The Iowa Department of Transportation is looking into developing a digital driver’s license, and while many other processes are going digital, Iowa Lottery C-E-O Terry Rich says don’t look for digital tickets anytime soon. “We have migrated to a lot of reporting, making sure you have instant access to all of the data on almost everything with the lottery, except purchasing a ticket,” Rich says. He says the Iowa Lottery is waiting to get direction from state leaders before moving ahead.

“We have the authority for many of our tickets to do it. We are working with our elected officials and want to work with other gaming entities to decide when and where is the proper time to be able to do that,” he explains. Information Rich talked about during a recent Iowa Lottery Board meeting shows the average age of a lottery customer is 47, which could explain why there’s no great rush to digital tickets. Rich says it’s a matter of what the public wants and will accept.

“At this point we don’t have any plans, but technologically it’s ready to go,” Rich says. “We would be able to do that we believe with many of our products, but we are holding off until we hear either demand from the customers and the consumers, the players through the legislature.” The demand so far this fiscal year from customers has been for the old fashioned paper scratch tickets. The Iowa Lottery reported sales of those tickets saw near-record sales numbers in July, August, September, October and November.

(Radio Iowa)