£84.4M Euro Millions lottery jackpot claimed anonymouslyPrevious TopicNext Topic

They allow anonymity here as well but tax is 15%   :((((((

It's probably not exactly like that, but there's no doubt in my mind that, in Florida at least, they know exactly where they're sending those to. It's no secret that in Miami, you're better off NOT buying a scratch-off.

I would have claimed it right away, because the European Economy is in very big trouble!!!!!!!!!!!!

Find a good Tax Haven!

How does a store know they sold a winner when the winner doesn't come forward and tell people about it?  Because the lottery said the store sold a winner? If the lottery said the store sold the winner, why would you need to ask the store? Because you don't believe the lottery? Do you see a problem with your idea?

The problem with having security is that you have to trust them with too much information. Part of the validation process is in verifying that the winning ticket was bought at the store that had the winning ticket, so the lottery has to have that information available. The trick is in tracking the winning tickets and being able to access that information, but not having that information acessed improperly.

The actual details will vary, but it would go something like this.  Rolls with high value tickets are printed and given an identifying number that is recorded.  Standard rolls of tickets with the typical random mix of low value winners are printed separately, then packaged with an ID number. The special roll(s)  is then packaged with its own identifying number, which is recorded. That package is then placed with the other packages and all packages get a new ID number in an automated process. There is now a computer record identifying the package containing the high value ticket(s), but no individual knows that informatioin without accessing the database. This process can theoretically be repeated an unlimited number of times as lots of packages are combined and mixed, before being sent out for delivery.

When the individual packages are sent out for delivery they would be selected at random,  and the package ID and retailer would be logged  in a separate database. At this point you would need to know information from two separate databases in order to know where the winning ticket was sent. Info from the first database tells which package has then winner, and info from the 2nd database tells where that package was sent.

Assuming security works the way it should, nobody accesses the database in an improper manner.

When a ticket is presented as a winner the security team would work backwards to validate the ticket. The ticket will tell what roll it came from and they'd check the 2nd database to see if that roll's package was sent to that retailer. That query would be for the retailer, asking if the particular roll was sent there, and the result would simply be a yes or no. Assuming it was, a separate team would then access the first database to see if that package was supposed to contain a winning ticket. Queries to the database would all be by package ID and the result returned would be the ID of the roll in the package. The database should not normally support a query by roll ID.

Done properly, it would require several people to access the information necessary to know ahead of time where a winning ticket was sent.  That would require either a conspiracy between those people or tricking people into revealing information.  Of course the latter is the weakness, since they have to access the information at some point. I don't recall the details of the Indiana incident, but the security person (the director of security, if IIRC) got others to access the information by claiming he was investigating possible fraud. In the end he wasn't able to cover his tracks, and that's part of the backup to the basic security protocols. If all access to the database is logged it should be possible for an independent 3rd party to see who accessd  what information and when they accessed it. Accessing certain information before a ticket is presented as a winner would indicate the possibility of fraud and should be a violation of policy that is punishable by termination, even if it doesn't lead to prosecution.

Being anonymous and having the money tax-free is fine,

but what I want to know is

IS THIS AN ANNUITY OR LUMP-SUM PRIZE?

  Love when smart people win. Congratulations and happy retirement!

Its a lump sum tax free prize, the UK lottery doesn't pay in annuity.

Only 15%? Tax is more than twice that, here.

  Hehe that's in Greece.  For Greeks to pay 15% tax is as for Americans to pay 105%

Now that's a novel idea for us to consider over here.