Why Lotto Winner Takes Time To Claim Their Rewards, What's The Point?

[Baofeng]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?

What if you keep it and will surprise your family after a month, but you have an accident and you get into a coma?

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

I can only think of several reasons why lotto winners delay their claims.

1. they don't want to create a stir in their neighborhood. We all know that there are a lot of free loaders, or suddenly a long lost relative of yours suddenly resurfaces and wanted a piece of that winnings or at least give them free money

2. stay low profile but make the necessary adjustment so that when you suddenly disappear no one will suspect that you have won the lottery

[Assface16678]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?

What if you keep it and will surprise your family after a month, but you have an accident and you get into a coma?

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

I can only think of several reasons why lotto winners delay their claims.

1. they don't want to create a stir in their neighborhood. We all know that there are a lot of free loaders, or suddenly a long lost relative of yours suddenly resurfaces and wanted a piece of that winnings or at least give them free money

2. stay low profile but make the necessary adjustment so that when you suddenly disappear no one will suspect that you have won the lottery

Well, that's mostly the case, winners will of course want to make themselves safe, its becauss if they make any sudden movement and quickly claim the price then people with malicious intents will wait for the winner to claim the price and we never know what might happen next, so its better to pick a right timing when to claim the price, a winner should be more cautios because the bad guys might be one of the authorities in the lotto that is blinded by the money, even I will take some time before I will claim my price I will make the news laylow first then claim it and of course be in lowkey so no one will know I win a lottery, but yeah it will be a dream for now. In conclusion its better to take time before claiming the price but of course dont take it for too long because there may be a downside of it also.

[aioc]

I will claim it right away and put it in the bank and do my planning later I can wait for 2 days but more than that is not good it is preferable to plan everything when the money is already in your hands, some people aren't ready to become multi-millionaire because they will be living a new life. a full life of uncertainties because of financial illiteracy.
This is why they took time to claim the price but they will have to decide fast because they will have a big regret in life in case something happens with the winner or the ticket.

[coin-investor]

@everyone

I did not post this article right away when I created this discussion and waited for members' opinions some opinions are somewhat similar to what this guy did back in 2010 It is understandable because the jackpot is very huge but will you go to the extent of doing a stake out in the lottery office and wait for three months to get the price, have you not think of the risks.

Based on the article two winners did a stakeout already.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2010/12/05/635982/grand-lotto-winner-faces-tough-security-check

[wheelz1200]

Haven't read through each one of the responses but most of the times if it's a huge amount people usually like to get finaixlcial advisors and lawyers to draw up a plan.  There's tons of pitfalls and tax hits involved when you win so much money.  It's not a bad thing but something that you need a solid plan so you don't screw yourself.  I'd do the same thing and wait until I got an exact plan of what I'm going to do with that windfall.

[tread93]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?

What if you keep it and will surprise your family after a month, but you have an accident and you get into a coma?

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

Its a crazy scenario about the coma but literally could happen to anyone and you have to prepare for everything these days! You can never be sure of anything or any outcome and literally anything can happen, so failing to plan would be planning to fail! If it is me I am calling into the lotto to tell them I plan to take the next flight into town and submit my ticket in person. I would hope that would help speed the payout process, but I guess i'll have to find out when I win the lotto of a future scratch off ticket i'll buy at a gas station or supermarket 

[coin-investor]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?

What if you keep it and will surprise your family after a month, but you have an accident and you get into a coma?

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

Its a crazy scenario about the coma but literally could happen to anyone and you have to prepare for everything these days! You can never be sure of anything or any outcome and literally anything can happen, so failing to plan would be planning to fail! If it is me I am calling into the lotto to tell them I plan to take the next flight into town and submit my ticket in person. I would hope that would help speed the payout process, but I guess i'll have to find out when I win the lotto of a future scratch off ticket i'll buy at a gas station or supermarket 

Life is full of uncertainty, we never know what's going to happen the next day, I watched a documentary movie where the father saves money but keeps it secret from his family, and when he dies no one in the family knows about his savings but the widowed wife eventually found out the location because the late husband told the wife on her dreams.

So it's better when you hit a jackpot you have to claim and stop dilly-dallying because the money you claimed is not yet yours better to have the money in your hands and just plan anything you want to do because when you have the money all your plan will materialize.

[pinggoki]

For me, it's a matter of safety and the fact that people might target you and try to hijack your wins is one of the reason why I think that they take some time to claim their wins, there's also the fact that some are taking it slow and they can't process that they've won something that big, it's a life changing amount of money so it's definitely not something that you should do in a short span of time, making your mind clear will help in making sure that you're going to be doing the right thing once the money's been handed to you. Another reason that I can think of is that some winners are probably trying to hide the fact that they've won the lottery, they got to make sure that the money that they're getting isn't going to be known in public.

