Here’s a great question that came to us on Facebook about tickets in lotto games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®. The inquiry is from a man named Mark who asked: “If I have a multi-draw ticket and I have a winner before the end of the draws, do I have to wait until the ticket’s end date reaches, or can I cash the ticket in beforehand?”
It's a great question, and I can understand why he would wonder about it. If you’ve won a prize, you obviously would be excited and want to claim it quickly. And, what if you might forget to claim it if you waited until all the drawings on your ticket had occurred?
If you’ve never heard of a multi-draw ticket before, here’s how that works: In our lotto games, you have the option of buying a ticket for just the next drawing or for several upcoming drawings at a time. The multi-draw option is a convenience factor in these busy times!
We thought through the prize-claim scenario before we started offering the option of tickets for multiple drawings. So, if you win a prize before the last drawing on your ticket has been held, you can still claim the prize right away.
When your winning multi-draw ticket is scanned by the lottery terminal, you'll be paid your prize or get a prize claim form (depending on the amount won) along with a replacement ticket for the drawings you have left. Your original ticket will be kept by the retailer as part of the prize-claim process.
So, feel free to claim your prize at your convenience (but be sure to do so by the deadline for claiming prizes in that particular game).
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