Iowa Lottery on the verge of revealing names of 'Shipping 20' winners

Jul 4, 2012, 1:15 pm (26 comments)

Powerball

The mystery Iowa winners of a $241 million Powerball jackpot could have their identities unveiled as soon as Friday morning, say state officials.

The Iowa Lottery last month paid the biggest jackpot prize in state history to the 20 winners, a group of Quaker Oats workers from Cedar Rapids known as the "Shipping 20." But their names weren't released. It was the first time since the state lottery was established in 1985 that a jackpot winner hadn't been identified.

However, Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich advised the group's lawyers last month that the winners would be publicly identified on July 6 if they didn't follow through with their plans to seek a court order blocking lottery officials from releasing their names.

As of Tuesday, no petition had been filed in court to seek an injunction, and Rich said he didn't have any indication court action would occur by the deadline.

"I have the names and the document to release the names if we don't hear from them by Friday morning," Rich said.

Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office, which has been advising the Iowa Lottery on the matter, said Tuesday that his office had heard nothing new from the Cedar Rapids law firm of Day, Rettig & Peiffer, which is representing the Powerball winners.

"There is still time, but we haven't heard anything yet," Greenwood said.

Lawyers from the firm didn't respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. The Des Moines Register has made a formal request to Iowa Lottery officials seeking the release of the winners' names, citing Iowa's open-records law.

Nearly all of the winners attended an Iowa Lottery news conference on June 20 in Des Moines after they claimed their prize. However, the workers refused to fully identify themselves to reporters.

"We are private people, common people. I don't want the limelight," one man said.

The winners — 18 men and two women — chose to receive their payment as a $112 million lump sum after taxes, rather than a $241 million annuity spread over 30 years. Each received $5.6 million.

Joe Day of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer who represents the Shipping 20 Trust, said after last month's news conference that he planned to seek a court order in Linn County District Court to block the Iowa Lottery from releasing the names of the winners.

Day said the legal winner of the Powerball jackpot is the Shipping 20 Trust, and the workers are beneficiaries of the trust who cannot be identified without their consent. He contended that the trust was created the minute the group created a pool to buy lottery tickets.

The names of Iowa Lottery winners have been routinely made public since the state-run lottery was established in 1985. Lottery officials say that provides transparency and ensures the public is aware prizes are being paid to real people. Rich said there have been other lottery winners who wanted to remain anonymous, but this was the first time that someone had announced plans to seek a court order to keep his or her identity a secret.

Des Moines Register

Comments

mcginnin56

Never thought this court order to protect their identities would fly.  It would appear, barring very last minute action from the lawyers, this will

not be happening. No great surprise here.

 

As everything was coming down to the wire, I'm sure the Shipping 20 were getting nervous about collecting their dough.

ttech10's avatarttech10

Concerning the lottery in general... it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there. I bet those who demand the names of winners would want to be anonymous had they won.

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Quote: Originally posted by ttech10 on Jul 4, 2012

Concerning the lottery in general... it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there. I bet those who demand the names of winners would want to be anonymous had they won.

I Agree! 

Something smells in Des Moines.They don't want lottery players to collect their winnings anonymously because naming them provides free advertisement to the lottery.There is NO other reason for it!

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Cletu$2 on Jul 4, 2012

I Agree! 

Something smells in Des Moines.They don't want lottery players to collect their winnings anonymously because naming them provides free advertisement to the lottery.There is NO other reason for it!

time will spin a most curious yarn in a fist full of hrs ...... I wish them luck ......

but I reckon if "THEY" can't get thar chit together .....   Thars gonna be a major problems trying to logon here by late friday morning

Winning K's avatarWinning K

The lottery rules are if you win, your name will be released. These winners now want the lottery to change the rules for them. If the lottery didn't release any names, some would say it's rigged. Play by the rules are don't play at all.

Todd's avatarTodd

Nobody who follows the news here should be surprised by this, as there is recent precedent.

https://www.lotterypost.com/news/241598

If you click to that story, all the follow-on articles about it can be found in the Related Stories box to the right.

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Quote: Originally posted by Winning K on Jul 4, 2012

The lottery rules are if you win, your name will be released. These winners now want the lottery to change the rules for them. If the lottery didn't release any names, some would say it's rigged. Play by the rules are don't play at all.

