Texas lottery rules
You have 180 days to claim in Texas, the state withholds nothing and the rules on being named have a threshold worth reading.
What we can confirm
- Time to claim
- 180 days from the drawing. source, checked 16 Sep 2026
- State tax withheld
- Nothing. Federal withholding still applies, and a state taking nothing up front isn't the same as owing nothing. source, checked 16 Sep 2026
- Whether you are named
- Anonymous above a set amount, from $1,000,000. Applies to prizes of $1 million or more taken as a lump sum. Your city and county are still released, and a winner taking the annuity is protected only until 30 days after claiming. source, checked 16 Sep 2026
- What a retailer can pay you
- Up to $599 in cash at a retailer. Above that means a lottery office or a claim by mail. source, checked 16 Sep 2026
- Minimum age
- 18 to buy a ticket or claim a prize. source, checked 16 Sep 2026
When sales stop in Texas
- Mega Millions
- 9:45 PM on a drawing night, Central time. Texas publishes this as the start of a draw break running to 10:15pm. Buying after that puts you in the next drawing instead. source, checked 17 Sep 2026
- Powerball
- 9:00 PM on a drawing night, Central time. Texas publishes this as the start of a draw break running to 10:15pm. Buying after that puts you in the next drawing instead. source, checked 17 Sep 2026
Retailers often stop earlier than the state deadline, and a machine that has closed for the night has closed whatever the published time says. Leave yourself more than the last minute.
What goes unclaimed in Texas
$1.07 billion in Texas prize money was won and never collected between FY2010 and FY2024, and left the prize system for indigent health care, border hospitals, veterans, then schools.
A prize becomes unclaimed 180 days after the drawing.
Rows marked unaudited are published by the state but not yet audited, and are not added into any total here. How we counted this, and every other state we hold.
What we could not confirm
This page shows 5 things about Texas, and only what we found stated on a page we could open and cite. Where Texas Lottery does not publish a figure, it is missing here rather than estimated. A claim deadline or a tax rate invented to fill a gap is how somebody loses money they had already won.
Questions about the Texas lottery
- How long do I have to claim a lottery prize in Texas?
- 180 days from the drawing. That is six months. After that the ticket is worth nothing, no matter what it matched.
- Does Texas tax lottery winnings?
- Texas withholds no state tax on lottery prizes. Federal tax still applies.
- Can you stay anonymous after winning the lottery in Texas?
- Above $1,000,000, yes. Applies to prizes of $1 million or more taken as a lump sum. Your city and county are still released, and a winner taking the annuity is protected only until 30 days after claiming.
- How old do you have to be to buy a lottery ticket in Texas?
- 18. The age is set by the state, not the game, so it can change the moment you cross a state line.
- Where do you claim a big lottery prize in Texas?
- A retailer can pay you up to $599 in cash. Anything more goes to a lottery office or by mail, with ID and a claim form.
- What time do lottery ticket sales stop in Texas?
- In Texas, Mega Millions at 9:45pm and Powerball at 9:00pm. Each game sets its own cutoff, so two drawings held minutes apart can stop selling nearly an hour apart. Buy well before the earlier one.
- How much lottery money goes unclaimed in Texas?
- $1,072,381,943 between FY2010 and FY2024, taken from Texas's own audited financial reports. It goes to indigent health care, border hospitals, veterans, then schools. That figure counts only money that left the prize system, not money put back into future prizes.
Check a Texas ticket
Where you bought a ticket changes what it's worth, so tell us the state when you save one.
Claiming, from the people who pay
We are not a lottery operator and we cannot pay a prize. Texas Lottery can: https://www.texaslottery.com
Everything above was last checked on 16 September 2026. State rules change, and the lottery's own page is the one that counts.