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Alkdmani t1_j9z5opi wrote

Why do they release the name of the winners?

Now every schmuck would be coming after him with frivolous lawsuits.

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wetwater t1_j9z7qz7 wrote

Transparency. As much as it would be nice to win the lottery, all I can think of is all the assholes and deadbeat relatives suddenly rediscovering that I'm a really cool guy and I should hear their business proposals.

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Nstark7474 t1_j9zc2ir wrote

I already deleted my most toxic SM and only keep in contact with people i actually like. The only thing stopping me from fucking off and becoming a rich hermit who lives in the woods is the fact that Iā€™m poor as shit. šŸ˜

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wetwater t1_j9zedei wrote

A couple of decades ago I was sitting on a nice little pile of money. A cousin somehow heard about it, and suddenly for a couple of weeks I was his best friend, which lead up to him wondering aloud if I would be interested in investing his his little startup business.

Like, my dude, you are unemployable because you are either drunk, high, or both 24/7, and you either quit jobs or get fired because of it. What really makes you think I'm going to get any sort of return on my investment? Weed and beer does not count.

And that was the last I heard of him for about ten years.

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buttfunfor_everyone t1_j9zh5us wrote

Sounds like you really missed getting in on the ground floor of a pretty decent time šŸ˜‚

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Paavo_Nurmi t1_ja138k3 wrote

When my Dad died I got a nice bit of money and a co worker ask to borrow $600. He was a good dude and probably would have paid me back, but fuck no was my answer. I was lucky that it's just my brother and I and we are really close so no issues dividing things up.

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snoogins355 t1_ja2tqzb wrote

Rent a house in a secluded area of Hawaii. Get a new phone and only contact close family and friends but mostly lay low for a few months to a year

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Reasonable_Ticket_84 t1_ja860e2 wrote

Or just move to somewhere full of rich fucks already like certain parts of Cali, Seattle or NY.

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Rhomega2 t1_j9z6ypy wrote

You're required by law to reveal your name in California.

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Alkdmani t1_j9z91yz wrote

They didn't think this law through, did they...

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buttfunfor_everyone t1_j9zhrnk wrote

The alternative is lack of transparency wherein suddenly all the people winning the lottery somehow all seem to be friends and family members of folks who work for the lottery.

Do some reading into the McDonalds Monopoly fiasco in the 90ā€™s. The $24 million fraud was literally perpetuated by the very head of security in charge of safe-guarding/transporting the winning pieces.

Sure, naming lottery winners may suck for the winner.. they can either a) not collect the money or b) wipe their tears with millions of billions of dollars and move on.

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QubitBob t1_j9zm6mq wrote

I don't know if this holds for all states, but my state--Pennsylvania--allows lottery winners to claim the prize via trusts. In these cases lawyers representing the client claim the prize in the name of the trust, which is given a meaningless name like "Smithville Lottery Winners Trust".

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farmtownsuit t1_ja50zp7 wrote

It varies by state. Maine also allows this but a lot of states don't

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bootstrapping_lad t1_j9ztz7e wrote

I don't buy that argument. I live in an anonymous state and have never heard a single person wonder about the legitimacy of the lottery. IMO it does more harm than good.

Of course there are anomalies like McDonald's, but that doesn't outweigh the burden it places on the winners.

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buttfunfor_everyone t1_j9zuchw wrote

You donā€™t have to buy anything. Iā€™m literally explaining why they do it lol

Not all states have that rule but some do and this is why. Google lottery fraud sometime and read about the many, many times itā€™s happened.

Edit: lmao, okay bro. Downvote me because you donā€™t ā€œbuyā€ a state law and the stated reason for having it. Are you saying lottery fraud having been perpetuated in the past is not the reason some states have that law? Or that lottery fraud has never happened? Either way.. šŸ™„šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

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bootstrapping_lad t1_ja009fg wrote

Obviously that's the reason some states have the rules - that is well known and not at issue. I'm saying that it's unnecessary and does more harm than good.

