Jackpot winner: winning the lottery is too good to be true because of the fallout that comes after
By Kate Northrop
A $70 million Powerball lottery winner from Michigan, who won the jackpot back in 2020, has come forward to argue that lottery winners should be able to choose to remain anonymous.
The winner of a $70 million Powerball jackpot feels strongly based on her own experiences that there should be legislation passed allowing lottery winners to claim a prize without revealing their name.
In 2020, Waterford resident Cristy Davis went from living paycheck-to-paycheck to matching all five numbers plus the Powerball to win a $70 million Powerball jackpot. She opted to collect the one-time lump sum payment of about $36 million after taxes.
"I was just living check to check, staying with my grandma, saving my money, just working at a dealership, driving parts to different dealerships and to auto shops," she said in an interview with The Detroit News.
At the time she bought the winning ticket, Davis was out with her friend, who was buying Daily Three and Daily Four tickets for his aunt and uncle. It encouraged her to withdraw $20 from the ATM to put toward her own tickets for Mega Millions and Powerball, as well as a couple scratch-off games.
The morning after purchasing her tickets, a friend alerted her over FaceTime that the winning Powerball ticket was bought at the Huron Plaza Liquor store on West Huron Street in Pontiac, the same place where she had bought hers.
She pulls out her ticket to check it at her workplace, and she cannot believe what she's seeing.
"My friend Erica's next to me, and she's like, 'No,'" Davis recalled. "I yelled through the whole shop, and everybody came running. It was literally like a three-second excitement, and then it was like, this was too good to be true. It still hasn't clicked in my brain that it's real."
Michigan state law says that lottery players who win more than $10,000 in local, in-state games may claim their prizes without revealing their name, but winners of multi-state games like Mega Millions, Powerball, and Lucky for Life cannot remain anonymous.
"We tried to get a lawyer to see if I can [claim] anonymously, and they said no," Davis continued. "That was my big thing — I didn't want to go on TV. I know so many [who've] been through so much in life, and it was either that or no money."
After her name went public, Davis noticed her identity being used in unscrupulous ways without her consent.
"I've seen in [the] 'Waterford Matters' Facebook group a post: 'This is Cristy Davis, and I'm giving away blah blah blah blah blah... Send me this info to this phone number.' Comments on [the post] are like, 'They cleaned my bank account out.' Why would you give somebody your bank account information?" she related. "And then I have friends on there [replying], 'That's not really her,' saying I'm not on social media, and I changed my name."
Davis argues that this is a perfect example of why lottery winners should not be forced to reveal their names. Concealing the identities of big jackpot winners not only protects the winners themselves, but others who may fall victim to scammers using message of false hope to prey upon unsuspecting individuals, such as the elderly.
"The Lottery people need to know when they expose your name, this is the stuff that happens," she contended. "The Lottery even emailed me like, 'Oh, we heard you're out here scamming people.' I said, 'You know, that's what happens when you expose people's names.'"
"I'm not scamming anybody — I have money," she continued. "Why would I want to hack into somebody's bank account and take their money when they probably have $200 in their bank account? Just leave me alone."
For those that do not want to leave their longtime home, change their name or phone number, and alter their way of life, winning the lottery can come with consequences.
"They definitely should pass the law that allows [lottery winners] to be anonymous because [the Lottery doesn't] realize what they do to people," Davis concluded. "[Winning the lottery] is life-changing already. A lot of people do move away, but some people don't. I didn't. That's probably why I felt the way I did the whole time. It's just too good to be real because of all the stuff that comes after."
VIDEO: Watch the interview
I totally agree with Davis. Since no one's goes out of their way to find out if l bought losing tickets, why should they want to know when l bought a winning ticket..right?
probably because $100000000 is more interesting than $0.
Maybe the law changed for Michigan after she won.
Screaming through the dealership wasn't the way to start trying to be anonymous. Or being on Face time or any other social media outlet. She should have told her friend Erica no, It wasn't me and then waited for a snowy Friday afternoon to go claim it and it would be forgotten by most. This was 3 years ago. The story we want from her is what happened since with her good fortune. Doubt if she squandered it. Doesn't have to work or stay with her grandma anymore one would think. Concerned with what was written on a Waterford, Mi. Facebook page seems trite to me to concern yourself with.
This is a fake map. There are only 17 states that allow anonymity as of 2023.
AZ, DE, FL, GA, KS, MD, MN, MS, MO, MT, NJ, ND, OH, SC, TX, VA, WV.
" [the Lottery doesn't] realize what they do to people "
Oh, I'm sure they do realise.. But they "don't care"..
Publicity (identifying winners) increases sales, which increases revenue.. which probably means bigger bonuses for "someone"...
When you buy a lottery ticket, expect your life to change if you win.
Anyone who wants to understand the current anonymity laws of each state (and a few other countries) can see the complete list at https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/326232
The lotteries justification for revealing winners identities is to prove the lottery is legitimate. I think we can all agree now that the lottery is legit/people win/ and collect. There is no valid reason for them to reveal ones identity. If it's thier money, they won it fair and square, no one needs to know who they are or what they do with it
I support the "choice" option.
I lean on the side of transparency .
Most folks have state laws that deter scamming and or harassment. Utilize that if such transpires.
The persons/ establishments I am most likely to be apprehensive about are the ones "managing" the financial.
Just get the word out that everything is in the hands of a financial planner and people will lose interest in your good fortune. Of course that doesn't have to be true and I wouldn't trust these wealth advisers as far as I could throw them.
Remember in an analysis of anonymity for a state, it is not typically just a yes or no like Maryland where it is 100% anonymous and they stress that fact.
Anonymity can be limited based on a time period and/or amount won, type of game, and subject to state FOIA and similar laws.
