What to Do if You Win the Lottery, Step by Step (2026)

Sign the ticket, put it somewhere safe and look up its deadline. That’s what to do first if you win the lottery, because a lost or expired ticket pays nothing, however big the prize.

After that, you have decisions to make, and some of them have deadlines: whether to sign the ticket or claim through a trust, whether to take the cash or the 30-year annuity, how much to keep back for taxes, and where to put the money once it lands. The state that sold the ticket sets most of the rules, so each answer below links the lottery or agency behind it.

What should you do first if you win the lottery?

Protect the ticket, then slow down. Sign the back, photograph both sides, put the ticket somewhere locked, and find the claim deadline printed on the back or on your lottery’s website. Don’t post it or tell anyone outside your household yet. You usually have months to claim, and the decisions that come next are easier before anyone knows.

Sign the back of the ticket

Every state lottery we checked tells winners to sign the ticket. North Carolina’s lottery explains why (opens in a new tab): a ticket is a bearer instrument until it’s signed, so anyone who has an unsigned ticket can claim the prize. Some advice tells big winners to leave the ticket blank so a trust can claim it later. That only works in states that let a trust claim, and the trust has to exist first. If that’s your plan, talk to a lawyer before you sign, and keep the ticket locked away until then.

Keep it quiet until it’s claimed

Every person you tell is someone who can tell someone else, and once it’s out you can’t take it back. In many states the lottery can publish your name anyway, so the quiet period is the time you get to plan before that happens. Use it to read your state’s rules, decide how you’ll claim and line up help.

How long do you have to claim a lottery prize?

Powerball says its tickets expire 90 days to one year after the draw (opens in a new tab), depending on the state that sold them, and Mega Millions works the same way. The deadline belongs to the state where you bought the ticket, not the one you live in, and so does the claim: you collect from that state’s lottery.

Here are the rules in the ten most populous states that sell tickets, from each lottery’s own pages and, for anonymity, each state’s law:

Each deadline runs from the draw date. Prizes from other games can have shorter windows, so read the back of your ticket too. Our list of lottery claim deadlines in every state has the rest, scratch-offs included.

The cash option can close long before the ticket expires

In Florida and Illinois, a jackpot ticket is good for 180 days or a year, but the lump sum is only on offer for the first 60 days after the draw. Claim later and you get the annuity. In Texas, the choice is made at the store, on the playslip, and the lottery says it can’t be changed. If you think you might want the cash, check your state’s window before you spend weeks planning.

Where you claim a jackpot

Stores only pay small prizes, usually under $600. A jackpot is claimed at the lottery’s headquarters or a regional office, usually by appointment, or in some states by mail. In Michigan, prizes of $100,000 or more are claimed at the lottery’s headquarters in Lansing, and Texas processes every jackpot at its headquarters in Austin.

Should you take the lump sum or the annuity?

The advertised jackpot is the annuity: one payment now and 29 more over 29 years, each 5% bigger than the one before, according to Powerball (opens in a new tab) and Mega Millions (opens in a new tab). The cash option is the money actually in the prize pool, which is far less.

Here’s how that looked on the $463 million Powerball jackpot (opens in a new tab) offered for the October 5, 2026 draw, before tax:

The annuity rows are our math from the 5% rule. The cash figure comes from the lottery and moves with interest rates, because it’s roughly what the lottery would have to invest today to fund the 30 payments.

Why many winners take the cash

With the lump sum, you control all of it from the first day, and if you die early it all passes to your heirs at once instead of as payments spread over decades. Taking the annuity doesn’t cut the tax much either, because a payment of $7 million or more a year is still taxed mostly at the top federal rate, as our lottery tax guide explains.

Why some people take the annuity

The annuity pays more in total, and it limits the damage from bad decisions. If you spend the first payment, another one comes next year. People who worry about family pressure, a bad investment or their own habits sometimes choose it for that reason alone.

How much of the prize goes to taxes?

The IRS taxes lottery winnings as income, so a jackpot is taxed mostly at the top federal rate of 37% in 2026. The lottery withholds only 24% before paying you, which means a big winner still owes a large bill at tax time. State tax comes on top in most states, and a few states don’t tax lottery prizes at all.

On that $191 million cash option, the 24% withheld is about $46 million, while the federal bill for the year, for a single filer, is close to $71 million. The gap, about $25 million, is yours to pay. Leave it untouched in a separate account until you file. The IRS also expects tax to be paid during the year, not just at filing, and it can charge a penalty for underpaying estimated tax (opens in a new tab), so a tax professional will usually have you send an estimated payment soon after the claim.

Each state’s rate and what its lottery withholds is in our lottery winnings tax by state guide.

Giving money away has its own rules

You can give up to $19,000 a person in 2026 without filing anything, according to the IRS gift tax FAQ (opens in a new tab). Above that you file a gift tax return, but you don’t pay gift tax until the gifts above that yearly amount add up to $15 million over your lifetime. So paying off your parents’ mortgage usually means a form to file, not a tax to pay.

Can you claim the lottery anonymously?

Only in some states. As of October 2026, 12 states let any winner keep their name private, 12 more protect prizes above a set amount or for a limited time, and Oklahoma keeps every winner’s last name private. In six others, a trust can claim so that its name is announced instead of yours. The rules keep changing: Virginia began letting every winner stay anonymous on July 1, 2026.

Your state’s rule decides whether a lawyer comes before or after the claim, since a trust has to exist before it can collect. Our list of states where lottery winners can remain anonymous goes through every state, with links to each law.

Who should you talk to before you claim?

For a jackpot, three people: a lawyer, a tax professional and a financial planner who works for a flat or hourly fee rather than a commission on what they sell you. The lawyer comes first if you want to claim through a trust. For a prize of a few thousand dollars, you don’t need anyone. Claim it and set some aside for tax.

Choose advisers you found yourself, not ones who call you. Expect calls from advisers, charities, old friends and strangers, and some of them will be scams. Powerball says lotteries never ask you to pay a fee (opens in a new tab) to collect a prize, and the FTC warns about fake lottery and prize calls (opens in a new tab) that ask for exactly that.

What should you do with the money once it lands?

Start with what’s safe and boring. Pay off high-interest debt, set aside the tax gap and a year or two of living costs, and keep the rest in insured accounts while you make a plan. Big purchases and quitting your job can wait a few months. The money will still be there.

Spread cash across banks

The FDIC insures $250,000 per depositor, per bank, for each ownership category (opens in a new tab). A jackpot in one bank account is mostly uninsured. While you decide what to do, spreading the cash across several banks keeps it insured, and US Treasury bills are backed by the federal government.

Give yourself a budget

Decide on a yearly amount you’ll spend, including gifts, and stick to it until your plan is done. It’s easier to say no to a request when the answer is already written down.

If you won in Canada instead

Canada’s rules are different. Prizes aren’t taxed, Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49 jackpots are paid in one lump sum, and you can’t claim through a trust. Our guide to what to do if you win the lottery in Canada covers it province by province.

If the fun part is checking the numbers

Almost nobody wins a jackpot. If what you enjoy is having a draw to look forward to, there’s a version that doesn’t cost you anything. Lodavo is a free prize-linked savings app: you get free tickets for weekly cash prize draws when you save, and the more you save, the more tickets you get. Your money stays in your own bank account, so a week without a win still leaves you with what you saved.

This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules differ by state and change, so check with your lottery and a tax professional before you claim.