$202 million is more money that most of us can even fathom. But one lucky lottery winner from New Jersey may be able to relish all that money in secret — thanks to a new law that went into effect just last month.
Last Tuesday's drawing of the Mega Millions jackpot was won by a single ticket sold at a Quick Stop Food Store in Edison, according to the New Jersey Lottery.
The ticket matched all six numbers of 4, 6, 32, 52, and 64, with Mega Ball number 6.
The $202 million jackpot has a cash value of $142.2 million.
We may never find out the identity of the new millionaire, however.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in January that allows lottery winners to stay anonymous.
Former Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the legislation during his tenure in 2013, arguing that it would "undermine the transparency that provides taxpayers confidence in the integrity of the lottery and its games," according to nj.com.
But supporters of the law, which was passed unanimously this year, said lottery winners should be able to make their own choice on whether they want the publicity or not.
New Jersey joined a handful of other states including Arizona, Delaware, Georgia and Kansas that allow lottery winners to hide their identities if their winnings exceed a certain amount, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A choice for the spotlight
The glare reserved for lottery winners can be intense.
"If that person wants that spotlight they can elect to have it, but if a person wants their privacy they should be entitled to it," Assemblyman John Burzichelli said.
Burzichelli said the law would prevent lottery winners from being "hounded and harassed as a result of their newfound wealth and fame."
"In some cases, lottery prizes have resulted in winners being robbed and even killed," Burzichelli said.
The law exempts names and addresses from the state's open records laws, but state agencies are still able to share the information internally to collect child support, public assistance overpayments, and debts, Lottery Post reported.
Remaining anonymous can be the line between life or death
The overnight wealth may bring luxury cars, vacations or a house to lottery winners, but it can also garner a lot of unwanted attention, harassment and even violence.
In 2016, a 20-year-old man who won a $434,272 lottery jackpot was killed during a home invasion robbery in Georgia, according to Lottery Post.
And in 2010, Abraham Shakespeare, who won $31 million, was found buried under concrete. His friend, Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore was convicted of his murder.
This fear even led a woman in 2018 to sue the New Hampshire Lottery to collect her $560 million jackpot in anonymity.
In her lawsuit, she said that disclosing her identity would "constitute a significant invasion of her privacy," and the judge ruled in her favor.
After Tuesday's drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot was reset to $40 million starting point.
LP from NJ and we'll never know if one of them won...and that's a good thing.
Glad Governor Murphy gave the folks what they wanted as far as anonymity goes...right on time for me in a few weeks going to AC where I play the slots and lotto...LOL!
Good that NJ has gone anonymous. Joins the state I live in, SC. If I win, you'll never know. lol
Christie is the biggest idiot. Taxpayers don't pay for the lottery. Lottery players do. Has nothing to do with taxpayers.
It's smart they did that there because it's way too easy to win in New Jersey.
Congratulations to the winner. I'm happy the law was passed to keep large winners safe.
Math time... $202 minus taxes. Fed, State, City taxes when collecting over 30 years.
Cash Value is $142.2 million but the Feds get 37%. $142.2 X .63 = $89,586,000.00
$89.6 million is a nice amount but it is not $202 million.
We shall see if granting anonymity will hurt sales and jackpots. When another billion-dollar jackpot is presented, anonymous States may see an increase is sales.
The world may never know who won a $202 million lottery jackpot, unless...
Being anonymous is good. Congrats!
It undermines the whole concept of playing the lottery if no one knows who wins what's the point
Right, oh wise one.
Remaining anonymous should be an option on all Mega Millions, & Powerball drawings.
Point is, IMHO, it is the customer's right to remain private if they so desire. For me just showing the store is good enough for me. Remember a couple of years ago one state got the video of someone buying the winning ticket and plastered it all over the media. That was not only wrong, but just plain dangerous.
The whole concept is to make money for the state, not turn people into click bait fodder. If you don't want to play because you don't trust that real people are actually winning, I respect that. But most seem to trust it and will keep playing.
As It Should Be
Congrats!
The incident you posted happened in 2012 in this neck of the woods BD. Heard that people found out who the winner was, where he lived and the post office was dropping off bags of mail on the guy's doorstep. You can guess what those letters were all about.
My home is in foreclosure- need $150K, Need to pay off my student loan, going under the knife to remove a tumor... It drove the guy from the city. Transparency, My ...
A very bad law. In this day and age, knowing what we do about rigged elections, corporate greed, sports cheating (Astros) and past Lottery cheats we should be demanding more transparency, not less.
I am not buying the argument that the government and/or media care about our privacy and/or safety. There is an ulterior motive here.
Sure the Winner is going to be in the spotlight for 15 minutes. If you don't want that, don't play the Lottery. The Public and your fellow Lottery players have a right to know who is the winner of the "contest" we paid money into.
The October 2018 South Carolina $1.5 Billion Dollar Winner is a great example. With a 6 month time limit to claim the prize, an "anonymous" Winner magically appears after 5 and half months, claims the prize and then disappears into obscurity. None of you have any questions or concerns about this? $1.5 Billion Dollars is a lot of money right?
I just think of what my high school Business teacher said way back in '74...your rights end where my nose begins. I don't live in an anonymous state and a couple, if that many, folks went through a trust to get their money. The newspaper went through FOIA and posted the name(s) anyway.
Sorry, not buying your argument. If I don't want my name/photograph plastered, that is my right.
Lionking97.
So what's your explanation for jackpot winners who couldn't claim anonymously and got killed?
I think it's great for being anonymous . I think that the lottery should at least do an interview with the winner make up some big story about their life and what they're going to do with the money. maybe how the winter feels now . it doesn't have to be specific or even a little fabrication is fine. something to keep the masses that they can chew on Some kind of success story
Lionking : Your " right to know" statement is weak. Consider this: Just because we all pay taxes to drive on the road, do we need to know who was instrumental in causing an accident? When people go into witness protection - do we have the right to know who & where they presently are? I know l am comparing apples to oranges- but the " right to know " is overrated imo. Lives matter.
