States Where Lottery Winners Can Remain Anonymous (2026)

The $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot drawn on December 24, 2025, was won in Arkansas, where a winner of more than $500,000 can ask to keep their name private for three years. The three people who shared it asked to. By July 2026, two of their names were public anyway, because Arkansas allows elected officials and their close relatives only six months, and both men are brothers of a local mayor (opens in a new tab).

Whether you can remain anonymous depends on the state that sold the ticket, and on fine print like that. The table below gives every state’s answer, taken from its own law or its lottery’s published rules as of October 2026.

Which states let lottery winners remain anonymous?

Twelve states let any lottery winner keep their name private. Twelve more do it above a set prize amount or for a limited time, and Oklahoma keeps every winner’s last name private. In the other 20 states and Washington, DC, you can’t stay anonymous, though in six of those states a trust can claim in your place.

• Any prize: Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming.
• Above a set amount: Arizona and Maine ($100,000 or more), Georgia, Illinois and Nebraska ($250,000 or more), Michigan and Minnesota (over $10,000), and Texas and West Virginia ($1 million or more).
• For a limited time: Arkansas (three years, over $500,000), Florida (90 days, $250,000 or more) and North Carolina (90 days, $50 million or more).
• Last name kept private: Oklahoma.
• Only through a trust or company: Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and Vermont.
• No: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington state, Wisconsin and Washington, DC.

Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah don’t run a state lottery.

Can you stay anonymous in your state?

Find your state below. “If you ask” means you have to request it, usually on the claim form when you claim. Otherwise the protection is automatic, and your name stays private unless you agree in writing to release it.

Can you stay anonymous if you win Powerball or Mega Millions?

It depends on where the ticket was sold, not where you live. Powerball and Mega Millions are sold by state lotteries, and you claim the prize from the lottery that sold the ticket, under that state’s rules. In New Jersey, a Powerball jackpot winner stays anonymous unless they agree to be named. In California, the winner’s name is a public record.

Powerball’s FAQ (opens in a new tab) says prizes “must be claimed in the jurisdiction where the winning ticket was purchased,” and that every jurisdiction “has its own law on winners remaining anonymous.” Mega Millions (opens in a new tab) says the same.

You don’t have to live in a state to play there. Powerball says a visitor can buy a ticket from any licensed retailer if they meet the state’s age requirement, though online sales are only for residents.

Check what your state’s rule covers, too. Michigan protects winners of more than $10,000 only on its own games, so a Michigan winner of Powerball or Mega Millions can be named.

What does staying anonymous actually keep private?

Your name, and usually your photo. Most states that let you stay anonymous still release other details about the win, and the lottery itself always knows who you are.

• Where you live. Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas still release your city or town, and New Jersey releases your county. Oregon’s lottery (opens in a new tab), for example, keeps posting your city and ZIP code with the game and the prize. Oklahoma releases your first name and city.
• The win itself. Most lotteries still announce the prize, the game and the store that sold the ticket.
• Everything, to the lottery and the IRS. You’ll still show ID and give your Social Security number to claim, and the lottery reports big prizes to the IRS on Form W-2G (opens in a new tab). The prize is taxed by the IRS and most states either way.

Lotteries need to know who you are for security. In December 2011, with less than two hours left before a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot expired, lawyers for a New York trust presented the winning ticket and wouldn’t say who had bought it. The Iowa Lottery refused to pay. Prosecutors later said the claim was part of a scheme by Eddie Tipton, who had worked in IT at the Multi-State Lottery Association for more than 11 years and had installed code that let him predict winning numbers. He pleaded guilty in 2017, the Iowa Lottery said (opens in a new tab).

Can you claim through a trust or an LLC instead?

In some states, yes. In six of the states that don’t offer anonymity, it’s the only way to keep your own name out of the announcement: Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and Vermont. The trust or company is named instead of you, sometimes along with other details. In Massachusetts, for example, the lottery announces the trust’s name and town and the trustee’s name.

It doesn’t work everywhere:

• California says its regulations don’t let a trust claim a prize, Colorado doesn’t recognize trusts or companies as winners, and Virginia lets only individuals claim.
• Louisiana makes public the name and city of everyone with a stake in the company that claims, and Washington’s lottery warns that the papers setting up a trust can be released, which reveals the winners’ names.
• Massachusetts takes trust claims only for tickets bought in a store, not online.

A trust has to exist before it can claim, and setting one up usually means hiring a lawyer. Our guide to what to do if you win the lottery covers the other decisions to make before you claim. The Arkansas lottery tells big winners to get legal and financial advice (opens in a new tab) before they come forward.

Which states have changed their rules recently?

Nine states have changed their rules since late 2023, and every change gave winners more privacy. Virginia moved furthest, from prizes over $10 million to every prize in two steps between 2025 and 2026.

Several bills were still waiting as of October 2026. Pennsylvania’s SB 73 (opens in a new tab) would protect winners of $100,000 or more and has passed the state Senate. North Carolina’s SB 402 would lower its minimum from $50 million to $5 million and drop the 90-day limit, and has passed the state Senate. Michigan’s HB 4004 would extend its protection to Powerball and Mega Millions, and has passed the state House. New York’s S2613 would keep every winner’s name private unless they agree to release it, and has passed the state Senate twice but not the Assembly.

Want a weekly draw without buying tickets?

Lodavo is a free prize-linked savings app with weekly cash prize draws. Instead of buying tickets, you get them for saving, and the more you save, the more you get. Your money stays in your own bank account, so you finish every week with what you saved, win or not.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Each state’s law and its lottery’s claim rules set what gets released, so check with the lottery before you claim.