Starting this week, winners of the Virginia lottery can remain anonymous.
Imagine hitting a $10 million jackpot in the Virginia Lottery. Immediately your phone blows up. Long-lost relatives start calling. Charities hit you up for donations. Maybe you even get scammed. For people who win the lottery, sometimes more money means to more problems.
“They’ve been subjected to frivolous lawsuits and threatened,” said Delegate Lee Ware, a Republican from Powhatan. “A Virginian who won a prize has moved five times in the last decade to get away from some of these kinds of problems.”
That’s why Ware introduced a bill to allow lottery winners to remain anonymous. Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill back in February, and this week it goes into effect. Critics worry that the new secrecy could lead to corruption.
During the debate over the bill, Republican Senator David Suetterlein of Roanoke mentioned examples of collusion between lottery officials and straw buyers.
“It was amazing how many times they kept winning at the exact same stores, where they happened to have a friend who worked there or who owned the place,” Sutterlein explained.
Virginia is joining six other states where the identity of lottery winners remains shielded from the public.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
