Please Write To Your Governor

Reply #22

myturn — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:36:48 GMT

I do wonder if your state lottery informs winners of their right to anonymity? I hope they do! Many people, in exhilaration of a jackpot win, don't consider the long-term consequences of the publicity. That is why I think a cooling-off period is a good idea. If people had a period of 30 or 60 days to let the lottery win sink in, and then give them the option of going public. I suspect very few would then choose publicity.

Reply #21

Tenaj — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:18:55 GMT

I know we are talking about having the RIGHT of anonymity but if people don't even sign their tickets and let clerks check and steal them, do you think they would opt for anonymity. Would they even know about it?

But you are right for those of us who would use it.

Reply #20

Coin Toss — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:50:24 GMT

Things like the following have to be considered. A couple of years ago a woman in Illinois won the Mega Millions jackpot.

She hired professional make up artists to put here in a diguise for the press conference because she's a pharmacist and said that when people who knew her realized she'd won millions some of them would sure her over having been given bad prescriptions.

Makes a lot of sense, really. People go after cash-rich targets.

Reply #19

joshuacloak — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:02:00 GMT

as much as i hate to say this

anyone can be anonymous on big jackpot wins

nonething stoped the guy who got murdered form being anonymous but HIM SELF!

form a legal stand point, he could of claimed it as a trust, and keeping hes name out of the news

in the united states trusts can be A legal entity , and they can CLAIM It on YOUR Behalf, the public record laws can kiss my BEEP, i can bypass them with trusts and other tricks if need be

info:

legal entity is use... [ More ]

Reply #18

Raven62 — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:59:26 GMT

Maybe Training in Personal/Family Security should be added to a Lottery Winners List of Things to do before Claming their Jackpot!

Pre-Incident Training: Dramatically reducing the chances of being targeted by kidnappers/murders:

Experience shows that most victims were never prepared. Wealthy family members can be trained to live in dangerous environments. Risk avoidance programs teach them to understand areas of vulnerability, and how to modify behaviour to avoid dangerous situations... [ More ]

Reply #17

jwhou — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:19:33 GMT

I doubt that anonymity or lack thereof had much to do with his death. The sad thing is that when you are indepedently wealthy to the point of not having to work, your social circle becomes quite limited, most people who are not working throughout the day are doing so not because they are wealthy but due to other reasons. If a lottery winner is not careful in setting up a life that he/she can be happy with, he/she can readily find him/herself to be surrounded by people of an unsavory nature. Abra... [ More ]

Reply #16

LadyMylena — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:46:33 GMT

It's true, the winner may have gone public anyway, but he wasn't given the choice.

I live in an anonymous state. I would guesstimate from the research I have done, that about 3/4 of the winners here, or more, go public, despite the option we have. Many people don't care, so it doesn't affect it at all, from my observation. They are all still playing, and still winning. For those of us that want to be unknown , we should all have the option. So, I'm not saying it should all be anonymous, the o... [ More ]

Reply #15

diamondpalace — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:21:17 GMT

Let's not blame the policy for a winner's death. Perhaps, the person gave the good news to some bad people. If it is all annonymous, we would think the goverment is playing tricks on us taking money under the table. So, there will be a policy like this, with winner's information (name, city) will be available to the public.

I would just have moved and not tell anyone. Say I got a new job that pays nice salary.

Reply #14

myturn — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:38:17 GMT

I replied......

Dear Mass Lottery:

Thank you for your reply. It is good to see the trust option and I do hope lottery winners are informed of this option. If Larry the lawyer wins he will know of the trust option, however, if Bob the bus driver wins, he may not know of the trust option. I do believe it is only fair that all lottery winners are informed of the trust option.

I would like to point out again that other lotteries, such as the UK lottery, automatically give all win... [ More ]

Reply #13

myturn — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:08:36 GMT

I got the following reply......

I understand your concerns, but the name and hometown of all of our winners are public information under the Freedom of Information Act and the Lottery Rules and Regulations. Please understand that reason for this law is not to exploit prize winners or to gain publicity for the Lottery. The law was written so that the Lottery can validate its games. To uphold its integrity, the Lottery must be able to provide a public record of who has won its games.. We alw... [ More ]

Reply #12

myturn — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:03:06 GMT

I wrote to the Massachusetts Lottery......

