Should Lottery Commissions Be Obligated To Maintain Your Anonymity?Prev TopicNext Topic

• jwhou

  

  United States
  Member #83,698
  December 13, 2009
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  Dec 24, 2009, 4:01 pm

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  In response to rdgrnr

  Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Dec 4, 2009

  Does the lottery have the right or duty to maintain anyone's anonymity? 

  This is a tough one, balancing considerations of safety and privacy against transparency and the people's right to know.

  I would like to remain anonymous as much as anyone if I won the big one but how could we let the lottery have the authority to say somebody won and we're not telling you who? If that wouldn't open the door to corruption by lottery officials I don't know what would.

  As much as we dislike the idea of being "outed," don't you think it might be necessary to maintain the integrity of the whole process?

  Don't we have the right to know who the winner was if only to feel assured that it wasn't some friend or relative of a lottery official that claimed the prize?

  I find this to be a tough question and I don't really know what the answer should be.

  In Texas, you can establish a trust and have the trust collect the winnings on your behalf and there are many tax reasons for doing this.   Of course, this takes time and expense and considering how badly things have been of late, I wouldn't bother with the trust but just get the money if only to get it sooner and hence my problems addressed sooner.   Had times been better, I probably would've gone the trust route.

  They do give you a nifty baseball cap and a T-shirt if you consent to having your picture taken.   As soon as I told my girlfriend about my last win, I knew that would be all I would have to show for it (it wasn't a big win, just big enough to require going to the claim center).    It's a really good baseball cap.
• myturn

  Bondi Junction
  Australia
  Member #57,240
  December 24, 2007
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  Dec 25, 2009, 7:57 pm

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  The NSW State Lotteries and the UK National Lottery allow all winners to claim their prize money anonymously, without a problem. These two lotteries are the most profession, players and the general public do trust the lotteries, and successful, they raise billion in revenue, in the world.

   

  US State Lotteries should look at how they run their businesses and follow their example.

  We all get a lot out of lotteries!
• LadyMylena

  

  Kansas
  United States
  Member #83,960
  December 19, 2009
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  Dec 26, 2009, 12:15 am

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  I am so very thankful, that I live in a state, where you can claim the prize anonymously. When I win, that is what I will do. Although I do know of many people, who would love the popularity and attention they would get, with their picture plastered everywhere....I am a very private person, and I would fear for my safety. I know there are people that would shoot and kill you, for $100 bucks or less, it happens all the time. I have small children, and would fear kidnapping of myself, or my kids. So, in my eyes, I think it should definitely be a personal decision. Just because I'd like to win the jackpot, it doesn't mean I want everyone to know about it. I have found the majority of people here, DO go public, and very few are anonymous, even though we have the choice. I'm sure it would probably be that way most everywhere, then, and thus it wouldn't be so bad if every state offered this option.

  Luck is  ** believing  ** you're lucky.” ~Tennessee Williams

  Money is neither my god nor my devil. It is a form of energy that tends to make us more of who we already are, whether it's greedy or loving.  ~ Dan Millman

  
  
• badboy00z

  

  CA
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  December 26, 2009
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  Dec 26, 2009, 4:10 am

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  I voted for the winner to choose. IMO the public has the right to know who won but the winner as the right to stay anonymous. Has there ever been a case where a winner's loved one was a victim of kidnapping??
• KY Floyd

  

  NY
  United States
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  October 16, 2005
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  Dec 27, 2009, 10:04 am

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  I'm not worried enough to pay really close attention, but I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of the crimes that are committed against lottery winners because they are lottery winners, are comitted by relatives of the winners. Of the rest, most are committed by other people who know them.