After an Illinois Lottery Win, a 60-Day Clock Decides Lump Sum or Annuity

The first hour: sign it, then gather your papers

The Lottery's claim FAQ tells claim-center visitors to bring a completed claim form and winner questionnaire, the signed winning ticket, a photo ID and proof of Social Security number. A W-2 or an old tax return counts for that last one. It also asks winners to come alone unless they need assistance, which strikes me as the gentlest possible way of telling the whole excited family to wait in the car.

Day one onward: the right door for the size of the prize

Retail wins can be claimed four ways: at a store, at a claim center, by mail or through an online e-Claim. Small prizes are the easy ones, since the Illinois Lottery Law expects retailers to pay prizes under $600 at the counter. Online players get prizes of $600 or less deposited automatically, unless that would push the account balance past $2,000, in which case a check goes out instead.

Claim centers need an appointment. There are five: Chicago (in the lower level of the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building at 69 W. Washington), Des Plaines, Rockford, Fairview Heights and the central office at 404 N. 5th St. in Springfield, all open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central. Winners of more than $25,000 can ask for direct deposit with a form and a voided check.

Day 60: the fork nobody announces

Mega Millions, Powerball and Lotto winners pick between a lump sum and annuity payments, and the FAQ is blunt about the timing: to take the lump sum, the prize must be claimed within 60 days of the drawing. After that, only the annuity remains.

The gap between the two can be wide. When a $344 million Mega Millions ticket sold in Cortland in March 2025, NBC Chicago put the cash option at roughly $161 million. I think 60 days is short for a decision that size, especially if you want a tax preparer and a lawyer involved first. Neither choice is wrong. Letting the calendar make it for you is the only real mistake.

Day 365, and the coat-pocket exception

Draw-game prizes expire one year after the drawing. Scratch-offs work differently, and it is the one rule here that can hand you a pleasant surprise: the year starts at the game's announced end date, not the day you bought the ticket. A forgotten winner found in last winter's coat may still be alive if its game closed recently, so check the Lottery's list of instant ticket end dates before you throw it out.

Taxes and names arrive in the same weeks

The Illinois Department of Revenue requires state income tax withholding on any single payment of Illinois lottery winnings of $1,000 or more. The state rate is a flat 4.95 percent of net income. On the federal side, the IRS instructions for Form W-2G set regular gambling withholding at 24 percent when winnings minus the wager exceed $5,000. Withholding is a down payment, not the final bill, and the Lottery's FAQ itself tells winners to talk to a tax professional.

Privacy has its own threshold. Winners of $250,000 or more can ask the Lottery to keep their name and town confidential, but only by marking that choice on the claim form when they claim. Otherwise the Lottery routinely publishes a winner's name, home city and prize amount, though never an address or phone number. The statute adds a caveat I could not find tested in practice: nothing in that section overrides the Department's duties under the Freedom of Information Act.

The FAQ also warns that multimillion-dollar winners may be asked to join publicity events, and it names the classic example: publicly receiving an oversized souvenir check. So the $250,000 box turns out to be a small referendum on the giant check. Tick it and you keep your quiet. Leave it blank and, at least in theory, you get the prop. For the wider question of where the rest of the lottery's money goes, see our breakdown of an Illinois Lottery dollar.