MOST people in Iowa want the rules changed.And who are you to say "don't play" if you don't like the rules?Rules and laws are changed all the time.Iowa used to have a helmet law for motorcycle riders but the motorcycle riders were so vocal that the law was changed.Maybe if enough people complain loud enough the Iowa lottery will see the insanity in their rules and alow anonymity.

weshar75's avatarweshar75

I think it would have been much worse if their was just one winner for that jackpot and then their names would be plastered every were on the internet and in the news.  Maybe because it was 20 winners for $5.8 million there will be less of a headache from people wanting to bug them.-weshar75

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by ttech10 on Jul 4, 2012

Concerning the lottery in general... it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there. I bet those who demand the names of winners would want to be anonymous had they won.

"it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there."

It's a shame people can't smoke dope in the privacy of their homes too. And it's a shame people are still texting while driving when it's illegal in the majority of states.

Some states are more open on disclosing all public records and the Iowa Lottery is bound by the Iowa state open-records law to publish the names of the winners. The people of Iowa can and have changed laws they disagree with, but this isn't one of them.

Is it always a "shame" when some states uphold all their laws or just the laws that you don't agree with? 

Winners agree to lottery rules and regulations and state laws when they sign the back of the winning ticket. If you don't like their rules, don't play their games.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by weshar75 on Jul 4, 2012

I think it would have been much worse if their was just one winner for that jackpot and then their names would be plastered every were on the internet and in the news.  Maybe because it was 20 winners for $5.8 million there will be less of a headache from people wanting to bug them.-weshar75

The strange part about this story is the "shipping 20" reveled their identifies when the went to claim their winnings. By having their lawyer say they would file an injunction against reveling their names, they actually created more publicity. When their names are finally released, it will just verify the names that probably hundreds of people already know.

Had their only been one winner who wore a disguise when they had their picture taken and didn't tell the world they worked in the Quaker Oats shipping department, they could have filed an injunction just to buy some time until they could secure their privacy.

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

If they didn't want their names to be known, they should have either 1) given the ticket away to someone who doesn't care name being revealed (me), or 2) tore the ticket up.  As it stands, now I as well as millions of other Americans want to know who now has enough money to pay the ObamaTax.

maximumfun's avatarmaximumfun

Joe Day of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer who represents the Shipping 20 Trust, said the legal winner of the Powerball jackpot is the Shipping 20 Trust, and the workers are beneficiaries of the trust who cannot be identified without their consent. He contended that the trust was created the minute the group created a pool to buy lottery tickets.

This lawyer is claiming that this group formed the trust the minute the pool was created?  wow - someone was 'in the know' to realize that their particular pool would win, and thusly merit spending the funds to create the trust... or do ya think he meant that in a "spirit" of a trust kinda way? -- am I misunderstandin' somthing here?

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Quote: Originally posted by Winning K on Jul 4, 2012

The lottery rules are if you win, your name will be released. These winners now want the lottery to change the rules for them. If the lottery didn't release any names, some would say it's rigged. Play by the rules are don't play at all.

 The lotto should only mention the name on the ticket. No one cares who won, only location.

Piaceri

Quote: Originally posted by maximumfun on Jul 4, 2012

Joe Day of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer who represents the Shipping 20 Trust, said the legal winner of the Powerball jackpot is the Shipping 20 Trust, and the workers are beneficiaries of the trust who cannot be identified without their consent. He contended that the trust was created the minute the group created a pool to buy lottery tickets.

This lawyer is claiming that this group formed the trust the minute the pool was created?  wow - someone was 'in the know' to realize that their particular pool would win, and thusly merit spending the funds to create the trust... or do ya think he meant that in a "spirit" of a trust kinda way? -- am I misunderstandin' somthing here?

Maybe as in 'intent' or something. 

I doubt a trust was formed that quickly. Lawyer was most likely blowing smoke like most lawyers. Possibly a lottery pool contract based on a written agreement (email?). These people were going to have their names revealed from the git-go. More than likely, this was a delay tactic hoping the hype would die down and most of the nut jobs would go away between then and the release of names.

Anyone who works at that Quaker Oats plant knows who they are. And they've known since the day they all took off to go collect.

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