I’m going to be honest with you. My plan is to defy the odds and win either the PowerBall or the Mega Millions jackpots. People do it all the time, so why not me? I’ll tell you something else, part of the reason I write these articles is because I give a lot of thought to the process of winning the lottery, what you should do when you find out you’ve won, and what actions or precautions you should take when you discover that millions are headed your way.
Again, I put a lot of thought into this because I expect to win.
But one of the things I wondered was:
What is the process like when you decide that today is the day you want to travel to the lottery office and pick up your winnings?
I wonder what questions will I be asked. After all, they’re turning over millions of dollars to you (or to ME one day soon). How hard is the process of converting your winning ticket into the millions of dollars it’s worth?
Turns out that the process is not as complicated as I once thought. I wondered if there were background checks, criminal record searches, credit history inquiries, and a bunch of other checks. I wondered if you could actually be turned down as a winner based on a poor showing during the verification process. Again, we’re talking about someone walking into an office to collect millions of dollars.
The process is not as stringent as I thought it was, however, winners do have a few things to prove. Mainly, when you come to pick up your PowerBall jackpot, you have to prove who you are. You have to fill out a form called a “claim form” that asks basic and expected questions.
You are going to be asked your name (obviously), as well as your current address. You will provide a phone number and email in most cases. Some lottery agencies will request banking information in order to wire the money to your account. You will also be required to provide a social security number, or your proof of citizenship if you are not native to the United States.
There are differences from state to state when it comes to other types of information which you will be asked. For example, if you are claiming the money through a trust (where you are not going to be identified as the winner), then paperwork representing the legal trust must accompany the individual claiming the prize on behalf of the trust. If you are an individual claiming the prize on behalf of a lottery pool, then some states give you an option on the claim form to specify that you are claiming this money on behalf of a group
You need a valid form of identification (a driver’s license will suffice), and you must sign the form. Your signature needs to match the signature on your license in some states. Most of this information is collected for tax purposes. Although the lottery agency is going to automatically withhold 24% of your winnings, the Tax Man needs to know who to come after for the remaining 13% that will be due at tax time.
As far as actually going to the office, you will need to decide if you will claim the money in person or by mail (most people show up at the office). You will also have to decide if you will represent yourself, or if you use a legal entity like a trust or a corporation, non-profit, etc, to which the money will legally transfer.
NOTE: some states allow you to claim money through trusts and other corporate entities (Florida is one). Some states allow you to remain completely anonymous by choice (New Jersey is one). But other states demand that individual winners MUST identify themselves and their names made public (California is one). You need to check your state rules and discuss your options with a financial expert.
As far as the ticket itself, the verification process is a little different from state to state. The process could take a few days or a few weeks depending on where you live. I admit that I couldn’t find much about the exact process used to validate the ticket. But you can feel assured if you check the ticket at a local retailer and it tells you that you need to go to a regional office. That’s a good sign that your ticket will clear verification.
I will give you more details when I win and I get to go through the process myself, okay?