ALBANY, N.Y. — A 500 million dollar jackpot can get you a lot of things, but anonymity isn't one of them.
Gov. Cuomo on Saturday announced he vetoed a bill that would have allowed lottery winners in New York to remain anonymous if they so desired.
Under state law, jackpot winners in most cases must agree to be identified publicly.
A bill passed earlier this year by the state Legislature would have prohibited the state Lottery from identifying any holder of a winning lottery ticket if that person provided a written request.
In vetoing the bill, Cuomo said that identifying winners serves a public purpose, including ensuring the public the games are on the up-and-up.
"The presentation and sharing of certain information provides comfort to the general public that there was an actual winner, and the state was not simply adding all the money to its own coffers," Cuomo wrote in his veto message.
The governor added that those wanting to remain anonymous under current law have the option of forming a limited liability company to collected the winnings for them.
Doing so "maintains accountability to the public while also allowing the individual to remain anonymous," Cuomo wrote.
In pushing the bill, state Sen. Kathy Marchione (R-Saratoga County) and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther (D-Sullivan County) had said the idea of giving the option of privacy is to protect lottery winners from being targets of scams and criminal activity.
Cuomo also vetoed about a dozen public pension sweetener bills Saturday that he said would be too costly to the state and local governments.
He has a good point I suppose about getting an LLC and claiming it that way.
Will his veto hurt NY lottery sales...NO!
If and I mean IF, forming an LLC in the state of NY does protect folks by anonymity,then it does seem acceptable. However, if a FOI request can almost produce the same results as a presentation of information to "provide comfort" that there was an actual winner ? ..Then I am not so convinced... After all,it is Cuomo and his reputation is.... Well....let's just call it "unique and self-serving".
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Lol. No kidding. Has anyone heard of someone in NYC claiming via a llc? Anyone familiar with what the NY lottery rules say? I just took a very quick look and do not see any reference to anonymity or defining a claimant so the door may be open there like in DC.
The NY Foia law does not mention lottery winners but does reference some exceptions like unwarranted invasions of privacy, obtaining info for commercial purposes, etc. But you would have to take some action there. Your LLC would likely have corporate documents filed with the names of the key parties so that would automatically be public info. Maybe a trust is an option.
When will the people of New York wake up and remove that obstacle.
GFY Cuomo
I see our "Mr Rogers" of the Texas lottery is up and at it this morning.
My money is not on the GFY standing for "good for you"
Hey, get your mind out of the gutter!
NY is hardest to beat among all lotteries...Its rigged when it's needed so why worry about anonymity? First have to beat NYL when it's playing fair
Jackboot Thug!
So much for moving forward instead of backward!
Right, it definitely won't hurt ticket sales.
Players need to understand that The NY Lottery knows something. The NY Lottery knows that they are the largest lottery in North America. Due to that, they (and Andrew Cuomo) can pretty much do as they please. There's more than enough people living in the state who buy lottery tickets.
And how many players were even aware that a bill had been passed by the state legislature and sent to Cuomo for his signature? Hardly any is my guess. (I know I sure wasn't) And I'm sure that the news that Cuomo vetoed the bill will not be heavily covered by the press. G5
Winners should be able to remain anonymous for winnings over a specific amount.