# Laws permitting lottery winners to remain anonymous **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945 "2016-01-23T05:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/1 "2016-01-23T05:51:06Z")
There are lottery organizations that like to argue that publicizing a lottery winner’s identity helps promote the lottery and encourage other people to play, along with satisfying the public’s curiosity and letting them know that there was a real lottery winner, not some fake fraud-scheme…but overall, I think the lottery winner’s need to avoid such things as blackmail, extortion, theft, gold diggers, fraudsters, swindlers, ransom kidnappings, death threats or murder itself holds higher priority. So with that, I think it’s time there was a national law permitting lottery winners in any and all of the 50 states, District Columbia, Puerto Rico, etc. to remain anonymous. If the lottery organizers don’t like that - well, too bad. A person has the right not to be threatened, mobbed by gold diggers or constantly targeted by swindlers. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/2 "2016-01-23T11:18:25Z")
Come play the lottery over here (UK) if you want to be an anonymous winner. We also have the sensibility to tax the ticket, not the winnings. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/3 "2016-01-23T11:19:25Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > We also have the sensibility to tax the ticket, not the winnings. that is smart ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/4 "2016-01-23T11:35:22Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > We also have the sensibility to tax the ticket, not the winnings. That wouldn’t work here because we don’t have a massive national VAT like you. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/5 "2016-01-23T12:43:51Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > That wouldn’t work here because we don’t have a massive national VAT like you. The tax paid on the ticket is not VAT but a separate 12%. And technically it’s a duty not a tax. See [National Lottery (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_(United_Kingdom)) > [@Wiki](#): > > Of all money spent on National Lottery games, 50% goes to the prize fund, 28% to “good causes” as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a form of “stealth tax”[2] levied to support the Big Lottery Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending),[3] 12% to the UK Government as duty, 5% to retailers as commission, and a total of 5% to operator Camelot, with 4.5% to cover operating costs and 0.5% as profit. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/6 "2016-01-23T22:04:22Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > There are lottery organizations that like to argue that publicizing a lottery winner’s identity helps promote the lottery and encourage other people to play, along with satisfying the public’s curiosity and letting them know that there was a real lottery winner, not some fake fraud-scheme…but overall, I think the lottery winner’s need to avoid such things as blackmail, extortion, theft, gold diggers, fraudsters, swindlers, ransom kidnappings, death threats or murder itself holds higher priority. If somebody who owes me a lot of money wins a lottery, I think I’d like to know about it. If my soon-to-be ex-wife\* were to win Powerball, it would certainly influence the divorce proceedings. How common are kidnappings and death threats in conjunction with lotteries anyway? The big concerns are deadbeat pals and relatives, and no secrecy rule on earth will protect you from them! * * * \*I don’t actually have a soon-to-be-ex-wife. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/7 "2016-01-24T05:02:06Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > If somebody who owes me a lot of money wins a lottery, I think I’d like to know about it. If my soon-to-be ex-wife\* were to win Powerball, it would certainly influence the divorce proceedings. How common are kidnappings and death threats in conjunction with lotteries anyway? The big concerns are deadbeat pals and relatives, and no secrecy rule on earth will protect you from them! > > * * * > > \*I don’t actually have a soon-to-be-ex-wife. Not just threats, actual murders. > **[10 Lottery Winners Who Died Tragically](https://www.ranker.com/list/lottery-winners-tragic-ends/derrick920?format=SLIDESHOW&page=1)** > > As the old adage goes, money isn't everything. And for some people, it could be the worst thing. While winning the lottery may seem like a dream come true, not everyone who hits the jackpot goes on to live happily ever after. It's not uncommon to... Six out of the 11 people on this list were killed because of their winnings. One quite recently. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/8 "2016-01-24T11:18:53Z")
I don’t see why the Federal government should dictate to states how to run their lotteries. Nobody is forced to enter a lottery. If someone chooses to do so, the conditions are laid out. If you don’t like the game, don’t play. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/9 "2016-01-24T15:23:46Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Six out of the 11 people on this list were killed because of their winnings. One quite recently. In most of those cases, though, the killer was a family member or an acquaintance - not some rando who tracked down the person because they’d heard their name on the news. Unless you plan on cutting yourself off from your family and pretending to be middle-class to everyone you know for the rest of your life, claiming the jackpot anonymously isn’t going to protect you from that. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/10 "2016-01-24T15:40:20Z")