[Peanutswar]

It seems you are getting overthinking too much, the lotto outlet doesn't care at all who is the original bettor of the ticket as long as they have the winning combination they are the one who considered as the ticket winner now it's up to them if they will use those to help you if they are relatives or not let's accept the fact once they see a large amount of money and base on your statement you are in an unconscious state you cant fight back at all. I don't see any sense why you need to take so long to hold the ticket number most of the winners are excited to claim their rewards.

[EarnOnVictor]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

This is very bad, which country is that again? In my country, if you win your Lotto ticket today, you have the right to collect your money on that very day if time has not been far spent, or the very next day. At least, this is my experience with offline lottos, although they now have their presence online, but I do not think anything would change, and possibly, the online presence will make the whole process faster.

All they need to do is credit your bank account and you are good to go. Lotto is not what they are still verifying like that, once the combination is correct, you are good to go, so why the delay? A year? That's bad.

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?
What if you keep it and will surprise your family after a month, but you have an accident and you get into a coma?

Anything can happen any second even though we do not pray for bad things. This is more reason why people's wins and benefits should be paid as quickly as possible. What if the family member needed money to sort the hospital bill when the person was in the common but never knew how to claim the winnings or didn't know there was one winning to even claim?

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

This is not an issue. I believe the winner must have known the kind of family he's from to conclude whether to tell them or not. In my family, not even the spouses would know if we want to keep it a secret.

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?
How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

Conclusively, since the lotto company is not an investment bank that will be adding a huge interest to my money with them, then I prefer to claim my winnings within 24 hours. In my possession, I can decide on what I will do with my money, which I believe that the majority of it will go for business and investment. This is a cool plan and purpose than letting it waste away with the lotto company.

[Gozie51]

Or you let it know to your family, but you decide that you will claim it after a month but some members of the family spread the news will this put your family and yourself in jeopardy

News fly like wind and such news for a family that wins a jackpot, it will be a news worthy to be shared and of course some people will like to be the first to share it. So such is expected.

It won't necessarily put any family in jeopardy if you manage yourself well. Of course winning jackpot means also that you have been susceptible to attack including your family depending on the country you are. Such kind of attacks are prone in countries where there are no license to guns.

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

It is good to claim winnings when you win it. Delay is dangerous

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

Why wait a long time before going to claim your winning. That will be risky as you can misplace your winning ticket, you can be rubbed off it by heaters even if they can't claim it. There are things that can happen and make you incapacitated, so why delay to go for the claim. Must winners are know went immediately to claim their winnings without delay.

[irhact]

Life is full of uncertainty, we never know what's going to happen the next day, I watched a documentary movie where the father saves money but keeps it secret from his family, and when he dies no one in the family knows about his savings but the widowed wife eventually found out the location because the late husband told the wife on her dreams.

So it's better when you hit a jackpot you have to claim and stop dilly-dallying because the money you claimed is not yet yours better to have the money in your hands and just plan anything you want to do because when you have the money all your plan will materialize.

You're right though if I'm in a position to win big from lotto I'm so going to claim my cash the next day or same day if possible cause life is too short and anything is possible, you never can tell what could happen the next day and even though I don't disclose it to all my family members maybe due to lack of trust, I'll atleast inform one or two person to be aware incase anything happens.

 But on a second thought times are bad and the heart of man is becoming greedy and evil lately, in every family there's always a black sheep and you never can tell who would be plotting on steal the money so I feel maybe that's why some individuals just keep it to themselves and decide to claim afterwards, but then they could just claim it keep the cash even though they don't intend telling any family members.

[iv4n]

...
Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

I never thought about how long it would take me to claim my lottery prize, I guess it depends on how much the prize really is... Maybe it would be good to organize everything properly before accepting the prize, a new bank account or maybe more accounts, some in foreign currencies. When you think about it, it might be wise to invest most of the money right away in some things that will generate additional profit, while also protecting against overspending. And if we organize that before receiving the prize it will minimize the chance of becoming greedy with so much money.

It's one thing to talk about it, but getting a huge amount of money from once affects the human psyche a lot. That's why this waiting period even sounds reasonable, it's always better to be patient and slowly get into some new things.

[Lucius]

I think there are several reasons why people claim their winnings with a delay.

The first thing that comes to my mind is that some people simply do not know that they have won and only find out after some time - because some people buy the lottery and forget about it completely. I know of a case where a man paid for the lottery and kept the ticket in the car, the children even played with it and drew on it - and only later did he find out that someone was the winner at the place where he usually buys the ticket.

The second thing that makes the winner hesitate to come forward is certainly the shock - especially if it is a huge win like in the US or the EU - where you can win several hundred million dollars or euros each.

