Pace, who has been the national TV face of the multistate lottery game that started as Lotto America in 1987 and morphed to Powerball in 1992, will call out his last winning numbers at a West Des Moines studio in January.

After that, he’ll hang up the tuxedo.

“It’s been a great part-time job. It really has,” said Pace, whose minute-long appearance is beamed to nearly 100 TV stations nationwide that broadcast Powerball live drawings on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. “One of my friends in the business said this is the horse that you ride till it dies.” Actually, in this case, the horse in question isn’t dying. It’s moving to Florida.

Earlier this year, the Powerball Group board and the Urbandale-based Multi-State Lottery Association announced Florida agreed to become the 32nd lottery to add Powerball to its mix. And to coincide with that Jan. 4 launch, the drawings were being moved to the Sunshine State.

Once Florida becomes the 30th state, along with the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, to join Powerball, the game’s population base will swell to 125.6 million potential players.

Ed Stanek, co-creator of Powerball and the former head of the Iowa Lottery, said Powerball officials had been in stiff competition with operators of the Mega Millions game to land either California or Florida. He presumed moving the televised drawings was part of the deal to sway Florida to join Powerball.

“The one thing that’s inevitable in the lottery business is change, and this is a change that apparently my colleagues believe was in the best interest of the game, and I have a lot of confidence in their judgment,” he said.

Mary Neubauer, spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, said discussions already had been under way about updating the TV show with a new set design. Once Florida expressed interest in joining Powerball and having the televised drawings held there, the move became a natural offshoot, she said.

“We were part of the vote to have the drawings move to Florida, and we’re comfortable with that decision,” she said. There is no plan to move the Multi-State Lottery’s headquarters from Iowa, she said, because that would be a larger, more complicated change.

No decision has been made on the new host or hostess when Powerball’s televised drawings originate from Florida Jan. 7, but Pace is certain it won’t be him.

“I’m an Iowa guy,” he said. Pace said he had not been approached about the Florida gig, but “I probably would not have said yes anyway.” Pace, a longtime Des Moines media fixture who has been a broadcast host, on-camera commercial and corporate spokesman, actor, model, video producer, vocalist and voice-over person, said he’s experienced occasional celebrity status from his lottery drawing cameos.

“The interesting thing about that is about the time you think everybody knows you, even close to home here in Des Moines, you get your feelings hurt if you expect everybody to know you because the guy in the Kwik Trip never heard of you,” he said.

“On the other hand, you get surprised,” he added. “I’ve been in Colorado and Las Vegas and lots of different places, and someone will say ‘Aren’t you the Powerball guy?’ ” Probably the most memorable shows over his 20-plus years with the lottery have been the live drawings when hundreds of millions of dollars were at stake, Pace said.

“We had ABC, NBC, CBS, Time magazine, CNN in the studio — that’ll get your heart rate up a little bit with a live drawing,” he said.

One upside of ending his association with Powerball, Pace said, is that he and his wife will be able to buy lottery tickets and play the game.

“I intend to win it,” he said. “My wife and I have never been able to play. My son can play, and my mother can play. I always thought it would be kind of hard to explain my mother winning $300 million, but I guess I never thought it would be a big problem.” Pace said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll do something special to make his final appearance on the Jan. 3 drawing.

“I’ve kidded around about shaving my head and putting on an earring, but I don’t suppose I will,” he said.

Source:http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Powerball-091408

Marilyn Dickey of Charles City was the county’s biggest instant/scratch game winner during the same period, winning $30,000 in the Crossword (Purple Newsprint) game. Dickey purchased the ticket at Git ‘N Go in Charles City.

Player security

As part of its commitment to player security, the Iowa Lottery implemented several changes in FY 2008 and announced a new public awareness campaign in March called “Sign it. It’s yours.”

The campaign addresses players’ rights and responsibilities when it comes to checking and cashing lottery tickets. Players presenting Iowa Lottery tickets to retailers must sign the backs of their tickets before they can be checked or cashed. Signing the ticket is designed to protect against the possibility of fraud and ensure that players are paid the prizes they rightfully have won.

The signature rule applies to all Iowa Lottery tickets – lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab. Players must sign the back of any ticket before it can be checked or redeemed. For any pull-tab ticket that does not have a signature line, players will be asked to sign at the bottom of the back of the ticket. Individuals who refuse to sign the back of their lottery tickets will not be allowed to have them checked or cashed at any Iowa Lottery retail location.

Receipts are also available for every instant-scratch or lotto ticket that is checked or cashed. When a player checks a ticket, two receipts are printed – one for the retailer and one for the lottery player. The receipts show the results of a particular ticket and whether it has won a prize. Receipts are not available for pull-tab tickets, since the amount of any pull-tab prize won is already printed on the front of the ticket.

Missing winners

Every year, the Iowa Lottery strives to find the winners of prizes that have yet to be claimed. Statewide, more than $1.6 million in prizes was left unclaimed in lotto games during FY 2008.

The Iowa Lottery uses a variety of ways to remind players about unclaimed prizes. The lottery runs advertisements about unclaimed prizes, makes posters for retailers to display and sends special mailings and e-mails to players.

“Sometimes players simply forget to check their tickets, which is why we continuously strive to get the word out about unclaimed prizes,” said Iowa Lottery Acting CEO Ken Brickman. “It is the player’s responsibility to check his or her tickets, but we do everything we can to remind them to do just that before a big prize expires!”

Claiming prizes

Prizes in Powerball and Hot Lotto may be claimed up to 365 days after the drawing. Prizes in Pick 3, Pick 4 and Iowa’s $100,000 Cash Game must be claimed within 90 days of the drawing. Instant ticket prizes must be claimed within 90 days of the end of the game.

Prize money left unclaimed after redemption deadlines is invested in future prize pools for players.

Players may visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines or go to one of the lottery’s regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim prizes.