Dear Mass Lottery:

Jones said Abraham would tell him, I thought all these people were my friends, but then I realized all they want is just money.

It is time that USstate lotteries allowed winners to remain anonymous. It works very well in other countries, such as Australiaand the UK.

When lottery winners are identified there is enormous pressure on them to solve all the financial problems of their family and friends; and many go

Reply #11

myturn — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:57:53 GMT

The issue of anonymity in not just about this case, it may or may not have helped Mr Shakespeare. I believe lottery winners have a right to anonymity. In other countries, such as Australia and the UK, all winners have a right to anonymity and their identity is not released unless they wish to have publicity, the vast majority choose not to be identified.

Reply #10

myturn — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:44:38 GMT

I wrote to express my point of view. It is only if we speak out will than anything will be done. Politicians take notice if they get many letters on the same issue that is why, I am asking all lottery players to contact their state politicians let them know your opinion. The more letters they get, they more notice they take

Reply #9

JONNIE — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:41:45 GMT

Please- u think the gov't gives a rats ass about keeping people safe and annonymous? Who is really annonymous anymore when u think about it? Arent there still warrentless wiretaps going on? It seems like everyone has a myspace or facebook accct updating every stupid thing they do so everyone on the internet knows their business, so why would the lottery be any diff? All they care about is selling u a dream of winning a ton of money, knowing statistically it will almost never happen, all in the i... [ More ]

Reply #8

JimmySand9 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:59:27 GMT

Well, some people who win in states besides Delaware actually set up a trust, a sort of shell corporation, which allows players to claim without actually divulging their name and whereabouts. I'm sure it costs a few bucks in attorney fees, but it's something to think about doing if you win.

Reply #7

Coin Toss — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:58:12 GMT

The lotteries (and thus the states running them) know that there is no advertising as strong as a winner and word of mouth.

Just look at what happens when a store sells a big winner and posts it, how much more play that store gets after that.

The lotteries also know that if they simply announced we had a winner in (name the town) last night that the yeah, right factor would kick in.

The lottery is telling us about make believe winners and keeping the money .

Tough situation.

Reply #6

badboy00z — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:11:11 GMT

I'm sure if there are more murders as a result of winning the lottery they will change the law.

Reply #5

LadyMylena — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:28:29 GMT

Sadly, this is true.

That said though, there is no reason not to go ahead and bother them. Every once in awhile someone accidentally pays attention, when you pitch enough of a fit....and a *real* change occurs. The time is NOW to let everyone know you've had ENOUGH of the way things are! Don't ever give up.....and I'm proud of you, myturn, for trying to do something about it. The minute every single one of us sits back and is complacent, and just lets the govt. do what they want to us, is the... [ More ]

Reply #4

sully16 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:26:39 GMT

they all have an agenda, what we really want doesn't matter.

Reply #3

Lucky4Life — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:06:15 GMT

I wrote too and got basically the same response. I think the issue here is that she was already in his life when he won so being publicized had nothing to do with his death. It's not like he won and then somebody broke in his house and shot him and stole his money. I agree they should allow you to remain annonymous but i'm afraid it's going to take a drastic situation for them to change their mind. They know we are going to buy lottery tickets no matter what, they don't care about our safety... [ More ]

Reply #2

Raven62 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:32:59 GMT

You already knew what response you'd get: What purpose is served by writing

Reply #1

myturn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:00:40 GMT

I got the following response:

Your recent email to Governor Charlie Crist has been forwarded to us for reply. On behalf of the Governor and the Florida Lottery, thank you for your correspondence.

We at the Lottery regret very much the situation involving Abraham Shakespeare and appreciate your views regarding personal privacy and Lottery prizes. Persons who hope to win a Lottery prize and some who have already won prizes have expressed similar views in the past. However, the... [ More ]

Please Write To Your Governor

myturn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:00:09 GMT

I wrote to Governor Crist regarding the case of Abraham Shakespeare, who Police believe was murdered. I believe all winners should have the right to anonymity and until states change the law to allow this more tragedies will occur. Please contact you Governor and State Representative and help get this issue addressed.

Thank You