Do you have to be a US citizen to win the Powerball lottery jackpot?
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A winning ticket has been sold in California for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion.
The California Lottery said on Twitter that the winning ticket was sold at Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles. And while the winner has yet to come forward, the owner of the market, Navor Herrera, says he believes the person is local and "Latino."
"I think [they're] Latino," Herrera told NBC Los Angeles' John Cadiz. "Because many people in this area are [Latino] and my customers are Latino. Sometimes Korean."
Should the winner happen to be a non-U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, would they still get to claim the prize?
The answer is yes.
According to the Powerball website, players do not have to be U.S. citizens or residents to play the lottery.
The lottery game's only requirement is that players be over the age of 18, regardless of citizenship status.
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Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If players live in a jurisdiction where Powerball tickets are not sold, either in the United States or outside the country, they can purchase Powerball tickets from a retailer licensed or authorized by the selling jurisdiction, if they meet the legal age requirement in the jurisdiction of purchase, according Powerball.
Federal and local state income taxes may apply to any claimed prize money. Prizes must be claimed in the jurisdiction where the winning ticket was purchased. To cash a lottery ticket, a winner must show a valid ID and provide a signature. Lottery officials don't verify immigration status.
Powerball isn't the only lottery game that doesn't require U.S. citizenship for winners to claim their prize.
In 2015, a man from Iraq bought the winning ticket for a $6.4 million Megabucks jackpot in the Oregon lottery, NBC News reported. The man purchased the ticket through an online service. The website, theLotter.com, sends people to buy lottery tickets for customers and charges a fee, according to NBC affiliate KTVZ. The unidentified foreign winner flew to Salem, Oregon, to claim his prize. He decided to take the annuity option and opened a local bank account to deposit his payments before returning to Iraq.
However, undocumented immigrants may fear deportation if they come forward to claim their ticket. In 2011, Jose Antonio Cua-Toc won a $750,000 prize playing the Jingle Jumbo Bucks game in Georgia and was afraid to claim his prize due to his immigration status. Cua-Toc asked his boss to cash it on his behalf and the employer, Erick Cervantes, kept the winnings. The incident sparked threats and landed Cua-Toc in prison, NBC News reported. An immigration judge eventually ordered Cua-Tuc to leave the U.S. voluntarily or be forcefully deported, but not before a Georgia judge awarded him the lottery prize. It is not clear if Cua-Toc still lives in the U.S. or if he's returned home to Guatemala.
