Bill granting limited lottery winner anonymity passes in Florida House

Feb 7, 2022, 12:37 pm (18 comments)

Florida Lottery

New legislation offers temporary reprieve from public eye for wins over a certain amount

By Kate Northrop

The Florida House passed a bill that would allow lottery winners of $250,000 and over to keep their identity hidden from public eye for 90 days.

On Wednesday, the Florida House voted nearly unanimously to pass a lottery bill that prevents winners of $250,000 or more from having to divulge their identity for a limited amount of time.

With a vote of 114-1, there was little to no debate on the topic. The one vote against the bill was from State Representative Anthony Sabatini.

Representative Tracie Davis sponsored the bill, HB 159, referencing infamous headlines from Florida and Georgia that have sadly mired the world of lottery winners.

"At some point in our lives, we all dream of winning the lottery," Davis said. "But unfortunately for some people, that dream of winning the lottery, sometimes those dreams become nightmares."

Seasoned lottery players might remember Florida winner Abraham Shakespeare, who met a tragic end after his supposed friend Dorice "Dee Dee" Moore manipulated and murdered him for the remainder of his $30 million fortune.

Moore befriended Shakespeare a couple years after he won the lottery in 2006, claiming she was writing a book about how people were taking advantage of him. Later, prosecutors claimed, she became his financial adviser, eventually controlling every asset he had left, including an expensive home, debt owed to him, and a $1.5 million annuity.

Once Shakespeare understood what was going on, he threatened to kill her, but Moore got to him first. She shot him and buried his body under a concrete slab in her backyard. She is currently serving life without parole.

Last Legislative Session, Senator Tina Polsky and Davis put forward twin bills advocating for lottery winner anonymity, but neither made it into law. Davis' legislation had also passed in the House, but Polsky's stalled in committee and did not make it to the Senate floor.

The $250,000 minimum prize for anonymity in Davis' current bill was recommended by Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis, while Polsky argued that the 90-day limit would be enough time to organize finances and security measures.

"The reason behind the 90 days is to give a lottery winner sufficient time to plan responsibly by notifying family, obtaining financial advice, and even getting the funds into investments," Polsky explained. "It will also provide time for the winner to put security measures in place while ultimately disclosing the information to the public."

As of now, the Florida Lottery withholds the addresses and phone numbers of lottery winners from public eye, but names are made public so as to advertise legitimate wins of "real" people.

The next step for Davis' current lottery bill is the Senate. In order to become law effective immediately, it would need to pass by a two-thirds vote.

Thanks to fortran for the tip.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Bleudog101

Ninety days to get your affairs in order?   This is just a step above doing the lottery players there anything to write home about.

Think's avatarThink

Really?  After what we have just been through (and are still going through) they want to etch 90 days in stone?

It should at least allow some circumstances to be taken into account if everything is shut for whatever reason.

A 90 day dictate whether it makes sense during unforseen situations or not.

I hope  that if this bill does not contain qualifiers depending on the situation that whoever proposed it gets voted out at the next election.

You have to ask how they could be so stupid as to not consider unforseen situations.

A big DUH!!! to them.

Mata Garbo

This is a good gesture by the lawmakers, but 3 months is not a lot of time if you suddenly win 300 million dollars. There are a lot of crooks and scam artists in Florida. I also had no idea DeeDee used the "i'm writing a book" scam on Shakespeare before ripping him off and killing him. Thanks for the info Kate.

Lurking

Raven62's avatarRaven62

House of Representatives setting a new bar for do nothing Legislation.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

FL lottery:

Congratulations, you've won $250,000 or more, that was good luck!

Now you can stay anonymous for 90 days, good luck with that too!

Lep

for LP members in FL, possible winners, let's hope the powers that be in Florida see this thread and comments.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Feb 7, 2022

FL lottery:

Congratulations, you've won $250,000 or more, that was good luck!

Now you can stay anonymous for 90 days, good luck with that too!

Lep

for LP members in FL, possible winners, let's hope the powers that be in Florida see this thread and comments.

MADDOG10's avatarMADDOG10

Why pass a Bill for limited hidden Identity?  Should have been total hidden Identity, I mean c'mon, even if the individual moves he'll still be found. To me, this Bill was a waste of time. 

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by MADDOG10 on Feb 7, 2022

Why pass a Bill for limited hidden Identity?  Should have been total hidden Identity, I mean c'mon, even if the individual moves he'll still be found. To me, this Bill was a waste of time. 

I'm sure a fair amount of thought was put into it with what little they have to work with Crazy

dannyct

Here in Australia, all winners have the right to remain anonymous, very few winners go public. It goes back to the 1960s, when a lottery winner's son was kidnapped and killed, the right to anonymity was introduced after that. The vast majority agree with the right to anonymity, as they would like to have the same right, should they be so lucky.

fellini

You got three months to get out of town.=0p

quicksloth35

This is horse manure.

 

https://www.manuremanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/16343f532680b85622c64944496d61e5.jpg

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by fellini on Feb 7, 2022

You got three months to get out of town.=0p

LOL, that's what I was thinking too. 🤣

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

Weird. 

Most winners rarely are high profiled or hiding under their beds. 

The few gems that were hyped up for their extraordinary circumstances  are becoming the broad stroke of:  gee if it happened to them...I better hide . 

Be transparently wise. If you can't handle the responsibility ... Don't play or claim.  This entire anonymous claim bill being herald is an appeasement .

kao1632

Quote: Originally posted by Mata Garbo on Feb 7, 2022

This is a good gesture by the lawmakers, but 3 months is not a lot of time if you suddenly win 300 million dollars. There are a lot of crooks and scam artists in Florida. I also had no idea DeeDee used the "i'm writing a book" scam on Shakespeare before ripping him off and killing him. Thanks for the info Kate.

Lurking

They already have something like 180 days (in Florida) after the draw to get their affairs in order before they have to have to come forward and claim the prize.... This 90 days is, I guess, only after they claim the prize..

Not much of an improvement.

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