There is also a security risk, because I personally would like to remain anonymous in all possible ways, which would mean hiring a law firm and paying the winnings to a foreign bank account, because you can never be wrong when it comes to Switzerland, right?

[qwertyup23]

It is actually for security reasons and purposes on why some people delay the claiming of their prizes on the designated lottery establishment.

If a person wins a lottery, the first thing that they must secure is their security and safety. They would naturally feel skeptical and afraid that some people might go against their own safety; or someone might actually steal their ticket or kill them during such process. If they delay the time in claiming their prize, then there would be more time for preparation, planning, and deciding which routes/places to go to after winning.

Remember, fear your own safety when it comes to huge bets such as this one. If you won that life-changing money that can turn your whole life upside down, it is definitely better and recommended to exhaust all the necessary steps and to take all the precautions to ensure a smooth sailing ride in claiming such prizes.

[coin-investor]

Here in our country, if you hit the jackpot, you are given one year to claim your rewards. There is also a security feature on the back of the lotto ticket where you can write your name and sign it, so you are the only person who can claim the jackpot prize, and you have a year to claim it.

This is very bad, which country is that again? In my country, if you win your Lotto ticket today, you have the right to collect your money on that very day if time has not been far spent, or the very next day. At least, this is my experience with offline lottos, although they now have their presence online, but I do not think anything would change, and possibly, the online presence will make the whole process faster.

All they need to do is credit your bank account and you are good to go. Lotto is not what they are still verifying like that, once the combination is correct, you are good to go, so why the delay? A year? That's bad.

Its good that I caught your post my post is properly configured and all the members understand it, what I mean is you are given one year to claim your ticket,  your ticket is valid for one year you and can claim your ticket the next day the reason why I create this discussion is I wonder why the winners takes a week or months to claim their winnings when they can do that the next day or a week

I read that some lottery winners take weeks or even months to claim their rewards, but what's the point?

[blckhawk]

It seems you are getting overthinking too much, the lotto outlet doesn't care at all who is the original bettor of the ticket as long as they have the winning combination they are the one who considered as the ticket winner now it's up to them if they will use those to help you if they are relatives or not let's accept the fact once they see a large amount of money and base on your statement you are in an unconscious state you cant fight back at all. I don't see any sense why you need to take so long to hold the ticket number most of the winners are excited to claim their rewards.

Exactly, just because you've won a lot of money in lottery doesn't mean that you're obligated to help out the people that are asking for some of the wins and to share to them your winnings, that's just a construct that was made by other people because they want to make sure that everyone's not envious of you and that they might attempt to steal your winnings. In my country, if you're the outlet that sold the ticket with the winning number combination, you will also get some form of reward so I don't think that they're going to care too much about the winner because they're going to get some anyway.

[Yogee]

[...]but will you go to the extent of doing a stake out in the lottery office and wait for three months to get the price, have you not think of the risks.

Nothing wrong with their approach. Three months is probably too long to observe but what he did is less risky compared to just going in there without knowing the surroundings.

[....]
just because you've won a lot of money in lottery doesn't mean that you're obligated to help out the people that are asking for some of the wins and to share to them your winnings,

You're not obliged but you never really know how people thinks when money is involved. They will hold grudges if you don't give something and who knows what they could be planning to get a piece or maybe the whole pie.

[goaldigger]

Haven't read through each one of the responses but most of the times if it's a huge amount people usually like to get finaixlcial advisors and lawyers to draw up a plan.  There's tons of pitfalls and tax hits involved when you win so much money.  It's not a bad thing but something that you need a solid plan so you don't screw yourself.  I'd do the same thing and wait until I got an exact plan of what I'm going to do with that windfall.

Don’t think so because in my country, they will rush to get the win or else someone else might took it.
Most of the lotto winner don’t have a financial capacity to make a decision on how to spend that big money but I don’t think they will hire someone and ask for assistance before taking the winning, i think they can do this after getting the money and not before getting it.

[uneng]

Do you think it's a good idea to claim your winnings a day after hitting the jackpot or wait a few weeks?

How about you? When do you think is the right time to claim your winnings?

I see no reason to delay claiming a lottery prize. In my opinion it's a waste of time, because you could be already using your prize somehow if you claimed it as soon as possible. Lottery winners who wait for weeks or months to receive their prizes are probably not aware they won yet, because it's usual to play lottery tickets and forget about them, due to the winning chances being too low. When people around me play the lottery they put the ticket receipt over the table or any other place where the tickets are constantly under sight, so we never forget about checking the results once the draw is done.

Those delayed winners, on the other hand, probably forget their ticket receipts on drawers or even drop them on the garbage, so they tend to forget easily about the lottery played, taking them a long time to remember to check the results. I think that is why the lottery gives so much time like a whole year time period for gamblers to claim their prizes. At least on this aspect, it's very fair and respectful from their part.