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.
👽: 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!
Or Northam trying to distract us all! Lol
§ 58.1-4029. Disclosure of identity of winners by the Department.
Except as provided in subsection B of § 58.1-4019, the Department shall not disclose information
about the identity of an individual lottery winner if the value of the prize won by the winner exceeds
$10 million, unless the winner consents in writing to such disclosure.
§ 58.1-4019. Certain persons ineligible to purchase tickets or shares or receive prizes.
A. No ticket or share shall be purchased by, and no prize shall be paid on a ticket purchased by or transferred to, any Board member, officer or employee of the lottery, or any board member, officer or employee of any vendor to the lottery of lottery on-line or instant ticket goods or services working directly on a contract with the Department for such goods or services, or any person residing in the same household of such member, officer or employee or any person under the age of eighteen years, or transferee of any such persons.
B. Only natural persons may purchase lottery tickets and claim prize winnings. In all cases, the identity and social security number of all natural persons who receive a prize greater than $100 from a winning ticket redeemed at any Department office shall be provided in order to comply with this section and §§ 58.1-4015, 58.1-4016 and 58.1-4026, and Chapter 19 (§ 63.2-1900 et seq.) of Title 63.2.
It doesn't say if the winner exceeds $10 million as an annuity jackpot amount or the cash value amount of said winnings.
In most instances the cash value amount is approximately 60% of the annuity amount. So, theoretically, a $16.66 millions annuity jackpot would be equivalent to about $10 mil cash.
With MM & PB the starting jackpot of $40 mil has a cash value of about $24 mil, so in either case those winners could remain anonymous.
^^^ Understood what you're getting at with the lack of qualifying "cash" or "annuity", but it does say "...the value of the prize won...", and an annuity prize is indeed valued at the total payout amount (even though it takes many years to pay out), so I believe it would still qualify at the $10 million level for an annuity.
Now that is how to cite to source info! I think it could be retroactive to now. Also I went to the VA website and notice a #10 million scratcher. It has to be the advertised cash value. The annuity value seems remote too me.
My last ticket from Va is 6/26 so close!!! I'm going back to Va!!!!
After looking at the VA lottery site, it looks as though you have only 2 games that exceed the $10 Million and qualify for that anonymity option... PB, MM ....Or am I missing some ?
That's right, only PB and MM qualify from Virginia's draw games. However, you're forgetting that it also includes scratch-off games, such as this one.
Todd, while I didn't examine the that particular scratcher and only looked at the $10 Million figure. That law talks about exceeding the $10 Million mark,so I considered $10,000,001 the starting point
I guess we'll have to see how that works after there is a $10 million winner in VA after July 1st.
I will give VA credit, at least they are starting at a large dollar amount for anonymity. Now the trick is to get that figure down to a $1 Million or less.... Perhaps our "queen and the court jesters" of TN will follow suit.
GOOD FOR YOU VA !!
I sense a bit of controversy in the future. Paragraph B above states: Only natural persons may purchase lottery tickets and claim prize winnings.
In the USAMEGA FAQ section it states:
Can non-US citizens play? What if a non-US citizen wins?
Yes, non-US citizens can legally play, and non-US citizens are eligible to win any prize offered in the game.
If a non-US citizen wins, they would claim their prize in the same manner that a US citizen would, but the taxes withheld would be different. For example, federal withholding for non-US citizens is a flat 30%. Also, individual states may have different tax structures for non-US citizens than they do for US citizens. Depending on which country the person is a legal resident of, there also may be tax treaties between the US and that other country which could be helpful in offsetting whatever the US tax liabilities are.
In short, non-US citizens can play and win Mega Millions. If a non-US citizen wins a large prize, they will be responsible for some amount of tax, which in the end will probably be an amount similar to what a US citizen would pay, but there are so many possible variations with international tax codes that you'll need to consult with a local tax attorney if you need to know a precise amount of tax liability.
Natural person just means a person vs a legal entity like a trust or llc. It has nothing to do with their citizenship status .
I have yet to hear of a lottery clerk asking " Are you a citizen of the United States, if not we cannot take your money to play our games." I am convinced there would be lawyers salivating at the idea of taking on those cases in order to get their names out there.
Thanks for the clarification!
Natural Woman Carole King