99G.31 Prizes.

1. The chief executive officer shall award the designated prize to the holder of the ticket or share upon presentation of the winning ticket or confirmation of a winning share. The prize shall be given to only one person as provided in this section; however, a prize shall be divided between holders of winning tickets if there is more than one winning ticket.

2. The authority shall adopt administrative rules, policies, and procedures to establish a system of verifying the validity of tickets or shares claimed to win prizes and to effect payment of such prizes, subject to the following requirements:

a. The prize shall be given to the person who presents a winning ticket. A prize may be given to only one person per winning ticket. However, a prize shall be divided between holders of winning tickets if there is more than one winning ticket. Payment of a prize may be made to the estate of a deceased prize winner or to another person pursuant to an appropriate judicial order issued by an Iowa court of competent jurisdiction.

b. A prize shall not be paid arising from claimed tickets that are stolen, counterfeit, altered, fraudulent, unissued, produced or issued in error, unreadable, not received, or not recorded by the authority within applicable deadlines; lacking in captions that conform and agree with the play symbols as appropriate to the particular lottery game involved; or not in compliance with such additional specific administrative rules, policies, and public or confidential validation and security tests of the authority appropriate to the particular lottery game involved.

c. No particular prize in any lottery game shall be paid more than once, and in the event of a determination that more than one claimant is entitled to a particular prize, the sole remedy of such claimants is the award to each of them of an equal share in the prize.

d. Unclaimed prize money for the prize on a winning ticket or share shall be retained for a period deemed appropriate by the chief executive officer, subject to approval by the board. If a valid claim is not made for the money within the applicable period, the unclaimed prize money shall be added to the pool from which future prizes are to be awarded or used for special prize promotions. Notwithstanding this subsection, the disposition of unclaimed prize money from multijurisdictional games shall be made in accordance with the rules of the multijurisdictional game.

e. No prize shall be paid upon a ticket or share purchased or sold in violation of this chapter. Any such prize shall constitute an unclaimed prize for purposes of this section.

f. The authority is discharged of all liability upon payment of a prize pursuant to this section.

g. No ticket or share issued by the authority shall be purchased by and no prize shall be paid to any member of the board of directors; any officer or employee of the authority; or to any spouse, child, brother, sister, or parent residing as a member of the same household in the principal place of residence of any such person.

h. No ticket or share issued by the authority shall be purchased by and no prize shall be paid to any officer, employee, agent, or subcontractor of any vendor or to any spouse, child, brother, sister, or parent residing as a member of the same household in the principal place of residence of any such person if such officer, employee, agent, or subcontractor has access to confidential information which may compromise the integrity of the lottery.

i. The proceeds of any lottery prize shall be subject to state and federal income tax laws. An amount deducted from the prize for payment of a state tax, pursuant to section 422.16, subsection 1, shall be transferred by the authority to the department of revenue on behalf of the prize winner.

2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2003 Acts, ch 178, §84, 121; 2003 Acts, ch 179, §142; 2004 Acts, ch 1101, §20