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Just in case

So You Won the Powerball. Now What?

The first hour, the first week, and the decisions you cannot take back. Ordered by how fast they expire.

15 min read · page 2 of 11

1

Sign the back of the ticket. Right now.

An unsigned lottery ticket is a bearer instrument. Whoever holds it, owns it.

In most jurisdictions an unsigned ticket belongs to whoever presents it. Lost, stolen, dropped in a car park — it is gone, and you will have a very hard time proving otherwise.

Sign it. Photograph the front and back. Put it somewhere that is not your pocket.

The one complication: in some places, signing in your own name forecloses claiming through a trust or an entity later, which is how winners stay anonymous. This varies, it matters enormously, and it is the single best reason to spend twenty minutes on a phone call before you sign — if, and only if, you can secure the ticket in the meantime.