If you could play any US lottery from any state online would you switch to anonymous states?Prev TopicNext Topic

• xstreamgaming15

  

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  Oct 13, 2016, 6:55 pm

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  If I could play any US lottery on-line besides my local lottery I would definitely play the Maryland Lottery. I'd take my business there for powerball, mega millions, cash4life and they allow winners anonymity there, not sure to be physically there to claim. But I'd still get Superlotto Plus tickets when the jackpot is high.
• Teddi

  

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  Oct 14, 2016, 2:46 am

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  In response to Stack47

  Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Oct 12, 2016

  If you live in a state that has state taxes, it doesn't matter if you win in another state, they will take their cut.

  Perhaps I was unclear?

  I said the only reason I could think of for not buying tickets from a state which allows for anonymity is if you reside in a state which does not tax lottery winnings. I'm not talking about someone trying to buy tickets in a no lottery tax state when they reside in a state which imposes taxes on lottery winnings. I think we all know that the home state will go after their cut. 

  If a state's law demands that lottery winners pay state taxes on jackpots even if they do not reside in that state, that would be part of the consideration for some. But my own personal view is that if my choice is anonymity vs state taxes, I'll go with anonymity every time, hands down, without question.
• KY Floyd

  

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  Oct 21, 2016, 1:56 am

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  "If you live in a state that has state taxes, it doesn't matter if you win in another state, they will take their cut."

  Just make sure that you're a resident of a state without an income tax by the time you have constructive receipt of the winnings. According to the IRS that can't happen until some time after you've presented the ticket and the lottery has verified that it is the winning ticket, giving you plenty of time to move. It's possible that individual states may have laws that address constructive receipt in a manner that claims it happens earlier, but if collecting the money isn't yet an absolute certainty then you don't have constructive receipt. Of course it's a safe bet that if the state you used to live in finds out you won they'll still try to claim that you owe them income tax. If that happens there's a pretty good chance that the resulting lawsuit will remove the anonymity you gained by buying in a different state.

   

  And, of course, the downside to playing in a different state is that you have to claim any prize you win in that state. If you're going to be there anyway then for the vast majority of prizes it's just as easy as claiming at home, but how often will you be in that state?  The reality is that you'll have to mail in the ticket or make a special trip and unless you win a major prize, you're not going to gain any anonymity because your own state isn't going to publicize the tiny little prize that you've got a realistic chance of winning.

  If you were to win the 50k 3rd place PB prize or the 5k 3rd place MM prize there's a chance somebody would find your name on the lottery website, so let's include them. For PB the prize distribution means that selling the 292,201,338 necessary to expect one jackpot winner should result in about 346 prizes of 50k or more, and 11,616,626 prizes of $100 or less, the vast majority of which (10,668,443) will be $4 winners, not factoring in powerplay.  95.97% of tickets won't win a dime, and 99.997% of the few that are winners won't gain anything by buying out of state. The numbers aren't much different for MM. Saving cost of the stamp makes buying where you can easily claim a prize a far better bet than the incredibly small chance that claiming anonymously would matter.

  Of course the lotteries aren't raking in billions of dollars every year because people are making logical decisions.
• Sunglasses

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  Oct 21, 2016, 8:12 am

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  If earth was blue and the sky was green, what would you do?
• helpmewin

  

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  Oct 21, 2016, 9:41 am

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  In response to Sunglasses

  Quote: Originally posted by Sunglasses on Oct 21, 2016

  If earth was blue and the sky was green, what would you do?

  Word(s)/Phrase:  If earth was blue and the sky was green
  
  Game:  Pick 3
  
  Method 1:  0-4-5
  Method 2:  3-4-7
  Method 3:  4-9-9
  Method 4:  1-9-5
  Method 5:  3-1-9
  Method 6:  2-5-2
  
  Good Luck

  
• helpmewin

  

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  Oct 22, 2016, 4:23 am

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  In response to helpmewin

  Quote: Originally posted by helpmewin on Oct 21, 2016

  Word(s)/Phrase:  If earth was blue and the sky was green
  
  Game:  Pick 3
  
  Method 1:  0-4-5
  Method 2:  3-4-7
  Method 3:  4-9-9
  Method 4:  1-9-5
  Method 5:  3-1-9
  Method 6:  2-5-2
  
  Good Luck

  Fri, Oct 21, 2016     California     Daily 3 Evening     5-0-4
  Fri, Oct 21, 2016     Connecticut     Play 3 Day     1-5-9
  Fri, Oct 21, 2016     Washington, D.C.     DC-3 Evening     9-3-1
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     Arkansas     Cash 3 Evening     2-5-2
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     California     Daily 3 Midday     5-0-4
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     Louisiana     Pick 3     1-5-9
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     Pennsylvania     Pick 3 Evening     3-4-7, Wild Ball: 3
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     South Carolina     Pick 3 Evening     9-1-5
  Thu, Oct 20, 2016     Washington, D.C.     DC-3 Evening     9-3-1
  
  You Win