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buttfunfor_everyone t1_ja02n2i wrote

Okay.. do you have any facts, studies, stats, articles, stories-anything -to support your claim? Have you worked for a state lottery? Have some insider knowledge that we donā€™t?

Or did you just make your mind and state your opinion based on the assumption that doing so would somehow carry more weight than well documented historical fact?

State lotteries are run differently in every state. To make the claim that because yours is anonymous and you suspect zero issues with it is great. Maybe thereā€™s not, but in the past and elsewhere there absolutely have been.

Itā€™s just a strange way to engage with reality. If you do a quick cursory search online you will find a ton of examples of lottery fraud that has been perpetuated and, in response, states that have changed their laws thusly to require disclosure. Your opinion doesnā€™t change that.

If you think relatives knocking on your door for cash is worse than multimillion dollar fraudā€¦ šŸ™„

Edit: Honestly, donā€™t bother responding. Iā€™m turning off notifications. Make whatever claim you want, I donā€™t want to spend the energy on it.

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bootstrapping_lad t1_ja067vm wrote

You must have missed where I said "IMO", which is an abbreviation for "In my opinion", in case you didn't know that.

> If you think relatives knocking on your door for cash is worse than multimillion dollar fraudā€¦ šŸ™„

State money is never more valuable than people's lives or right to individual privacy. Winning the lottery has a well documented negative effect on the winner's well-being including multiple cases of the winner being murdered. Some winners self implode. I'm not taking about that. I'm talking about relentless hounding by friends, family, distant relatives, organizations, and strangers. Winners have been murdered.

Let's do some of those Google searches you helpfully suggest:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/florida-lottery-winners-bill-convicted-killer-dee-dee-moore-support/

https://www.ranker.com/list/lottery-winners-tragic-ends/derrick920

https://www.abc15.com/news/state/curse-of-the-lottery-why-winning-the-mega-millions-could-kill-you

https://www.google.com/amp/s/english.elpais.com/international/2022-09-21/brazilian-lottery-winner-murdered-after-being-kidnapped-for-prize-money.html%3foutputType=amp

I'm not saying that lottery fraud is never a problem, I'm saying that we should not be shifting the burden of that onto the winners, because staying anonymous is always the best course of action for the winner. Forcing their identity to be known puts a big target on their back and that is not debatable.

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[deleted] t1_ja0wv5y wrote

[removed]

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Alkdmani t1_ja0ydpf wrote

Prohibitions laws went through similar process, and they didn't think that through, they didn't even fund the organisation that is supposed to crack down on alcohol.

Politicians are not philosophers, and the only thing differentiating them from diapers is the amount of shit inside.

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Thomb t1_ja13lym wrote

Regardless of how prohibition laws ultimately played out, how can you say that not a lot of thought went into them? Can you predict the future and only make decisions that pan out? Prohibition laws also went through a lot of thought, discussion, and public participation. The US is a country supposedly governed by laws, and in a democracy those laws can evolve over time. Did you think of that?

Also, you do know that legislative funding bills for programs are separate from the program's basis, right? It appears that you didn't know that. Funding bills usually occur annually and can change with the political winds.

Are you suggesting that one person came up with these laws and implemented them, rather than what actually happened?

>Politicians are not philosophers, and the only thing differentiating them from diapers is the amount of shit inside.

Nobody said that politicians are philosophers. Also, I can tell the difference between a politician and a diaper. If you can't, perhaps you don't have a lot of thinking capabilities.

Where am I, at the Elks Lodge?

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bitwarrior80 t1_ja0u99m wrote

Couldn't a person get a legal name change to something like "Number One Lotterywinner". I mean, for 2 billion and complete anonymity, it might be worth it.

