Lead balloon or good idea?

Reply #21

Coin Toss — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 16:30:35 GMT

Karen Nathan,

Let's hope those who say id they won a jackpot would shout it from the rooftops would read your posit until it sinks in.

I was an admin on another board.

One day we started getting inundated with posts like you mentioned...I need this, crisis, etc...etc...

One of the other admins was exceptionally sharp and did some research and found out some clown, somewhere, was actually putting tutorials on his site and teaching people how to construct such 'appeals.

Reply #20

Karen Nathan — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 08:28:01 GMT

I remember a 20 year old who came forward as a Lotto/Powerball winner like last year or this year. Literally like one or two days later, someone posted something like this on his Facebook. Hi winner, I am so glad you were blessed with the wonderful gift of winning millions from a Lottery. I have Cancer and my medical bills are really taking a toll on my life. I'd really love it if you could share some of your blessed wealth to help me with my medical bills. Have a nice day and God bless you. The... [ More ]

Reply #19

Stack47 — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 18:28:28 GMT

Lottery Commissions do not make laws, but they can influence lawmakers. Like with other law proposals, it depends on how many constituents it effects. How many jackpot lottery winners in California are effected by their state's open policies or Freedom of Information Act?

It's news when somebody wins over $100 million so it's obvious people want to know the details. Look at the number of the lottery changed my life , lottery dream homes , curse of the lottery , the lottery programs on TLC etc... [ More ]

Reply #18

Coin Toss — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 22:41:15 GMT

All good points noise-gate. I still say paying for it would be well spent whether it was necessary or not. But considering the really low % of players who spring for the extra buck in MM and PB, well..........

There was a guy on one of the lottery programs on TLC who got bags and bags of mail addressed to

Lottery Winner

NM

He asked the post office to not deliver and they said they had to deliver it.

He said he got a request to stake someone at the World Sries of Poker.

There h... [ More ]

Reply #17

noise-gate — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 16:46:10 GMT

The lottery out here likes saying people want the names of the jackpot winners. Which people? I think these people who want to know are those who want to take advantage of the winner, should he or her be local. A winner in this neck of the woods was outed had bags upon bags of mail dumped on his doorstep. Requests for money..... helping my kid pay off college, keeping my home, car from being repossessed or foreclosure.

Anonymity is priceless, but does one have to pay for it? Not sure.

Reply #16

Coin Toss — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 14:10:25 GMT

There are states that already allow winners to remain anonymous.

Have you heard of any incidents from any of them for what you mentioned above?

It would be sportin' bloody cricket if naysayers would think before they criticize.

Reply #15

Stack47 — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 06:51:34 GMT

Do you think the winners will be blackmailed?

Give me 10 grand or I'll show your picture and tell the world who you are

Reply #14

maximumfun — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 06:18:26 GMT

Then the stores would start making sure they kept stills of all the NP slip players. maybe a button to push for a snap when processing the slips. ... there are always going to be ways to get the information out there

Reply #13

Stack47 — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 03:54:57 GMT

the lottery would be responsible for keeping the player's information secret.

That includes the store clerks that probably won't see a dime of the store winnings. And the IRS will get the winner's SS number and the courts will get their name.

It looks like some here believe claiming anonymously means the check will be made out to CASH and it's up to the winners to notify the IRS and Courts.

Reply #12

Coin Toss — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 23:03:58 GMT

Tucker Black,

Just my $.02 but it would probably be the best $1 a person ever spent or the most regrettable $1 not spent.

Reply #11

wander73 — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:22:12 GMT

That's a good point and valid argument. That is also where a lawyer comes into play.

Until at least one person on this site officially hits a huge lottery amt, then your question can get answered. One member would be LaIngrod but he blocked me from email.

Reply #10

eddessaknight — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:16:50 GMT

Coin, the biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Continue to think big anyway

Reply #9

JADELottery — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 21:26:53 GMT

Yeuh, here's a still shot of the floating lead balloon.

Reply #8

Karen Nathan — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 06:46:37 GMT

I've always hated the idea of Winners must go public in order to claim winnings. Especially after a Lottery winner was murdered for his winnings. His name was Abraham Shakespeare and a Con woman named Dorice Moore convinced him she was going to help him hold onto his last million(He had like 17 million before taxes, so maybe 14 million in take home and blew through most of the millions by helping out his friends, family, and even complete strangers!

He only had roughly one million left a... [ More ]

Reply #7

Tucker Black — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 06:14:10 GMT

Why should the winner have to pay anything to remain anonymous? It's bad enough that the lottery keeps such a large portion of your wager. Charging even a dollar to be anonymous is just another kick in the teeth.

Reply #6

eddessaknight — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:30:40 GMT

Capitol Idea, clean, fast straightforward, not complicated easy to implement

I double down on it

Reply #5

Coin Toss — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 16:46:06 GMT

BobP,

Even if the spouse and kids went blabbing it would hardly equate to state wide or nation wide attention.

I'm sure it happens in states that allow winners to remain anonymous but I don't recall too many horror stories from them.

LiveinGreenBay,

People would still complain about an after-the-fact fee. Consider union members who complain about union dues going up $10 even if the union just got them a $75 raise.

Hearsetrax,

Agreed!

MillionsWanted,

It wasn't an argume... [ More ]

Reply #4

MillionsWanted — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 12:48:16 GMT

Your argument is invalid.

Reply #3

hearsetrax — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 10:20:01 GMT

what ever gets the job done and doesn't cost an arm and leg, works for me

Reply #2

LiveInGreenBay — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 10:01:06 GMT

I have a better idea. How about having the option (after you win) to pay a buck to remain anonymous.

Reply #1

BobP — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 07:30:45 GMT

The problem with charging for anonymity versus free is the lottery would be responsible for keeping the player's information secret. At the same time in some states the lottery is already responsible for notifying courts and other agencies if state taxes and child support, etc. is due and of course they tell the IRS. One lawsuit for failing to keep a player successfully anonymous would wipe out the profits. Besides, even if the player paid, the spouse or kids would likely blab the secret, but do... [ More ]

Lead balloon or good idea?

Coin Toss — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 04:27:51 GMT

Hey lottery directors......

With all the controversy over letting winners remain anonymous or not, how about an option on the play slip, NP, No Publicity like Australia.

Since the lotteries are incessantly looking for more revenue, maybe a nominal surcharge (there's the lead balloon) for it. Sure, people will kvetch about it but I think it would be money extremely well spent, all things considered.

Just a thought.