FY 2026 Results: Iowa Lottery Proceeds to State Causes Exceed $95 Million

"Fiscal year 2026 was a strong year for the Iowa Lottery, and those results reflect the continued support of our players, our retail partners and our dedicated lottery employees," said director Steve Waymire. 

Annual lottery sales top $400 million for sixth consecutive year

JPEG and EPS images of Iowa playslips and tickets in the Mega Millions game, the game logo, and images of people buying tickets at a lottery self-service kiosk are available on the lottery website here: https://ialottery.com/Pages/Pressroom/LAP_GameLogos.aspx
https://ialottery.com/Pages/Pressroom/LAP_CorporateLogos.aspx

CLIVE, Iowa — The Iowa Lottery released its latest annual results on Tuesday, with fiscal year 2026 bringing year-over-year increases in several key categories as players won more prizes and the lottery generated more proceeds for state programs.

Lottery sales totaled $469.6 million in the year ending June 30. That is the third-largest annual total in the lottery's 41-year history and up nearly 8 percent year-over-year. Proceeds to state causes exceeded $95.1 million, up more than 10 percent from the previous year.

Prizes to players totaled $305.6 million, and sales commissions to the local businesses across the state that sell tickets totaled $30.5 million. Both were increases of nearly 8 percent over the previous year.

"Fiscal year 2026 was a strong year for the Iowa Lottery, and those results reflect the continued support of our players, our retail partners and our dedicated lottery employees," said director Steve Waymire. "Every ticket purchased helps fulfill our mission of providing entertainment for Iowans while generating proceeds for vital state causes."

Scratch games, which are always the Iowa Lottery's leading product, had another strong year with $291.4 million in sales, slightly ahead of last year's numbers and accounting for more than 62 percent of total lottery sales.

Another big driver during the year was Powerball, which accounted for $66.5 million in sales, up 77 percent from the previous year. Sales in the game are largely jackpot-driven, and Powerball featured back-to-back jackpots of $1.787 billion and $1.816 billion — the second- and third-largest jackpots in the game's history — in September and December.

A highlight for FY 2026 was the $2.5 million the lottery raised for the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund to benefit the state's veterans and their families. The lottery now has raised more than $44.8 million for the Veterans Trust Fund since it began providing proceeds to that cause in 2008.

The lottery also provides proceeds to the Public Safety Survivor Benefits Fund and Department of Corrections Survivor Benefits Fund, which help with ongoing insurance costs for the families of Iowa peace officers, firefighters and corrections employees who die in the line of duty. Lottery proceeds also benefit the state General Fund to help pay for everything from education to agricultural programs.

Here is a year-to-year comparison of annual sales by lottery product:

Here are the top 10 retailers in Iowa for lottery sales in FY 2026:

Iowa Lottery players claimed 16 prizes of $500,000 or more during FY 2026. Here are the prizes of at least $1 million claimed in Iowa during the year (listed by prize amount and claim date):

https://ialottery.com/Pages/Pressroom/OtherNews_Detail.aspx?otherNewsID=1280