Can You Remain Anonymous If You Win The Lotto In Michigan?

I don't know about you, but I only play the Mega Millions or Powerball when it's over a billion dollars.

What would I do with only a million dollars?

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Kidding aside, what if you actually did win the lottery and it was life-changing money?

Do you have to come forward and have every person you know ask for money or could you remain anamous?

I did some digging and here's what I found out.

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Can You Remain Anonymous If You Win The Lotto In Michigan?

Last night's Powerball drawing was for $1.7 Billion dollars and had one grand prize winner from California. In California, you can't remain anonymous, if you win you have one year to come forward to claim the prize.

What if the winner was from Michigan? Would they have to come forward as well?

This question doesn't have a simple answer.

Under Michigan law, players who win more than $10,000 playing state-only games can remain anonymous.

However, multi-state games like Mega Millions and Powerball are under different rules, and the names of winners are considered public record.

In Michigan, state law requires the identity of multi-state lottery jackpot winners to be made public and does not allow a trust to claim the prize to keep the winner’s name a secret.

However, there is a loophole.

Winners can form a registered lottery club, and only one member of the club needs to be identified publicly to claim the prize.

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Therefore, if you win the Mega Millions or Powerball jackpot in Michigan, you can remain anonymous by forming a lottery club and having a representative claim the prize on behalf of the club.

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If you're lucky enough to win the lottery make sure you're careful to not end up like these five Michiganders.