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INTRODUCTION [3] ALL THE NUMBERS MATCHED! [4] WHAT DO I DO NOW? Contacting the Idaho Lottery [5] Visiting the Idaho Lottery [5] Ticket Validation [6] Getting the Check [6] Visiting the Bank [7] Annuity versus Cash Payouts [8] Death Beneficiaries [9] Splitting Big Jackpots [9] Group Tax Liability [10] Winning Players from Outside Idaho [10] Resident Players from Outside the United States [11] Professional Advisors [11] WINNER AWARENESS Winning a Prize is a Matter of Public Record [12] Winner Awareness Program [13] The Press Conference [13] Future Publicity [14] DREAMS TO REALITY – WAKING UP IN WONDERLAND [15 - 16] Advice from Previous Winners [17] MARTHA GIBBONS, POWERBALL 1992 [18] WALLACE CAGGLE, TRI-WEST 1994 [19] PAM HIATT, POWERBALL 1995 [20] KEN COVERT, WILD CARD 2007 [21] BRAD DUKE, POWERBALL 2005 [22] 2 On behalf of the Idaho Lottery, let me be one of the first to congratulate you on your good fortune and being a Lottery winner. I sincerely hope the excitement of winning your prize will help you to achieve some of your dreams. Winning the Lottery can have profound and lasting effects on your life. As a service to our winners, and to help you with your overall planning and transition, the All the Numbers Matched – Winner’s Guidebook includes information about what to expect in working with the Lottery to claim your prize, basic tax information, our winner awareness program, as well as insight and advice from some of the Lottery’s previous jackpot winners. This Guidebook is published for informational purposes only and the Lottery makes no guarantees as to its current accuracy. Please do not rely on any of the information in the Guidebook without first consulting your attorney, accountant, and/or financial advisor. As you begin evaluating the options on how to handle your prize, we recommend you consult with professional advisors who are used to working with situations like yours and understand your priorities, interests, dreams and personal financial security. Celebrate and enjoy the moment: you’re an Idaho Lottery winner! Jeff Anderson Idaho Lottery Director 3 You stare at the winning ticket in your hands, checking the numbers again and again. Disbelief. Puzzlement. All the numbers matched, but this certainly is not right. “No, there must be a mistake,” you say to yourself. You check your ticket five more times. All the numbers still match. You doubt what your eyes are telling you. “This certainly can not be true.” Then, a moment of realization settles in. “People do win, so why not me?” Disbelief slowly turns to shock as the magnitude of your win registers. Euphoria ensues. CONGRATULATIONS! You just won the jackpot in the Idaho Lottery!! Winning the Idaho Lottery, or even a substantial Powerball jackpot or top prize in a Scratch™ game, is an exhilarating and life- changing experience. Most people who play the Idaho Lottery do so because they dream of winning big, fully understanding the odds of actually winning are against them. No doubt, once the reality of winning sets in, the magnitude of the unexpected windfall is certain to create a wide variety of emotions. Relax. Take several deep breaths. Look around your surroundings and enjoy the moment. Celebrate! A new opportunity in your life is about to begin! This Winner’s Guidebook will assist you with your newfound daily experiences, walk you through the important and necessary steps to secure your prize, and provide you the tools and information to handle your unexpected financial windfall. 4 Contacting the Idaho Lottery The very first thing you need to do once you discover you have a winning ticket is to sign and fill out the back of the ticket. It is a good idea to make a copy of the ticket, front and back, for your records and safe keeping. Next, you will need to have the winning ticket verified by Idaho Lottery officials. If you have not already contacted the Idaho Lottery office, do so immediately. They can be reached at 208-334- 2600 Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time, excluding all Holidays. Visiting the Idaho Lottery Winning tickets over $600 must be claimed at Idaho Lottery offices in Boise within 180 days of the draw date or end of a Scratch™ game. After 180 days, the winning ticket becomes void and by law, the Idaho Lottery can no longer pay your claim. Idaho Lottery Customer Service offices are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mountain Time, excluding all Holidays, and are conveniently located in downtown Boise at: 1199 Shoreline Lane, Suite 100 Boise, ID 83702 Once you arrive at Lottery headquarters, you will need to present your ticket for payment and validation to the Customer Service Department. Most likely, you should expect to meet Lottery officials including a Security Detective and the Public Information Specialist. 