If you are lucky enough to win the lottery, the last thing you want to do is let the prize slip through your fingers.

To protect yourself, the first thing you should do after you receive a lottery ticket, even before you know whether it’s a winner or not, is to sign it. Your signature on the back of a lottery ticket can help prove it’s yours if it gets lost or stolen.

Also, never hand a ticket to a clerk at a lottery location and ask if you’ve won. Use a computer terminal to determine if you’re a winner, ask the clerk for the winning numbers and verify them yourself, or check online or in newspapers to find the winning numbers. It’s easy for an unscrupulous clerk to pocket your ticket and tell you it was a loser.

If you intend to cash a lottery ticket by mail, make sure you make copies of both sides of the ticket, in case it gets lost in transit.

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