Ohio Mega Millions lottery winner claims prize anonymously

Jun 1, 2009, 8:15 am (18 comments)

Mega Millions

The owner of a winning Mega Millions ticket claimed their prize Friday.

But the identity of the winner won't be made public after two attorneys claimed the prize on behalf of a blind trust — which Ohio law allows.

Chillicothe attorney Deborah Barrington and Columbus attorney Ronald Rowland, cotrustees of The Ross County Beneficiary Trust, claimed the $75.6 million prize for the winner at the Ohio Lottery's offices in Cleveland.

The winner had 180 days in which to claim the prize, but waited less than a month from the May 1 drawing.

The holder of the Chillicothe ticket chose the cash option, valued at $46.9 million before federal and state taxes. After taxes, the winner will receive about $32.4 million.

The ticket was sold at Shawnee Lanes in Chillicothe, which earned a $75,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

Owner Walter Highland said he still doesn't know who bought the ticket.

"At least we know someone got the money; I'm glad they came forward," Highland said. "They're smart to do that (remain anonymous); it's their privilege, and I'd probably do the same thing."

The $75.6 million prize was the Ohio share of the $227 million Mega Millions Jackpot drawing on May 1. Other winning tickets sold in Virginia and California already have been claimed.

According to the Ohio Lottery, the Chillicothe winner was Ohio's fourth Mega Millions winner since May 2008.

Chillicothe Gazette, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

MaddMike51

Very smart to remain anonymous.I would do the same if allowed to.

JackpotWanna's avatarJackpotWanna

WTG!   Smart winner!  Make your dreams come true.

Sadly not all states give that option.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by MaddMike51 on Jun 1, 2009

Very smart to remain anonymous.I would do the same if allowed to.

Agree with stupidHiding Behind Computer

spy153's avatarspy153

Other than remaining anonymous, what are some other benefits of forming a blind trust?

SpanaUnlimited

I think a blind trust also helps/protects the individual from lawsuits.  Usually when someone becomes rich....there are a few folks out there that will try to extort money.    They might fight you, stage an accident, or cause some sort of liability.   By puting the money in a trust....it kinda insulates the money and leaves it untouchable by predators.

I am sure there other benefits but that is one that comes to mind.

HiFi's avatarHiFi

ohio again...hmmm they sure win a lot.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Massachusetts lottery would never allow the blind trust thing. They consider it their braggin rights and have a law to that. They would never miss on a chance to splash the winners pictures on their website.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Jun 1, 2009

Massachusetts lottery would never allow the blind trust thing. They consider it their braggin rights and have a law to that. They would never miss on a chance to splash the winners pictures on their website.

I was thinking the same thing. Not all states allow you to claim your ticket with a blind trust. Some states, want to show everyone that the games are legit and that people do win.

NearNewBrit

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Jun 1, 2009

I was thinking the same thing. Not all states allow you to claim your ticket with a blind trust. Some states, want to show everyone that the games are legit and that people do win.

And I was thinking it was time to ask Todd to include a new aspect to the site that addresses just this subject, just as I encouraged him to tell us when the super jackpot games reached each state: http://www.usamega.com/powerball-wheretoplay.htm .

Incidentally, my opinion is that winners should be allowed to be anonymous.

dk1421's avatardk1421

From what I've heard about Blind Trusts, they're not all that great, but, to me, seemed best if it was your only option to remain anonymous.

But I could have misunderstood.

DelmarvaChick's avatarDelmarvaChick

Quote: Originally posted by dk1421 on Jun 4, 2009

From what I've heard about Blind Trusts, they're not all that great, but, to me, seemed best if it was your only option to remain anonymous.

But I could have misunderstood.

What makes them not o great?

spy153's avatarspy153

I googled the blind trust thing.   

Not for me.  With a blind trust, you have no say so over the business end of the money so you don't have any way of getting any personal gain from it.   Excuse me, isn't that the point?  

I want to have total control over my money.  So I guess when I win, it's all out in the open!   I'll be free to rub some people's faces in it.  You know the ones I'm talking about.

The ones who say things like, "You can't beat the lottery."  I'm not trying to "beat it," I'm trying to get rich! This one came from my dad.   

Things like, "You will NEVER win!"  Why not?  I have just as good a chance, if not better than, you because I actually study the game.   The woman who had the nerve to tell me this was a clerk working the lottery terminals at a family owned 7-11 store and thought Powerball was only played in KY.  LOL!!!!!!  And was my mother in law!

Things like, "You just keep dreamin' hon,"  rolling their eyes at me.  That would be my husband.

Yes, it will be very nice.

SpanaUnlimited

When it comes to blind trust the pain in the rear part is all of the legal/paperwork.   It is a legal way of staying anonymous since the trust is claiming the ticket not the individual.    Thus only the name of the trust is revealed and not the name of the actual player that played the ticket.

I think a blind trust requires a seperate TIN(Tax-ID #).   As long as you name yourself as trustee....I think you can distribute funds from the trust as you wish.

Most people also like trusts since they are protected from estate taxes at death.  Since trusts are like companies/LLCs that are perpetual.  I could be mistaken though

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

wow 2 lawyers even, man this winner is taking no chances.

as the the blind trust, you are still the beneficiary, or you and family members the sole point of the trust is to deliver benefit to the beneficaries.

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