Most Lottery Scratch-Offs Done At Once World Record Set At Iowa State Fair

Life is never boring at the fair.

If there's one thing you can count on at an Iowa fair, it's to expect the unexpected. You will truly find things you likely won't find anywhere else.

This week, as the Iowa State Fair has been going on, a lucky one happened.

For Iowa Lottery's 40th birthday, they tried to break a world record: the most people scratching scratch cards simultaneously.

And on August 14th, 2025, the Iowa Lottery achieved this, with 1,380 participants.

To put it in perspective: the previous record holder was 550 people set in Warsaw, Poland in 2023.

Iowa Lottery posted a video of the reveal with a Guinness World Records official that confirmed they, did in fact break the record.

According to Des Moines Register, everyone who participated in the mass scratch-off event got a free 2025 version of the Scratch, Match, and Win! game, which was the first Iowa Lottery product to be launched at the fair 40 years ago.

One couple that participated was also at the fair 40 years ago, when Iowa Lottery started it's first state fair scratch-offs.

Participants also got entered into a drawing that was held after the scratch-off record attempt. There were 2 $4,000 winners (Sharon Hulsebus of Cedar Rapids and Anthony Gleichman of Council Bluffs) and 1 lady won $40,000- Katherine Blank Pierce of Des Moines.

And of course in true Iowa Nice form, the crowd of over 1,000 celebrated both Iowa Lottery's birthday and the birthdays of certain participants. The whole group sang a chorus of "Happy Birthday".