A ticket sold in Iowa has won the Lotto America jackpot, valued at $6.14 million. For now, the Lotto America jackpot has been reset back to $2 million, but let's take a look at the win up close and analyze why maybe more lottery fans should be playing Lotto America!
The lucky winner purchased a $1 ticket with the numbers 12-13-21-40-49 and 2 for the Star Ball. The All Star Bonus multiplier was 3, but this doesn't apply to the jackpot. Over 43,000 prizes were won on the night, but no players managed to win the Match-5 runner-up prize of $20,000.
The jackpot, worth $6.14 million, has a cash value of $2.53 million. If the winner decides to take the prize as an annuity, they'll receive it in annual payments lasting 30 years, with the value of the payments increasing over time.
From the 6th to the 11th of November, the Iowa Lottery HQ is being moved from Clive to Des Moines – if you're the winner reading this, make sure you visit the right city to claim!
Some players overlook Lotto America, since it offers substantially lower jackpots compared to Mega Millions and Powerball, but the game has some significant advantages to make up for it! For starters, your odds of winning the Lotto America jackpot (1 in 26 million) are about 11x better than winning the Powerball (1 in 290.5 million) or Mega Millions (1 in 292.2 million) jackpots. The odds of winning any prize at all are best by far for Lotto America: 1 in 9.6 per ticket, compared to 1 in 24.9 for Powerball and 1 in 23.1 for Mega Millions.
Next, the tickets cost just $1 compared to $2 Powerball tickets and $5 Mega Millions tickets – Lotto America is cheapest by far. Interestingly though, your odds of becoming a millionaire per dollar spent are actually better for Powerball than with Lotto America, thanks to the runner-up Match-5 Powerball prize of $1 million. If you want to be technical and say "unless Power Play is applied to boost the Match-5 prize to $2 million, you still won't be a millionaire after tax", and fair enough, then Lotto America overtakes Powerball as your best shot at becoming a millionaire. For completeness' sake, adding Double Play to your Powerball actually reduces your "millionaire per dollar" odds.
Mega Millions still ranks last here due to the much higher ticket cost, although it does offer much beefier non-jackpot prizes overall.
Lotto America has had a long history – it started out in 1988, running until 1992 when it was replaced with Powerball. In 2002, the 'Hot Lotto' lottery was launched by the MUSL, which ended up itself being cancelled and replaced by the new Lotto America in 2017.
Since the re-launch in 2017, the Lotto America jackpot has been won 17 times, including this latest win. The biggest jackpot so far was also won in Iowa, an impressive $40 million, by Earl Lape, a retired mechanic residing in Dubuque. Good going, Iowa!
If you plan on becoming the 18th Lotto America jackpot winner, you may be able to do so without even stepping foot in a lottery retailer thanks to advances in online lottery sales. Nowadays, it's permitted in many states (and even outside the USA) to sell tickets online, so check out our Tickets Page to see if you can play online from your location – you might be able to even if your state isn't one of the 15 states where Lotto America is played!
Back to Latest News
By 
In-Depth Read
Monday October 5, 2026