You'll have the opportunity starting on April 4, when the Iowa Lottery, the 15th state to do so, will start offering a $50 scratch-off game.
Today, two $30 scratch-offs with $30,000 top rewards are the most expensive scratch-offs available from the Iowa Lottery. Prizes for the brand-new $500,000 Cash scratch game will range from $50 to $500,000.
The $50 game is new to Iowa, but other states have had it for years, according to Mary Neubauer, a spokesman for the Iowa Lottery.
According to Neubauer, the price point has been a standard throughout the industry since 2007.
"Iowa retailers with sites in other states that currently have a $50 scratch-off game indicate substantial player interest in the product, and it performs well in the other jurisdictions," the statement reads.
When only five state lotteries offered scratch cards for more than $20 in 2007, Texas became the first state to do so, according to the lottery industry newsletter La Fleur's Magazine.
The low chances of the expensive scratch-off games make them appealing. According to Neubauer, the odds of winning the highest prize in Iowa's $500,000 Cash game are 1 in 120,000 and 1 in 6.67, respectively, for a $50 payout.
With current odds of 1 in 38.2 for any prize and 1 in 292,201,338 for the top prize, the 45-state PowerBall game, this is comparable to the odds of winning.