Specialties
Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its profits have helped make Iowa a better place to live, work and raise a family. The Lottery provides entertainment and prizes to its players while at the same time raising billions of dollars for the state programs that benefit all Iowans. Through the years, Lottery funds have been used in a variety of ways to enhance the state, including projects to create new recreation areas, support research at Iowa's public universities, benefit Iowa veterans through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, support through the Iowa Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund, develop new products and techniques for agriculture, and promote tourism. For that, the Iowa Lottery thanks its players. When you play the Lottery, Iowa wins.
History
Established in 1985.
Legislation creating Iowa's lottery was signed into law in April 1985 and the lottery began sales on Aug. 22, 1985, with a kickoff celebration at the Iowa State Fair.
The first product sold by the Iowa Lottery was an instant-scratch game called "Scratch, Match and Win" and players bought more than 6.4 million tickets during its first week of play.
In the years since, the Iowa Lottery has raised more than $1.9 billion for state programs while its players have won more than $4.3 billion in prizes. Sometime in March 2006, an Iowa Lottery player purchased the ticket that helped push lottery profits to state programs over that $2 billion threshold.
Meet the Manager: Matt S.
Matt Strawn was appointed CEO of the Iowa Lottery in January 2019. He is an Iowa native and a business entrepreneur with an extensive background in public relations.
Matt, 45, was a leader in bringing the Iowa Barnstormers, an Arena Football League (AFL) franchise, to downtown Des Moines and was a co-founder of Next Generation Public Affairs. He was raised on his family's farm in Benton County before graduating from the University of Iowa in 1996 and earning his law degree in 2003 from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. Matt and his family reside in Des Moines' historic East Village.