I think this is a valid concern. As for ulterior motives, it could make a politician look good if they are up for reelection. Just think how their opponent would spin it if they voted against winner privacy.
I think it would take a lot of people to cover up imaginary winners. State lotteries are not like the CIA with lifetime employment and cult like devotion to the job. There is a lot of turnover in a state lottery agency every election cycle and somebody would spill the beans on their way out.
I agree with nothing Phil Murphy stands for. He is and has been destructive to our great State. However, on this one he gets my kudos. Chalk this one up for the Gov an I have no illusions there will be anything else to chalk up to his benefit.
I don't care for these laws either. The Illinois lottery doesn't post any stories anymore about any major jackpot winners. Only stories about pick-3 & pick- 4 winners. These used to be fun public interest stories to read about.
There are good arguments on both sides. Too bad they can't find some middle of the road solution to this where they publish a story about the winner without using any vital details.
As far as the winner from SC showing up within the last few weeks. Wouldn't you attribute it to being smart by meetings with multiple professionals (lawyers,accountants,investment teams) on different dates ?
I absolutely have zero questions due to SC rules on lottery claims. An independent audit(by Ernst &Young or another of the big 3) would 100% verify that the policies, finances and procedures are followed. Government audits are done every year. I truly hope that you aren't the type of person that needs to physically watch that the new camshaft was installed on state owned DOT truck and verify the density of that camshaft or where it was made because you have trust issues with a lottery payout.
Do I trust that my state sends their money into the appropriate central account collected from the PB/MM/LA sales ??...Yes........ Do I need to physically see that money go to another state/location to verify that it got there?...OH H*LL NO............ Just as I don't need to know who won $500 on a scratch off ticket.
Come awwwwn....There comes a time in life when you have to accept that a state is doing the right thing by protecting it's people and THEIR RIGHT to privacy as opposed to I THINK I NEED TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU LIVE.
"The whole concept is to make money for the state, not turn people into click bait fodder."
You think the two have no connection? What you call "click bait fodder" is what the lottery calls marketing. Maybe there really are people who won't take a chance on winning millions of dollars because they can't be anonymous, but I'm guessing that's more than offset by people who buy tickets based on stories about other people who won. We all know that sales for PB and MM are a lot slower than they used to be. We typically call it "jackpot fatigue" and say the reason sales don't take off until the jackpots get so big is because past jackpot have shown people that instead of playing for $300 million this week there's an excellent chance that if they wait they can play for $400 million next week. Of course doubling the ticket price and raising the odds has to be a factor too. I've got no idea of anyone has taken a close look at it as a factor, but as staying anonymous has become more common there are fewer stories about who won and what their plans are, so maybe that has some effect, too.
"Just think how their opponent would spin it if they voted against winner privacy. "
You mean not telling voters that their opponent chose what they thought was likely to be the fiscally responsible choice that might be inconvenient for a few taxpayers while benefiting the vast majority? We'd all be better off if voters weren't so easily fooled. Try to pay the bills? Whine, whine, whine, I don't like paying taxes. Try to reduce spending? Whine, whine, whine, they took too much money away from something I liked. I could almost feel sorry for politicians trying to make choices, except that they almost always make the choices based on special interests or self-interest.
"I think it would take a lot of people to cover up imaginary winners."
I appreciate a James Bond movie as much as the next guy, but even if they were based in an office building instead of a volcano I can't even begin to consider some mastermind having hundreds or thousands of henchmen doing their bidding, risking their lives, and keeping their mouths shut for whatever paychecks they might be getting. I can imagine that in theory a lottery could claim they sold a winning ticket and keep the cash, and I can even imagine that it might be possible without having lots of people involved. What I can't really imagine is that it would work in real life or that they'd be stupid enough to try.
Somebody has to create a fake entry in the database or somebody has to see that there isn't a winning ticket in the database and go along. Somebody has to forge a winning ticket or somebody has to authenticate a ticket that doesn't exist and go along with the fraud. Somebody has to examine the claim form or sign off on a claim form that doesn't exist, and keep the secret. Somebody has to authorize a wire transfer to somewhere and wherever it goes everyone who knows has to never let something slip. Somebody has to do the accounting about how much revenue came in and where it went.
And where does the fake prize go? To the lottery employees that are in on it? Ever try to hide a few million bucks you're not supposed to have? Especially when it has to come as a check or wire transfer? Or is the money going to be put into the state treasury, where still other people have a chance to know they're getting more money than they should have?
It's theoretically possible, but I figure it's only slightly more plausible than a James Bond plot.
l Have to admit Floyd..
"Somebody has to create a fake entry in the database or somebody has to see that there isn't a winning ticket in the database and go along. Somebody has to forge a winning ticket or somebody has to authenticate a ticket that doesn't exist and go along with the fraud. Somebody has to examine the claim form or sign off on a claim form that doesn't exist, and keep the secret. Somebody has to authorize a wire transfer to somewhere and wherever it goes everyone who knows has to never let something slip. Somebody has to do the accounting about how much revenue came in and where it went.
And where does the fake prize go? To the lottery employees that are in on it? Ever try to hide a few million bucks you're not supposed to have? Especially when it has to come as a check or wire transfer? Or is the money going to be put into the state treasury, where still other people have a chance to know they're getting more money than they should have?
That statement was.....
I have my moments.
As they should ! Chrispy cream crissy really put our safety at risk here in dirty jerzy 😫 now if Todd wins, only I will be a witness to him stepping out his Ferrari with a fur and sunglasses on 😬