Or if a state says no to anonymity, it MAY allow you to claim via a llc or trust. And whether your name is released as the winner will also vary.
So it is not just a simple yes or no answer.
Nope! Michigan should be in the Purple set.
You can stay anonymous on state games but not the multistate games...clearly!
The lottery knows about scammers and the increased burden on law enforcement caused by revealing names but they don't care because someone else has to deal with that.
States that let winners stay anonymous don't seem to have problems increasing sales or selling tickets.
Please back your assertion with facts about how much identifying winners increases sales. Michigan went anonymous for state games in 1988/89 and they have had increasing sales almost every year after that!
Identifying winners does not increase sales it only increases scams and crimes as identified in this story.
1 AZ Arizona, 2 DE Delaware, 3 FL Florida - check screenshot, 4 GA Georgia, 5 KS Kansas, 6 MD Maryland, 7 MN Minnesota, 8 MS Mississippi, 9 MO Missouri, 10 MT Montana, 11 NJ New Jersey, 12 ND North Dakota, 13 OH Ohio, 14 SC South Carolina, 15 TX Texas, 16 VA Virginia, 17 WV West Virginia,
18 AR Arkansas check - screenshot, 19 IL Illinois check- screenshot, 20 KY Kentucky - check screenshot, 21 MI Michigan - check screenshot (Best thing to do? is to verify the rules of the state that you live in)
Florida (from the Florida lottery web page)
Arkansas
Illinois
Kentucky
Michigan
Try reading that list. You are missing the basic point that other lp members seem to easily understand.
No!!! this site is for state and multi-state lotteries. "Partial" means
the site also clearly states!
you should go and read! the information on the page! It's pretty simple, and double-check with the rules of the state in which you reside!.
buddy ur confused! do u really think I go by a random person with a
avatar, who seems to have some kind of issue, vs going to the source myself!? No! I go to the source then go from there. Plus what you stated, has clearly changed you can tell that by the source information from that state lottery! u have a good 1! 
Also my reply was not to anything u said! so it seems you are the one who needs to learn how to read and follow a simple thread! again buddy go and try to have a good 1!
If you are going to quote a site then include the link or clearly name the site so that I can find it.
I am from Michigan and have followed the laws so I know 100% that you can NOT remain anonymous on the Multistate games in Michigan I have also followed all the Michigan legislative attempts to make the Multistate games anonymous too.
Be careful which sites you trust as you do not know who does the research for those and they are most certainly wrong in the case of Michigan.
MICHIGAN IS NOT ANONYMOUS ON MULTISTATE GAMES!!!!
Clearly the site you are relying on is wrong on this so it can be wrong on other information too.
The site you are using is unreliable
lol, no go do you own homework!
btw I found it in under 10 seconds searching google! and the site states its sources! 
again! go by the laws of the state you reside in and that state lottery website!
2 seconds google search. I posted this 45 minutes ago, and said my original post was for state and multi-draw lotteries
Should be spending time and effort trying to win instead of worrying about anonymity
it's definitely fake. none of the states are shaped like hexagons.
I noticed that, I complained to their customer service but the link took me to a fake syndicate lottery group!? I joined cause I'm desperate for a win!
Same with TN(being put in purple).....I believe we are at the 30 day mark for a Freedom Of Information request that can be filed, should you claim by trust.....Better have your ducks in a row and be disconnected from your current location. Someone is going to want to know.
Players who win prizes of $200,000 or more must claim their prize at the Nashville Headquarters & Claim Center.
From the TN Lottery Site:
Can the winner of a large Lottery prize remain anonymous?
"In accordance with the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Law, the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation releases the name, home state, and hometown of winners if an eligible request is received for such information."
Extensive source info is in the link Todd posted. You sound like a scammer.
I think I read quite well. Feel free to complain to Todd.
t
Watch out all!
I did a google image search and it only links back to his post above.
I'm not sure I'm understanding why all the harsh arguing is happening, because all the anonymity rules by state are specified right here on Lottery Post: https://www.lotterypost.com/thread/326232
When a state's anonymity laws get updated, we update the list. (As an aside, it's not really a good idea to screenshot a Google results page, because the quotes they offer on their site often leave out other important contextual information from the website they are quoting.)
It's hard to tell who is arguing what, but since Michigan is in the spotlight with this article, for the record Michigan is a partially-anonymous state, only offering protection for winners of Michigan-only games. For the lady who is the subject of this article, Michigan offers no protection to her because Michigan does not protect the identity of multi-state lottery winners who purchased their ticket in Michigan.
So the winner of a $100,000 Fantasy 5 prize in Michigan gets more privacy protection than a $70 million Powerball winner. That makes zero sense IMHO.
i live in California, where there have been a lot of big winners and all names are released to the public. Only those that choose to remain in the spotlight do so willingly. The others take their money and in a few months most can't even recall their names. The same with other states and with this lady from Michigan. Maybe her spotlight is dimming and she wants it back by going public again.
Utah appears to have moved..
It seems that way. She is all bent out of shape because someone used Face Time or some other social media outlet to out her again after 3 years. I would be doing handstands every day if I won 36 million take home. Actually that amount does not even stir the interest of anyone anymore to try to wrest it from her.
If I ever hit the big one I can assure you I won't have time for social media. Have money...will travel !
Also, a lot more states border 6 other states than the last time I paid attention to that sort of thing.
Some people have a condition called "cursor hypnosis".
Cursor hypnosis was a term coined by the sysop of a BBS system run off of a C64 computer that I used to log into back in the 80s.
I am sure you have encountered it Todd. It's either when the information is included in a post and people just buzz by and miss it and don't realize it was in a post or they miss that fact that their source is unreliable when they post unreliable information.
Yeah, I'm guilty of that myself sometimes.
And I do appreciate the C64 reference. That was the computer I learned Assembly language on.