5 Ticket Validation When you present your ticket for payment and validation, you will be asked to complete a “Winners Claim Form” and the attached “Addendum”. A copy of this form can be viewed at: http://www.idaholottery.com/Forms/winclaim.pdf All winners are required to provide their Social Security number and a government issued photo identification to claim their winning prize. Photo identification, typically includes a valid driver’s license, but may also be a United States Passport. At this time, if you have not already done so, you must complete and and sign the back of your winning ticket. Once you have completed the Winner’s Claim Form and Addendum, provided government issued photo identification, and signed and turned in your winning ticket, the Idaho Lottery can complete your ticket validation process. This process may take one hour or longer, depending on the amount of your winnings. Getting the Check Once the validation process is complete, the Idaho Lottery will issue your winning check. As required by Idaho law, the Lottery automatically deducts Federal and State income taxes from your winnings of prizes over $5,000. The Federal tax rate is 24% and the State of Idaho tax rate is 6.925%. When you receive your check, you will also receive three copies of your W-2 G forms detailing your taxed amount. You should keep these tax records safe until the following year when you will be required to use them. One copy is for your Federal taxes, one copy is for your State of Idaho taxes, and one copy is for your personal records. For specific tax information, the Idaho Lottery suggests all winners consult a professional tax accountant, attorney or advisor. 6 Visiting the Bank When you receive your winning check from the Idaho Lottery, in addition to your W-2 G forms, you will also receive two other documents, a copy of your Winner’s Claim Form and information about the Idaho Lottery’s check fraud protection program. The Idaho Lottery does not complete direct deposit transactions for players. The Idaho Lottery issues you a check for the winning amount, after taxes are appropriately withheld. As a final security measure, the Idaho Lottery has instituted a check fraud protection program. You may not exchange your check for cash for at least two (2) hours after your winning check has been issued. You may however, deposit the check into your bank account at any time. Most local banks are not too accustomed to cashing or depositing large checks with more than five-figures. Most bank tellers have a pre- authorized dollar amount for checks they can accept for deposit and clear without managerial approval. Depending on the size of your win and how much your check is worth, a branch manager or a senior level banking executive may need to authorize the deposit. Large banking chains with smaller, satellite branches in less populated areas may need to contact a senior executive at the regional bank to obtain authorization to accept a significantly large deposit amount. The process for approval on this type of transaction may take several hours or days to complete. Depending on your bank, savings and loan, or credit union, once you deposit your check it may take a few working days to clear the bank system. During this time, you may not be able to access these funds. For large sum withdrawals, smaller branches or independent operations may not have a large enough cash reserve to handle a substantial outlay. We recommend you discuss these situations with a senior branch representative. For substantial prize winners, having an accountant or your attorney make contact with banking officials prior to your arrival with the winning check can help expedite the depositing and cashing process. 7 Annuity versus Cash Payouts Since February 28, 2000, players of Powerball in Idaho no longer have to decide to take the cash payment or the annuity option (thirty year payment) at the time they purchase their ticket. This is the result of a change in the IRS code which allows players to make the cash versus annuity decisions after winning the jackpot. The Idaho Lottery’s policy allows jackpot winners to defer their selection of taking the annuity or the single cash payment for sixty days following the presentation of the winning ticket. Once the decision is made, it is legally binding and can not be changed without specific approval of the Idaho Lottery Commission. Advertised jackpot amounts are based on graduated annuities: thirty years for Powerball and twenty-five years for Hot Lotto. The one-time cash amount on both is equal to the amount of cash available at the time of the draw.