Some US States Working To Mask Identities Of Lotto Winners

There are a numerous states that are looking to hide the identities of their lottery winners due to privacy concerns even amidst the constant calls to name these people for promotional and transparency purposes.

Arizona is set to join the ever-increasing list of these states who want to keep their lottery winners anonymous.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is set to receive the proposal that will allow these lucky winners to keep from being identified.

In 2015, there were only five states that had laws in place to keep lottery winners anonymous.

As of now, there are as many as 8 states that are looking to pass similar laws in 2019. Virginia has passed a law which allows them to withhold information of lottery winners who have won over $10 million. Connecticut and Arkansas also tried to pass bills but they were rejected. Massachusetts, Oregon and Minnesota are 3 of the states that are currently discussing a similar bill.

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Even though the Arizona Governor and Arizona Lottery have not released any statement regarding their stand with this proposal, the bill’s owner, Republican state Rep. Nancy Barto stated that she wants to protect lottery winners from constant harassment and media scrutiny which always occurs once a lottery winner’s identity is made public.

There is a current law that protects lottery winners in the state for 90 days, but according to the measure proponent, state Rep. John Kavanagh, this stipulation is not enough. He said that after this 90 day period was completed, winners would be intensely subjected to different people hitting them up for loans or asking them to put their money in investment schemes.

A bigger concern for significant winners was the threat of having their homes burglarized and their children kidnapped for ransom. While the state lottery wanted transparency, Kavanagh said that transparency should not override the need for security and protecting winners from life-threatening situations.

Importance Of Identifying The Lottery Winners

There is however a constant call for transparency in identifying jackpot winners as the onset of lottery fraud is real. A software engineer from the Multi-State Lottery Association recently got slapped with a 25 year sentence in jail for changing the program algorithm which allowed him to select the winning numbers in Kansas, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin between 2005 and 2011.

Iowa-based lottery association Executive Director J. Bret Toyne recently came out with a statement saying that while he understands the states recent push for winner secrecy, he is still pushing for transparency. One of the reasons for the push for publicity is advertising as it shows the general public they can also win the lottery