The Scratch

Our 2016 Year in Review

Ah, the turn of a new year: A chance to relive the bright moments from the past 365 days, and–for some–a resolution to reverse all the damage you did to your body during Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’re pretty proud of our 2016, so we’ll stick to reviewing the successes and leave the gym membership to someone else.

1) $1.5 Billion Powerball Jackpot
Who could forget the world-record jackpot that had billboard makers trying to figure out how to turn M’s into B’s and everyone else trying their luck on a $2 Powerball ticket for a shot at $1.5 billion? The jackpot run began on November 7, 2015, and continued for 19 drawings without a jackpot winner. The run ended on January 13, 2016, with three jackpot-winning tickets sold in California, Florida, and Tennessee.

Here in Nebraska it resulted in $3.75 million in high-tier prizes for players. It also brought lottery officials and retailers a unique challenge: keeping stores stocked with enough paper to print the tickets! Average Powerball ticket sales on Wednesday, January 13, were $2,430 per minute. Throughout the jackpot run, we used 1,340,865 feet of paper, equivalent to 254 miles—enough to wrap around the base of the Nebraska State Capitol 767 times.

2) $600+ Million to Beneficiaries
This summer, we surpassed more than $600 million given back to Nebraska since the lottery was created in 1993. Millions of dollars are generated each year to benefit the Nebraska Environmental Trust, education, the Nebraska State Fair, and the compulsive gamblers assistance fund. The funds are transferred quarterly to those beneficiaries.

The second transfer of the calendar year, reflecting funds generated April through June, pushed our grand total to more than $607 million given back to Nebraska. Currently, more than $617 million has been raised for beneficiaries. An updated amount will be published in January reflecting the total amount contributed in 2016.

3) Winners, winners, winners!

We see a LOT of winners through our doors each year, each with their own stories to tell of how they stumbled into winner-dom, and how they plan to spend their riches. Read their stories on our website, and imagine what it’d be like to hold the big check on Flickr.

4) MORE winners!

Speaking of winners, we don’t just give away cold hard cash. We kicked off 2016 by giving away $17,500 in travel vouchers plus cash. Our big summer promotion highlight included the Wheel of Fortune 2nd Chance Giveaway in which we randomly divvied up three trips to Los Angeles and $75,000 in cash to nine semifinalists.

Nebraska Lottery fans had more access than ever to exclusive concerts via social media. Some of our most popular ticket giveaways were Stevie Nicks, KISS, Carrie Underwood, Maroon 5, Alan Jackson, and more. Sports fans weren’t left out, either, with exclusive VIP experiences to see Husker football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball. Check out other prize giveaway recaps on our YouTube Channel, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more opportunities to win in 2017!

5) New Nebraska Millionaires
A few of our winners this year took home an extra-large pile of cash, and you might remember their stories.
The first million-dollar winning ticket of the year belonged to a group of 32 lucky co-workers from the Lincoln area during the record Powerball jackpot run. After they split the $1 million prize, many planned trips, new vehicles and donations to charity with their share–$31,250 each.

The next million-dollar ticket was a Mega Millions prize won April 26, with the ticket purchased in Lincoln at the U-Stop near 84th and Holdrege. The winner preferred to fly under the radar and enjoy their prize with only close friends and relatives.

Did you think you had a special year because the Cubs won the World Series? Well, these folks might have you beat. Brad and Kim Brunk of Bennington played jersey numbers from their favorite Cubs players and won $1 million in the July 30th Powerball drawing. They’ve been purchasing Powerball tickets using the same favorite sports-related numbers for 19 years. It’s safe to say as far as lottery winning and World Series’ go, 2016 was the Brunk’s YEAR.

6) Sunday Drawings
Nebraska Pick 5, Pick 3 and MyDaY now have drawings on Sundays! Starting Sunday, November 6, the in-state lotto games added one more day of winning—joining 2by2 with drawings every day of the week.

Drawings from all three in-state lotto games on Sundays created 33,660 more winners in 2016.

7) Three months of $10K Rolls in Pick 5

Back by popular demand, and more often! This year we brought back a player-favorite, the Nebraska Pick 5 $10K Roll Promotion. And because it’s so much fun, we thought we’d do it one more month than normal—in March, July and December.

This year’s highest Pick 5 jackpot happened during the July $10K Roll month. It reached $282,000 before the winning ticket was sold in Papillion at Family Fare.

8) Welcoming Brian Rockey, New Lottery Director
The Nebraska Lottery welcomed Brian Rockey as the new director on July 1. Rockey previously served the Lottery Division in various capacities, including Marketing Manager, from startup in 1993 through 2011. He then worked for International Game Technology (IGT, formerly known as GTECH), the primary contractor for the Nebraska Lottery.

“It is an honor and a privilege to serve Nebraskans again in this new capacity,” said Rockey.

9) Award-winning Ads
Our advertising agency of record, SKAR Advertising in Omaha, earned a top ad industry honor for the Mega Millions commercial featuring new millionaire, Joe, titled “It All Starts.” The award, a Silver Telly, was presented to SKAR at the 37th Annual Telly Awards which honor film and video productions appearing on broadcast cable, video or online mediums. The commercial was chosen from more than 13,000 entries received from all 50 states and numerous countries.
A poster from the same campaign also won a prestigious award, this time from the Lottery industry. A print poster featuring the crumpled up dollar bill in a pocket of blue jeans that started Joe’s winning experience took home a runner-up Batchy. The Virginia Lottery’s 2015 Holiday ad was the only submission ranked above the Nebraska Lottery’s ad in the Print Advertising Retailer Signage category with 26 entries.

The Batchy is awarded by the North American State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) group. They can be difficult to win because it puts small, local and large, national advertising agencies in competition with one another for the award.

10) A SUPER new ticket!

The $10 Precious Metals Super Ticket launched in August, making a splash at retailers across the state with its enormous size. At about the size of a sheet of paper, the Super Ticket called for all new jumbo-sized ticket displays at each of our 1,200+ retailers across the state. Regional Lottery Sales Representatives worked all summer to prepare their retailers for the new big ticket that offered 66 chances to win.

When the anticipated ticket dropped August 22, players responded with excitement and a fervor for finding a $100,000 top prize. The Precious Metals Super Ticket showed up just in time to be featured at the Nebraska State Fair, giving our staff at the Spin ‘N Win trailer plenty of opportunities to hear player feedback that the ticket is loaded with prizes.

And that’s a rap! We’d like to thank all of you. The successes of 2016 would be impossible without your support. Your dedication to the Nebraska Lottery as a source of entertainment has given us record sales in Fiscal year 2016, thus leading to record beneficiary transfers. You truly are helping to build a better Nebraska.