How to Claim a Lotto Prize? Amounts, Tax and Deadlines

A prize up to 2280 PLN can be collected at any Lotto retail point — a legible ticket is enough, and there's no tax. Higher amounts are paid out by a Totalizator Sportowy branch, which withholds 15% flat-rate income tax, so you receive 85% of the prize in hand. The deadline is the same for all amounts: 60 days from the draw date.

Where prizes are paid out — the 2280 PLN threshold

The place of payout depends solely on the amount of the single prize. Below the threshold, a retail point handles it; above it, an operator branch does. A retail point is not a tax payer and doesn't keep tens of thousands of zlotys in its cash register, so the threshold can't be bypassed by splitting the payout across several visits: the terminal invalidates the ticket at the first scan.

Prize amount	Place of payout	Tax	In hand
up to 2280 PLN	retail point	none	100%
above 2280 PLN	Totalizator Sportowy branch	15%	85%

The threshold applies to a single prize, not the sum of several tickets. Two separate wins of 2000 PLN each mean zero tax twice. A single win of 4000 PLN already means a 600 PLN deduction. On a prize of 100,000 PLN, 85,000 PLN is credited to your account.

The 15% rate was introduced on January 1, 2026; previously it was 10%. The exemption threshold itself — 2280 PLN — hasn't changed. You can calculate what remains after the deduction for a specific amount in the prize tax calculator. You'll find a list of operator branches on the where to claim your prize page.

What to do after winning — step by step

1. Secure the ticket. A paper ticket is a bearer document — the payout goes to whoever presents it. A ticket that's illegible, torn at the code, or water-damaged won't be accepted.
2. Verify the result. This is done by a terminal at a retail point or via the operator's app. A bet placed online is settled automatically on the player's account. You can pre-check numbers in the ticket checker, but the payout still requires a terminal scan.
3. Bring identification. Payout at a branch requires an ID card or passport. For higher amounts, anti-money-laundering regulations apply, so the operator records the recipient's details and confirms their identity.
4. Choose the payout method. At a retail point this means cash. At a branch you can request a bank transfer — for larger sums, a more convenient and safer solution.
5. Meet the 60-day deadline. The period is counted from the draw date, not from the day you noticed the win.

The 60-day deadline and situations where the prize is forfeited

The claim for payout expires 60 days after the draw date. The deadline is not extended by illness, travel, or the ticket sitting in a jacket pocket. The draw date is printed on the ticket, so counting doesn't require guesswork — a full list of dates can be found in the Lotto results archive.

Beyond the deadline, there are three situations in which there's no money: a lost ticket, a ticket damaged badly enough that the terminal can't read the code, and a forged ticket. In the first two cases, the operator has no way to verify the claim — the ticket is the only proof of purchase, not the player's memory or a photo of the numbers on their phone.

A bet placed through the official website or app doesn't have this problem: the transaction is recorded on the player's account, and the prize is credited automatically. This is the only practical advantage of buying online over paper.

Payout methods and security

At a retail point you receive cash. For a few hundred zlotys this is convenient; for an amount close to the threshold, less so — people in line see how much was counted out behind the glass. At a branch, a transfer to a designated account is standard; funds arrive within a business day, with no need to transport cash.

For prizes that draw media attention, the operator doesn't disclose the winner's details — only the town and type of retail point are given. We maintain a list of the largest prizes in the game's history on the biggest wins page.

One thing to remember: no Totalizator Sportowy employee will call to inform you of a win and ask for card details or a processing fee. It's the player who reports a win, not the operator. A call or text saying "congratulations, please transfer money to cover the tax" is a scam — tax is withheld from the prize, never paid upfront.

Frequently asked questions about claiming a prize

Can someone else collect the ticket? A paper ticket is a bearer document, so payout is made to whoever presents it. For amounts paid at a branch, the operator identifies the recipient — it's this person who appears in the payout documentation, regardless of who bought the ticket.

Does the prize need to be reported on a tax return? A prize up to 2280 PLN is exempt and doesn't need to be entered in the annual tax return. Above the threshold, the tax is a flat rate withheld at source — settlement is complete at the moment of payout, with no separate declaration required from the player.

What happens to the ticket after payout? The terminal invalidates it at the first scan, so it won't work a second time. It's worth keeping the payout confirmation from the branch — it comes in handy when depositing a larger sum at the bank.

Can a win be checked without visiting a retail point? Yes. The operator publishes results after every draw, and sites like this one show them in tables and archives. However, verifying a ticket for payout still takes place at a terminal or in the operator's app.

What this article doesn't say

It doesn't say how to win. The probability of matching six numbers in Lotto is 1 in 13,983,816 and is identical for every set of six numbers from the 1–49 pool: for birth dates, for the sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6, and for a random set. Shortened and full systems increase the number of bets, and thus the cost — not the odds of a single bet.

Statistics on "hot" and "cold" numbers describe the past, not the future — a draw has no memory of previous draws. Treat them as a curiosity, not a tool.

Playing Lotto is available only to adults. If you feel that gaming has stopped being entertainment and become a way of trying to recover money, that's a sign to stop. Free help is offered by the National Centre for the Prevention of Addictions.