Judge rules Washington lottery winners can't be anonymous

Comment #28

ThatScaryChick — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:57:35 GMT

Yeah I remember that.

Comment #27

diamondpalace — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:59:15 GMT

Prepare to wear bullet vest. :P

Comment #26

Coin Toss — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:46:34 GMT

In one of the threads about remaining anonymous, Justxploring brought up a theorhetical situation where a jackpot winner goes to court for thir right to ramin anonymous, wins the case, and thus becomes famous for winning their court case to remain anonymous

Comment #25

chasingadream — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:20:04 GMT

omg ....this is horrible.

Comment #24

savagegoose — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:23:16 GMT

wow uff da! thats some depressing laws. You have my sympathy. I have always thought the reason a world wide lotto wont ever happens is because the local states want to protect their own racket. this looks to me exactly like that. they dont want your money going out of state for gambling, and they dont want to miss out on their cut.

of course you are right, its prob just a matter of letting the law take its course. it will be interesting for people living in this state t keep an eye on the ne... [ More ]

Comment #23

Uff Da! — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:58:22 GMT

But I contend that we do not yet know if the anonymous claim through a corporation a few weeks ago will actually be successful. That claim was less than a month ago. The trust claim in this news item was ten months ago. Until the judge ruled on this case, we had no way of knowing whether a trust or a corporation would have a better chance. Both are legal entities. Give the lottery office some time. I'll bet the names behind the corporation will come out, too.

Comment #22

Uff Da! — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:44:50 GMT

Playing in another state is not a very practical solution for most people who live in Washington, where the case in question occurred. Distances here are great for many people to travel to another state. I'd have to travel almost 200 miles, for example, and the chance to remain anonymous in that state is questionable, as well. And as for using another means of getting the tickets, here is a quote from a summary of some of the state's gambling laws:

Washington State Internet Gambling... [ More ]

Comment #21

crystaltips — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:40:53 GMT

I live in London, so we don't have individual State Lotteries in England we just play a 'National Lottery, however in the U.S.A , you guys have the choice to play another states lottery if you so wish so that's what I would do, play elsewhere where you can have complete anominity.

What is this family were kidnapped or harrassed or stalked because they had their choice of being anoymous taken away from them? The judge should be able to be sued as well as the state as a consequence of anyt... [ More ]

Comment #20

donya7 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:22:44 GMT

what's wrong with wanting to be anonymous...! I would.

Comment #19

savagegoose — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:13:37 GMT

thanks ky floyd,

thats the crux of why i posted, what was the difference between the successful annononymous claim a few weeks earlier , and thiis claim.

I think the trick is to follow the correct proccedure.

Comment #18

KY Floyd — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:44:04 GMT

It was smarter (or maybe just luckier) to use a corporation because the lottery doesn't seem to have an interest in releasing the names of the actual people who are receiving the money, at least so far. As you say, it's possible that th elottery will now want to release the names os the people behind the corporation. Since the corporation and the trust are both legal entities, I'm not sure why there is a disparity in how they are treated. If the rules require that the name of a natural person mu... [ More ]

Comment #17

Todd — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:09:57 GMT

People have every right to try to protect themselves from thieves, credit hounds, and unscrupulous service providers.

Comment #16

Todd — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:07:59 GMT

I did not compare a trust to a corporation. I am not an attorney and would never say which is better for any particular person. I compared claiming the prize as Joe Citizen vs. claiming as a corp.

Also, I don't see anything here that impacts the corporation that claimed the previous jackpot. You are comparing apples and oranges.

Comment #15

ThatScaryChick — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:05:39 GMT

People can want a change without having to stop playing the lottery. There is nothing wrong with trying to change the system. Also, coming into millions of dollars and earning it slowly is totally different. For some reason, some people think that it is ok to harass or beg lottery winners for their money because it wasn't really earned. So no, I don't see it as being the same.

Comment #14

Todd — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:04:55 GMT

Um, you could always check the Related Stories box inside the news story.

Comment #13

mpat69 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:29:33 GMT

ONLY in Washington State right now would this happen... Mainly due to the current Governor that is in office. SHe has allowed so many wrong doings to go on, just wondering if perhaps she is getting some type of kick back off this as well as all the others that you hear about. If the REAL Governor was in office (DINO) this never would have been allowed to happen. This si the only state I am aware of that you cannot remain anonymous when you win a lottery. If I ever do win, I do not want people to... [ More ]

Comment #12

Uff Da! — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:27:59 GMT

But how is it any smarter to form a corporation than to form a trust? The winners of the $6.6 million formed a trust. Here is the way it was listed on the winners page on the Washington State lottery website:

$6.6 MILLION LIVING TRUST BNA REVOCABLE, November 13, 2007, Yakima Region.

