The State Where You Bought Your Ticket Determines Where You Can Claim A Prize

Lottery players who bought tickets in Minnesota and Wisconsin contacted us this week, wanting to know if they could cash those tickets in Iowa.

The short answer is no. You have to claim any prize you win from the lottery in the state where you bought your ticket.

Here is the background involved:

If you buy a lottery ticket in Iowa, you’ll need to claim any prize you win on that ticket here in Iowa. And if you buy a ticket in another state, you’ll need to claim any prize you win from it in that state.

There’s an enormous amount of technology that goes into running a lottery, and each state lottery has its own computer system to track the tickets it produces and sells. Because each state lottery individually tracks its own tickets, sales and prizes, the computer systems involved are independent from each other.

That means the lottery equipment here in Iowa can’t read tickets from another state, and vice versa. In addition, the money raised from the sale of lottery tickets in each state stays in that state to support valuable causes there.

If visiting an Iowa Lottery retail location or one of our offices just won’t work for you, remember that we always offer players the option of claiming most prizes through the mail. (There are a few exceptions to that. For example, if you win a jackpot, that prize has to be claimed in person at our headquarters location in Clive.)

Many other state lotteries also offer players the ability to claim prizes by mail. Check with the respective state lottery from which you bought your ticket about those details.

Safe travels while you are out and about! And good luck on any lottery tickets you buy along the way!

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Rose. The answer to that question is dependent upon the tax laws in the state where you are a resident, as well as the tax laws in the state where you claimed your prize. We always advise our winners to contact a financial expert or lawyer who can answer questions for them about winning the lottery, and the question you posed is a perfect example of why. If you claimed a lottery prize of more than $5,000 in Iowa, federal withholding of 24 percent and state withholding of 5 percent would automatically apply. If you're not an Iowa resident, you would need to determine what tax implications there might be in the state, territory or country where you are a resident.

[Rose Keller]

So , in which state do you pay the taxes in ?