A new law passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by the Governor prohibits the Virginia Lottery from disclosing information about big jackpot winners.
The bill was unanimously passed by the House, and it passed the Senate in a vote of 34 to 5. A similar bill was introduced by Senator Lionell Spruill, Sr. who represents part of Chesapeake.
Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law on February 27.
When the bill goes into effect this summer, the Virginia Lottery will not be allowed to release certain information about winners whose prize exceeds $10 million, unless the winner wants to be known.
Under the current Freedom of Information Act, it is mandatory to disclose the winner's name, hometown, and the amount won.
The full bill text can be found below.
The legislation will go into effect on July 1, 2019.
Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming all allow lottery winners to remain anonymous. Arizona and Georgia allow lottery winners to remain anonymous after winning a certain prize amount, like Virginia's new law.
Most states have laws allowing the lottery that sold the ticket to make such information public.
DOCUMENT: Read the full bill text
Thanks to Artist77 for the tip.
Thank you Todd. Best lottery news ever since I never thought it would happen. I bet VA brings in a lot more money since a lot of VA residents buy at work in DC.
I read nothing in the law addressing retroactive winners so I assume this means if I win now, I can claim anonymously in 3 months. And I guess I will be using your lottery places app much less now in DC.
Now on to the other states!!!
YES
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
This makes ten States who are looking out for their players.
All the winners still have the option to go public.
This reminds me of the change from mandatory Annuity to Cash Lump Sum. All have chosen the Cash with the exception of one player in San Francisco, CA. Change happens!
I heard Wyoming is also an anonymous state it just is never reported in stories or articles like this one with the other states because Wyoming is a low population state and has never had a jackpot winner. Can someone verify this for me??
misic,
Just my $.02 here, but anyone in an anonymous state who goes public should immediately sent to a psychiatrist before doing so!
______________________________________________________________
As for Virginia;
/////////////////
And here's to brave Virginia
the Old Dominions state
to which the other anonymous states
has boldly joined her hand!
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For the anonymous states Hurrah!
/////////////////////////////////////////
(Parody on the Bonnie Blue Flag from The Horse Soldiers with John Wayne)
Yes, Wyoming is an anonymous state. Artist77 included that in her thread dedicated to the topic: https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/326232
I've updated the story to include Wyoming.
Thank goodness. I feel all lotteries & contests alike should give the option to have anonymous winners.
at your " just my $.02 " and I fully agree with you
👽: engage the cloaking device
On one hand I do really like having some form of anonymity but 10 million is such a high number. So this would only apply to Mega Millions and Powerball. Still something is better than nothing :)
It does make sense on some level since there tends to be a lot of publicity for these 2 games.
Great poem Coin Toss. We did have a former obnoxious booted member who bragged about wanting the publicity and shouting it from his balcony. Any guesses????
I'm sure a fair amount of thought/energy was put into the numerous discussions
but as you said : " something is better then nothing "
or for that matter a price tag being attached for the option
Almost unheard of: Politicians actually caring enough about their constituents to pass common sense legislation that can protect big time winners.
Congratulations Virginia!