IOWA LOTTERY PLAYERS MAY WIN A CHANCE
TO “DEAL” WITH HOWIE

To download digital audio files of our three winners, click on their name below, then navigate to "Save Target As" to save this file to your computer.

Marlene Henning        Melissa Sidney       Joyce Eitel

Trip Winners May Compete on the Deal or No Deal™ Game Show

DES MOINES, Iowa - Three Iowa Lottery players will travel to California in April for an opportunity to win cash or play the Deal or No Deal™ game show with Howie Mandel.

The Iowa Lottery recently wrapped up the first of two Deal or No Deal™ second-chance drawings when three winners were drawn on February 26. Each of the three winners won a trip to Hollywood, which includes round-trip airfare to California for them and three guests, four nights deluxe hotel accommodations, $1,000 spending cash and payment of the required state and federal taxes for the prizes.

The three winners are:

• Marlene Henning of Leland
• Melissa Sidney of Shenandoah
• Joyce Eitel of Newton

“These three lucky players are going to Hollywood and they may get something that over a million people requested last year - a chance to play the Deal or No Deal™ game show!” said Pam Brocker, promotions manager with the Iowa Lottery.

While in Hollywood, these three winners along with winners from other state lotteries will pick a “briefcase” in a random drawing. They'll win a cash amount from $5,000 to $25,000, or they'll have the opportunity to play in a non-broadcast Deal or No Deal™ show to win up to $1 million! Winners and their guests will attend the Deal or No Deal™ game show, starring Howie Mandel, the models and the Banker.

Each winner was surprised and excited to learn they were on their way to Hollywood.

“[I was] kind of in a state of shock,” said Henning. “I haven't had a trip in 15 years so I'm looking forward to going and taking my kids somewhere…. If everything works out okay, hopefully my husband Herman will be going as well.”

Sidney, a Los Angeles native, said she and her fiancé Andy will be splitting their prize with another couple: Dan and Patti Dickerson, also of Shenandoah. The two couples played together and agreed to split any winnings. Sidney will visit her family while in California. She said it's been about 10 years since she last visited. Andy and Dan are planning some fun of their own while on the trip.

“I know the guys are planning on going golfing for sure when we're out there,” she said.

Eitel, a regular viewer of the television show, was floored when Brocker called her.

“I put some entries in but I never dreamed that I would ever win,” she said. “You get the chance to go and you get to meet Howie and see all the beautiful women [on the show] and then you get to pick these cases and [you] think, ‘Maybe I can win some money.’ That would be just wonderful.”

The Iowa Lottery's Deal or No Deal™ scratch game offers instant prizes ranging from $5 to $50,000. Players scratch each of the 19 “briefcases” in the play area on the front of each ticket to reveal either a dollar amount or a “No Deal” symbol underneath each case. They then scratch only the corresponding dollar amounts or symbols in the “prize table” on the ticket to eliminate that amount or symbol. The one remaining unmatched box in the prize table determines what that ticket wins.

Players who don't win an instant prize can still enter their nonwinning tickets in the next second-chance drawing for a chance to win a $1 million grand prize. Players can enter via a Web entry form on the Iowa Lottery's Web site at www.ialottery.com.

Entries will be accepted through midnight on August 24 for the drawing on August 26. That drawing will determine the three semifinalists from Iowa for the $1 million grand prize. The final drawing for the $1 million prize will be held September 17. The winner will be chosen from all semifinalists selected by Iowa and more than 20 state lotteries participating in the Deal or No Deal™ game.

Since its start in 1985, the Iowa Lottery has raised more than $1.1 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans while awarding more than $2.1 billion in prizes to its players. Through the years, lottery funds have been used for a variety of initiatives, including projects to create new recreation areas, support research at Iowa's public universities, develop new products and techniques for agriculture, and promote tourism in Iowa.

Iowa Lottery profits currently are deposited in the state general fund, where they are used to pay for a variety of programs. Some of the programs that receive money from the general fund include education, natural resources, health and family services and public safety.