Customer Resources
All draw game prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing in which they were won. Instant prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the declared end of the game (dates listed on the web site under instant games). Prizes of $600 or less may be claimed at any West Virginia Lottery retailer with a lottery terminal. Prizes over $600 may be claimed at Lottery Headquarters in Charleston, at the Hollywood Casino Super Casher in Charles Town, at the Lottery’s regional office in Weirton, or by mail.
If mailing, please sign the back of your ticket and include the following items (All items listed below MUST be included):
- A copy of your driver’s license or government-issued photo ID;
- A copy of your social security card;
- A mailing address; and
- A daytime telephone number.
Mail to: West Virginia Lottery/Claims, PO BOX 2913, Charleston, WV 25330. Players must be 18 years or older to purchase tickets.
Request Anonymity
Effective January 1, 2019, House Bill 2982 allows winners of State Lottery draw games to remain anonymous in regards to his or her name, personal contact information, and likeness; providing that the prize is equal to or exceeding $1 million dollars. When a group forms a lottery pool to purchase lottery tickets, only those members of the pool that each, individually, win a gross prize equal to or exceeding $1 million dollars may claim anonymity.
You may use the following to request anonymity via e-mail if your winning draw game ticket is a prize amount EQUAL TO OR EXCEEDING $1 MILLION DOLLARS. Again, if a group wins, all participants in the lottery pool must receive, individually, EQUAL TO OR EXCEEDING $1 MILLION DOLLARS to qualify. If you (or your group) are the lucky individual(s) with such a claim, the West Virginia Lottery suggests the following best-practices for safeguarding your anonymity.
- Sign the back of your ticket. The ticket is a bearer instrument by law. The holder is presumed to be the owner unless a signature proves otherwise.
- Retain the services of a lawyer and an accountant. Advise them of your intent to claim anonymously so they can advise you and help safe-guard your information.
- Do not inform anyone other than your counsel of your win. The West Virginia Lottery cannot be responsible for information reporting agencies may obtain via the winner who talked to family members or posted about their win on social media sites.
- Use only www.wvlottery.com, the mobile convenience app or a self-service terminal to check your numbers.
Per the law you are only required to supply the following pieces of information when making an anonymity request; your contact information, including any personal telephone number, residential address and electronic mail address.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request
The West Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“Act”), W.Va. Code §29B-1-1 et seq., requires public bodies to provide public records in response to requests, unless those records are exempt from disclosure.
Filing a Request
No particular form is required to submit a FOIA request. To make sure we understand exactly what you want, we need your request to be in writing. A request may be made via U.S. Mail or Email. The addresses are below. Below are forms you may use, the Printable FOIA Request Form and the Online FOIA Request Form.
The West Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“Act”), W.Va. Code §29B-1-1 et seq., requires public bodies to provide public records in response to requests, unless those records are exempt from disclosure.
West Virginia Lottery
900 Pennsylvania Avenue
Charleston, WV 25302
Phone: 304.558.0500
LegalGroup@wvlottery.com
Costs
| Method of Production | Fee |
| Per-page duplication reimbursement | $0.20 |
| Per USB flash drive | $10.00 |
| Per CD charge | $0.20 |
| Per High Capacity USB flash Drive (1TB) | $100.00 |
| Postage or Shipping | Actual Cost |
| List of Lottery Retailer and Agent (regardless of method of production) | $130.00 |
| List of LVL Retailer, Operator, Service Technician, or any combination (regardless of method of production) | $130.00 |
| List of Racetrack table games licensees (regardless of method of production) | $130.00 |
Payment
Requesters will be informed of fees due and payable pursuant to their request prior to production of the records. Fees exceeding $100 or more must be paid in advance of production. However, all fees totaling under $100 may be paid after production, unless otherwise determined by the WVL General Counsel. Please make checks payable to the “West Virginia Lottery” and remitted to the above provided address.
Protect Yourself from Scams
Always guard your personal information and be on the look out for potential scams.
Attempts to deceive people into believing that they have won a lottery prize are now commonplace. Scammers are looking for sensitive personal information such as a your name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security number, bank or credit card account number and ultimately – your money in an effort to defraud you.
- If you receive a “winning notification” by mail, email or phone that you are a West Virginia Lottery or Mega Millions or any other Lottery prize winner: The West Virginia Lottery does not send out winning notifications via postal mail. You will never be contacted by phone or email, unless you entered a specific second chance drawing from the West Virginia Lottery. There is no other circumstance where you will be contacted by us informing you that you’ve won a prize.
- If you receive a check with directions to cash and return a portion of the cash, do not respond. The check is not valid and will be returned for insufficient funds. No legitimate lottery will ever send you this type of communication.
- Do not be fooled into providing personal information to scammers. Scammers often provide Internet-based claim forms or request personal information over the phone, such as credit card or bank account information.
- If you are requested to pay a fee before winnings can be released to you, this is a fraud. Never send money. A legitimate lottery will never require you to pay money for advanced fees to cover expenses associated with the delivery of “winning prizes.”
- Never redeem a Lottery ticket for someone you do not know. Never pay cash to someone offering to sell a “winning ticket.”
- Never accept a collect phone call from someone claiming to be a Lottery official.
Only purchase West Virginia Lottery tickets from one of our licensed lottery retailers located in the state of West Virginia.
If you feel you have been a victim of fraud you should: Contact your state’s Attorney General to report it. Read the information and tips put out by the Federal Trade Commission about scams. Forward the suspicious email to the Federal Trade Commission’s address for unsolicited commercial email: spam@uce.gov . Notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) of the FBI by filing a complaint on their web site at: www.ic3.gov.
