Millions in lottery winnings go unclaimed each year

(Ronnie's not the only one who can rattle off multiple posts in a row with nothing but useless emoticons.)

First of all you have to deal with specifics and stay focused with the condition and situation that you have. In this case, CA, a non-anonymous state published an image of a purported lottery winner and the presumed fault with the CA lottery for such an action.

The winner's handbook is not the entire lottery rules. It is however based on aspects of the Lottery rules. The winners handbook is a public relations maneuver by the lottery to keep players hopes high, though it is based on the lottery rules. It does not contain many rules of the lottery. It does not tell the reader what the reserved rights of the commissioner or lottery boss, which could include allowance for the publication of the image of the lottery ticket purchaser. The handbook does not  include the strict security ticket validation methods and more..

Since CA is not an anonymous state, the decision to remain anonymous is automatically waived for players and the lottery, except to the extents that the law requires.

The jackpot being 45 days old is not a standard that would have barred the CA lottery from launching the search for the winner within the time that they did. The search could have gone on for the rest of the year without producing any results, and then maybe your nemesis will be complaining that the CA lottery did not start the search in time.

Right now there's a Florida Fantasy-5 ticket that will expire in a few days.  It's worth $193,282.52.    I know I didn't buy it, because it was purchased in Lantana and I've never been there.  Anyway, if I happened to be in Palm Beach County for some reason on July 30 and I forgot about it, or I am currently experiencing an extended senior moment,  it would be okay with me if my picture was splattered all over the news with the caption "This lady bought the winning ticket at Winn-Dixie."

The baby alligators thye buy at the toursit places eat those tickets on the way back up north.

Talk on the street has it that those baby alligators are in fact agents working for the Florida lottery. 

Then when the people get back up north they panic about having an alligator and flush them down the toilet.

They grow and grow sand terrorize the subway workers.

Justx,

...or I am currently experiencing an extended senior moment,  it would be okay with me if my picture was splattered all over the news with the caption "This lady bought the winning ticket at Winn-Dixie."

Rod Serling couldn't outdo that!

Thank you for sharing your opinion mediabrat.

WOW, gotta call my buddy Tom in Lantana !

Here's that dose of reality you need. Freedom of speech means that your right to say or publish something is generally not restricted simply because the person you're speaking about wishes you wouldn't do it.  For the most part, when you're in a public place anybody can take your picture and make any non-commercial use of it that they want to, so long as they don't slander or libel you. Slandering you requires making a claim that something is true when it's not. A billboard with your picture saying you are a prostitute is definitely slander, as long as you aren't a prostitute. A billboard that says there are rumors that you're a prostitute probably isn't libelous, as long as there really are rumors, and rumors are veryasy to come by. Check out this article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254392/Potential-Prostitutes-site-posts-photos-phone-numbers-women-users-claim-hookers-charges-offenders-removal.html

If the lottery has rules allowing "anonymity" they can't violate their own rules, but you'd need to know what the actual rule is. Rather than saying winners can remain anonymous the rules probably just say that the lottery won't publicize a winner's name, address and picture if the winner asks them not to. In at least one state that doesn't exempt the information from public disclosure laws, so the information is still available if somebody asks for it. Of course if you haven't presented your ticket you haven't asked to remain anonymous, so the lottery may not be barred from releasing a picture of a person  they believe bought the winning ticket. The store definitely has the right to release any surveillance video, and as long as they don't use it for advertising or other commercial use they can definitely publicize your picture. That could include putting it on a billboard with the store's name and location, and the fact that they sold a jackpot winning ticket if it purports to seek the person's identity rather than simply promote the store.

Very well said and I agree with all that you wrote.

Your last paragraph points out another very important point which is:

When a customer enters a store to conduct business, the customer in effect enters into an agreement that consents his or her rights to the rules of the store, which includes, but are not not limited to the capture of the customer's activities, by the clearly visible security camera in the store.

I believe that the clear visibility of the camera meets any requirements for notification to the customer that he or she is on camera and if there are not in agreement with the camera recording them, he or she is free to leave the store immediately. This situation is very similar to the sort of messages that one gets when one calls a telephone number and the other end warns the caller that the call may be recorded for whatever purposes, training etc, and if this does not agree with the caller, there are to hang up immediately.

The purpose of the security camera is definitely for the store to capture information that it could use, if need be, to prosecute matters of concern regarding an activity that took place in its store, and consent is granted to the store by the customer's use of the store.

Got thinking about this article today. Someone at work dropped a PB ticket for Saturdays draw. Most peeps don't realize what their holding and get careless. See it all the time. Pretty sure i know who bought it. Took a pic and put it away.