It prevents fraud. Wouldn’t you want to know that family members of lottery officials aren’t winning all of the prizes? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/11 "2016-01-24T15:52:49Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It prevents fraud. Wouldn’t you want to know that family members of lottery officials aren’t winning all of the prizes? I agree. Suppose the state just made an announcement that somebody had won last week’s hundred million dollar prize but they weren’t saying who it was. The accusations of fraud would be overwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/12 "2016-01-24T18:07:00Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > I don’t see why the Federal government should dictate to states how to run their lotteries. Nobody is forced to enter a lottery. If someone chooses to do so, the conditions are laid out. If you don’t like the game, don’t play. Right to privacy. Unless someone can show the public is somehow harmed by not knowing the name and general location of lottery winners, it’s no more dictating how states can run lotteries than HIPAA is dictating how doctors can run their practices. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/13 "2016-01-24T18:08:03Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I agree. Suppose the state just made an announcement that somebody had won last week’s hundred million dollar prize but they weren’t saying who it was. The accusations of fraud would be overwhelming. Except that there are some states that \*do \*allow anonymity. I don’t see them getting overwhelmed with fraud accusations. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/14 "2016-01-24T18:34:45Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Right to privacy. Unless someone can show the public is somehow harmed by not knowing the name and general location of lottery winners, it’s no more dictating how states can run lotteries than HIPAA is dictating how doctors can run their practices. Healthcare is pretty much essential at some point, whereas playing the lottery is 100% voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/15 "2016-01-24T21:20:18Z")
I can see arguments for both sides, but on the list of people who need the Federal government to help them out, I would put lottery winners near the end of the list. To say that the government has an interest, or even an obligation, to protect people from freeloading relatives or manage jealousy from coworkers is my idea of a non-problem. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/16 "2016-01-24T23:52:42Z")
I live in a “privacy” jurisdiction when it comes to this, it’s my call if the Lottery is to publicize that I won. _It is understood_ that family and close associates may and most likely will learn of my fortune by other means anyway and that’s entirely _my_ problem, not the Lottery’s, as are any debts and solicitations. They just will not generate publicity about it and will stop at that. Sure, if someone owes me a large amount of money, I’d love to know if they hit the lottery… but the state agencies and their contractors do NOT have in their list of duties to inform me if that person has come into a windfall. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/17 "2016-01-25T01:20:44Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > If somebody who owes me a lot of money wins a lottery, I think I’d like to know about it. That’s what civil judgments are for. It’s silly to want a mechanism that can get a deadbeat to pay up in some fantastically rare circumstances when you have one available that can make him pay up in any circumstance that gives him the wherewithal to make good on the debt. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/18 "2016-01-25T01:44:44Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Except that there are some states that \*do \*allow anonymity. I don’t see them getting overwhelmed with fraud accusations. How would anyone know if there was fraud going on? There are well documented cases of people rigging these contests, it is the norm for people to try and beat the rules when lots of money is involved. > **[Eight Charged With Rigging McDonald's Prize Contests (Published 2001)](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/22/us/eight-charged-with-rigging-mcdonald-s-prize-contests.html)** > > FBI charges that eight people conspired to rig McDonald's promotional-prize contests, including popular Monopoly game, defrauding chain and customers of more than $13 million; those charged include Jerome P Jacobson, security worker at Simon... ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/19 "2016-01-25T03:00:36Z")
Here in Peru someone has to pick up the money, check or whatever. However, for any amount that even a little bit interesting what 99% do is to have a representative from the bank where you’re having your money deposited go to the Lottery’s office, have the picture taken with the giant check, and everything. BTW, they take 10% off in prices over S/. 100 (30 dollars) and it’s always a lump sum except in a specific game where it is a fixed monthly amount for 20 years in which you can’t take a lump sum. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945/20 "2016-01-25T03:04:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > There are lottery organizations that like to argue that publicizing a lottery winner’s identity helps promote the lottery and encourage other people to play, along with satisfying the public’s curiosity and letting them know that there was a real lottery winner, not some fake fraud-scheme…but overall, I think the lottery winner’s need to avoid such things as blackmail, extortion, theft, gold diggers, fraudsters, swindlers, ransom kidnappings, death threats or murder itself holds higher priority. > So with that, I think it’s time there was a national law permitting lottery winners in any and all of the 50 states, District Columbia, Puerto Rico, etc. to remain anonymous. If the lottery organizers don’t like that - well, too bad. A person has the right not to be threatened, mobbed by gold diggers or constantly targeted by swindlers. > What do you think? I agree with your position. No need to put some ordinary person in the crosshairs for burglary, robbery, mooching deadbeat relatives/friends, etc. just because they beat some VERY long odds. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laws-permitting-lottery-winners-to-remain-anonymous/743945.md?page=2)