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ExCap2 t1_ja1ilxa wrote

In this case, you could probably get with a lawyer or law firm and someone from there could claim it under their name with power of attorney only giving them the power to actually claim the winnings. Separate agreement to dole out money to the lawyer claiming the winnings, or just some random person off the street.

If I had to give up my name, I'd probably just leave the US. Plenty of countries where you can get citizenship for just being rich and being able take care of yourself financially and retire to.

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neo_sporin t1_j9za80t wrote

Almost every state requires it for transparency. There are a few they allow for anonymous claims

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squeevey t1_j9zoei2 wrote

There are about 17 states that allow anonymous claims when above a certain $ amount.

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Morat20 t1_ja0ikzh wrote

About a third allow fully anonymous claims.

Even the ones that don't, in many (perhaps most) trusts can claim it. So winners set up a trust, and lawyers working for the trust claim it on behalf of the trust.

So the 'winner' might be two guys in really good suits with the name "ABC Trust". Now, the lawyers have to attest to a whole bunch of shit to ensure it's not an ineligible winner hiding behind the trust, but a big-name law firm isn't going to perjure themselves over what's really a pretty small amount of billable hours. THEY aren't winning tens or hundreds of millions.

Because if you win even a few million, a good law firm and account is worth every penny just for the work they'll do, but not having every dumb fuck you went to school with known you won is goddamn priceless.

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IamAWorldChampionAMA t1_j9zr6b4 wrote

Arizona is one. I live in Nevada and my Dad and I decided to do a road trip for when the Powerball was big. We did research and decided even though you have to pay taxes in AZ, it's better to be anonymous.

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droplivefred t1_j9zon6w wrote

Some people are mindful of this and claim the prize through an LLC to protect their identity.

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zero0n3 t1_j9zpkbp wrote

If you do this right you can have a lawyer or agent or LLC claim it so you have a layer of protection

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captainslowww t1_j9zwr0q wrote

Sometimes. It depends on the state.

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domino2064 t1_ja0wdkf wrote

>Sometimes. It depends on the state.

Surprisingly, Kansas is one of the few states you can remain entirely anonymous in.

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Murgatroyd314 t1_ja1b8if wrote

Even if you do that, the lottery agency will insist on knowing the actual person who will get the money. (For an example of why, google Eddie Tipton.) In some states, once they know this, it becomes a matter of public record subject to disclosure on request, despite your LLC/trust.

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aiaor t1_ja1lxw2 wrote

The answers say it's for transparency. But don't they show the drawings on TV? How much more transparent can you get than that? Don't they show them in real time? Do they show them setting up the drawing, in real time, so people watching it on TV could see anything that gets done to rig it? Do they also have live audiences?

Note that I haven't actually seen the drawings on TV, so correct me if I don't understand how they do it.

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Alkdmani t1_ja1o8c6 wrote

The question is on what side do we need transparency? On operation side? Sure, absolutely but on winners side in-regards to their ID? Not really, it has been doing more harm than good.

A waitress who was tipped with a lottery ticket, which won, ended up losing most of the prize money going from one lawsuit to another: The cheapskate client who tipped her the ticket sued her, her colleague sued her, etc.

Money that is supposed to change a person's life by getting them out of financial problems, should not invite new financial and legal problems to their life!

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ExCap2 t1_ja1hsxn wrote

You can claim lottery tickets anonymously through a lawyer, LLC, trust, etc; really depends on where you live but there's plenty of ways to claim it without ever revealing your name. Could probably even dress up as a mascot or something.

If you ever win something big, get a lawyer. Should be the first thing you do.

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muusandskwirrel t1_ja44usn wrote

This.

Your first thing to do if you think you won the lottery would be to set up an LLC and have that corporation claim the winnings

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HORSELOCKSPACEPIRATE t1_ja7pbmf wrote

It's an annoyance, but he's the one that can walk into the biggest law firm in the state and not even feel the cost. Frivolously suing him is a good way to get countersued into oblivion if you piss him off enough.

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