized that he wasn’t getting ahead of himself.
“I’m waiting until the money is deposited,” he said. “I won’t believe it until it’s there.”
Anderson, 52, won Iowa’s first jackpot in Lotto Americajust six months after the game’s start. And in an interesting twist, his winning ticket was one that he received for free from the Iowa Lottery.
His winning ticket came from the Kwik Star convenience store at 2850 W. Locust St. in Davenport. This month, the Iowa Lottery is giving away free lotto plays in a promotion called “Lotto Surprise.” Throughout the month, random players will receive free lotto plays when they buy tickets in a particular game. During the first week of May, the qualifying purchase was a Powerball® ticket and the free plays involved were in the Lotto America game. So, Anderson’s jackpot-winning ticket in Lotto America was generated as a free play when he bought a Powerball ticket.
Anderson’s ticket matched all six numbers in Saturday’s Lotto America drawing, which were: 8-15-18-32-45 and Star Ball1.
Anderson said that he didn’t check the results of his tickets for a couple days after Saturday’s drawing. When he saw the winning numbers on the lottery website, he said he didn’t believe it as first.
“I had to check them again,” he said with a laugh. “I had to look a couple times.”
Anderson said he is working with legal and financial advisors to make responsible decisions with his winnings, and he plans to invest the money for his future.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to help family and feel lucky to have won this prize,” he said. “As a family, we’re private people and don’t want to change who we are.”
Anderson chose to receive his prize as the lump-sum amount of about $2.6 million.
Kwik Star will receive a $5,000 bonus from the Iowa Lottery for selling the Lotto America jackpot-winning ticket at one of its stores.
Today’s version of the Lotto America game debuted Nov. 12 and is sold in Iowa and 12 other states. The game’s name is a throwback to the first multi-state lotto game known for big jackpots in the United States. Iowa was a founding member of the original version of Lotto America, which began back in 1988 and made headlines around the world for its jackpots before ultimately being replaced by Powerball in 1992.
In today’s version of Lotto America, jackpots start at $2 million. Tickets cost $1 each and the game has drawings on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
Lotto America has the playstyle of Powerball, with players selecting numbers from two separate pools for a chance at a big prize. Players in the game choose five numbers from a pool of 52 and another number, called the Star Ball, from a pool of 10. Players who match all six numbers in a drawing win the game’s jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot in Lotto America are around 1 in 26 million, compared to odds of about 1 in 292.2 million of winning the Powerball jackpot and about 1 in 302.6 million of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.
Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $4.1 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.8 billion for state programs.
Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for our state’s veterans and their families through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund; help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund; and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.
Jackpot prize: $4,380,000
Chosen to receive as:$2,615,080.18 lump-sum option
Federal withholding:$627,619.24
State withholding:$130,754.01
Net amount: $1,856,706.93