DES MOINES - Twenty-five years ago, the Iowa Lottery debuted to much excitement among Iowa residents, The Lottery Post reports. The lottery has sold $4.8 billion in lottery ticket sales since then. In the year ending June 30, 2010, the lottery generated $256 million in sales.

"It??s raised over $1 billion for good causes in this state. I guess that??s the principal benefit of it, and a lot of people have had fun playing lottery games in order to raise that money," said Edward Stanek, who directed the lottery from 1985 through 2007.

The Iowa Lottery is considering adding smartphone lottery games, which Europeans already play, said Terry Rich, CEO of the lottery. "I think our job is to look at the future and try to figure out what electronic delivery system is correct," he said.

However, Rich said federal legislative issues would need to be considered before smartphones could be used for lottery games. Other states, such as New York and Illinois, also have said they were interested in expanding to Internet games.

"Whatever we do, we always have the mandate from the Legislature to make sure that people who are playing are over 21, aren??t using a credit card and are within the state??s borders," pointed out Rich.