APPLE BIN SHELL, 3707 W NOB HILL BLVD, YAKIMA.

I personally think it is now questionable whether the winners of the more recent jackpot who formed the corporation will be able to retain their anonymity.

Comment #11

time*treat — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:17:02 GMT

That's what I thought of, too. I couldn't find it through the forum search though. Used a search engine.

Incorporating and such, bah. - Seems to me a way of keeping the lawyers in business. People shouldn't have to jump through those kinds of legal hoops to maintain their privacy. After the Lindberg Baby case, no 'official' should ever be allowed to say No one could have seen it coming.

Comment #10

fja — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:38:29 GMT

I believe they won 6.6 million (first line top of page

Comment #9

Todd — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:22:15 GMT

I guess the winners in that article were smarter in their approach. Instead of fighting to claim the prize normally and stay anonymous, the people in the article you linked to formed a corporation and had the corporation claim the prize. Those people did not waste tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees trying to fight the system. They worked within the system to achieve their goal.

Comment #8

savagegoose — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:52:34 GMT

what gets me is in the same forum there is tbhis thread

https://www.lotterypost.com/news/181247

is that an earlier news item of same story? because it has me confused one is anonymous and now this article says not allowed to be anonymous in washington

Comment #7

Piaceri — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:33:45 GMT

What really stinks is the challenge to privacy laws. In Michigan we can remain anonymous for state lottery winnings, but not Megamillions. It would be a shame if someone challenged the Michigan rules (or other states) using this Washington case as precedent.

Comment #6

Uff Da! — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:57:25 GMT

This couple did the same thing I'd have done had I won - try to pull off anonymity and hope it works. In my former communications with the lottery office, though they mentioned the open records law, they also held out that slim chance that one might be able to get a court order to prevent the release of names in some circumstances. So I'd say it was worth a shot, even if it didn't work.

Since the winners ran the money through a trust, I'd think that they would have hired an attorney to draft... [ More ]

Comment #5

NightTrain1234 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:01:26 GMT

These jackpot winners act like they are the only rich people in America. Thousands (or more) people in the U.S. are multi-millionaires and while they may face certain unique problems from people wanting a piece of their fortune, they manage to do just fine in their lives.

Heck, I would think these people would send their kids to private schools now anyway. Plus they can hire all the extra security they want.

Don't play the lottery if you don't want a little temporary publicity

Comment #4

ThatScaryChick — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:25:46 GMT

I wish all states would give the option to allow winners to claim their prizes anonymously. There are many people who don't care one way or the other, but for those who do the option would be nice. Me, it doesn't stop me from playing, but it would be nice to be able to claim a prize anonymously if I ever won.

Comment #3

KY Floyd — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:13:41 GMT

That they hired an attorney demonstrates that they clearly knew ahead of time that the law didn't allow them to remain anonymous, so they were simply subjected to the rules they already knew were in place. They had plenty of options to remain anonymous anyway. They could have donated the ticket to charity or goiven it to a friend or relative who could have given them gifts later on. They obviously decided that they'd rather have the money even if it mean they couldn't be anonymous. They still ha... [ More ]

Comment #2

Lotto*Love — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:38:59 GMT

EEEKKK! Don't know what to say...

I think they should of been allowed to be anonymous. One with children (esp. young ones) should be allowed to protect correctly. And if they feel safer doing so, they should not be questioned.

I hope I don't get lots of flack from this. Its just my opinion.

I live about 1 hour from Yakima, and their fears are understandable. Though I don't go to Yakima very often, unless I'm headed for Seattle, there is ALWAYS ALWAYS some sort of crime going on there on... [ More ]

Comment #1

MaddMike51 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:25:27 GMT

If something happens to this family because of the lottery win (harassment,kidnapping,etc.),the judge should be held personaly responsible.I don't care what the law says,people that win a lottery should be allowed to remain anonymous if they so choose.

Judge rules Washington lottery winners can't be anonymous

Lottery Post — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:44:48 GMT

The identity of a Yakima, Washington, couple who won a $6.6 million Lotto jackpot has been revealed after a judge ruled in favor of the state lottery that winners cannot claim jackpots anonymously.

This week, nearly 10 months after a temporary injunction that sealed the identity of Michele and Michael Villegas was supposed to be lifted, the names were released.

The amount that the couple won is thought to be a local record. But in many respects, their good fortune was eclipsed by the legal... [ More ]