Here’s a question we often get from folks who buy tickets together: Can a Iowa Lottery prize be paid to a group? The answer is yes, with some qualifiers.
A prize check can be written to an entity such as a trust or to a single individual. If someone is claiming a prize on behalf of a group, they’ll fill out the claim form in their own name, but will indicate on it that the prize is being split by a group. In addition, there is a federal tax form that will need to be filled out to show that the tax liability for the prize is being split by a group. That ensures that the winnings and the tax withheld are correctly allocated to each member of the group.
Only one check is issued by the lottery for each prize claimed. The person claiming the prize will need to split the winnings with the rest of the group after cashing or depositing the check. People have asked why we couldn’t write several different checks for one prize, but as you can imagine, accounting and security complications would abound in a situation like that.
And if a jackpot prize with a lump-sum or annuity option is being claimed by a group, the decision as to how to claim the prize has to be made once for the entire group. That means everyone in the group takes the same option -- cash or annuity. (The group has 60 days from the date they claim to make that decision.) A few people couldn’t choose annuity payments while the rest of the group took cash. That again is for accounting and security reasons.
Two of our most recent group winners are shown here, by the way! Connie Waite of Cedar Rapids represented her group of friends calling themselves the Rumors 20 when she claimed a $150,000 Powerball prize in May. The group often hangs out at a bar and grill called Rumors in Cedar Rapids, so that’s where they came up with their name.
And a group of 15 co-workers at a countertop manufacturing company in western Iowa just split a $9,000 Hot Lotto prize this month. They called themselves the VT Fabulous 15 for VT Industries in Sac City, where they work.
Hello. This sounds like a spam/scam attempt to me. I'm not sure what the Reward Mail account is that you have referenced, so please use caution with the information that may have been provided to you.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | July 25, 2016 at 01:33 PM
I received an email from the reward mail, saying that I won.It that correct ?
Posted by: Muhammad Ismail | July 23, 2016 at 11:48 PM