How Long Should You Wait to Claim a Powerball Jackpot?

Player Makes Contact With the New Hampshire Lottery

Although nothing is confirmed yet, the New Hampshire Lottery told reporters Sunday that a person had called Friday January 12th, asking about the options for the payout of the Powerball jackpot. NH Lottery spokesperson Maura McCann said that the person on the line did not leave a name or contact details, but it is the first clue as to the identity of the player who hit the top prize on a ticket bought at Reeds Ferry Market in Merrimack.

Why Didn’t They Claim Right Away?

The ticket holder has a year to come forward and collect their prize according to state lottery rules, which also allow winners to claim their windfall anonymously through a blind trust. The last big New Hampshire jackpot winners did so under the guise of the Robin Egg 2016 Nominee Trust, and the latest lucky lottery player from the Granite State may be seeking advice on protecting their identity before they validate their win.

Anonymous Powerball Winners

Only Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina allow Powerball winners to stay completely private, but some states like New Hampshire and Texas offer the chance to claim through a trust. The previous Powerball winners, a Louisiana group who picked up $191.1 million on October 25th 2017, accepted their prize under the banner of the 292 Family Partnership. Forming these trusts requires meetings with lawyers and they take time to arrange.

Powerball Winners Who Took Their Time to Claim

There are many reasons to delay claiming your prize; you might want to wait for the publicity to die down, you might have forgotten to check your ticket or, like Californian B. Raymond Buxton, you might do so for a joke. The retiree won $425.3 million on February 19th 2014, but waited a month and a half to walk into California Lottery headquarters in Sacramento so he could pick up his check on April Fool’s Day. The Star Wars fan also wore a t-shirt for his publicity photographs featuring Yoda saying “luck of the Jedi I have”.

Fellow Golden State residents Marvin and Mae Acosta also took their time to claim their $528 million Powerball prize, a third share of the record $1.58 billion jackpot paid out on January 13th 2016. The couple held their nerve until July of the same year before contacting lottery officials. At the time, California Lottery Director Hugo Lopez said “these winners did just what we tell all our winners to do - they read our winners’ handbook and then assembled a team of legal and financial advisors to help them make the most of this windfall and prepare them for their new life as lottery winners."

Powerball Winners Who Claimed Quickly

Whereas the Acostas bided their time, John and Lisa Robinson of Tennessee, who won another of the shares of that historic jackpot, appeared on NBC’s Today show to share their good news a little over 24 hours after the drawing. The pair hadn’t even called the Tennessee Lottery to validate their win when they took their ticket on a whistlestop return trip to New York.

How Long Should I Wait to Claim?

There is no right amount of time to wait before making a Powerball claim. The decision should be based on your circumstances. You need to consider the claims period in your state, which ranges from 90 days to one year, as well as how comfortable you feel with your plans for the winnings and how safe and secure you believe your ticket is, as it is the only proof of purchase when it comes to picking up your award.

If you would like to become the next Powerball winner, you can buy tickets at authorized retailers in each participating state for tonight’s $62 million jackpot draw. Good luck!