New Bill Would Allow Lottery Winners in Michigan to Remain Anonymous

I've never understood why the names of lottery winners have to be disclosed publicly and to the media. It always just seemed like recipe for disaster to me. Well, with a new bill being introduced in Michigan State Legislature, that could all change.

According to Mid-Michigan Now, Legislation has been introduced in the Michigan State Legislature that would allow winners of multi-state games, such as Mega Millions, Powerball and Lucky for Life, to remain anonymous.

Representative Pat Outman of Six Lakes introduced House Bill 4218 to the legislature last week.

Representative Pat Outman:

This is all about providing safety and ensuring winners of these types of games do not receive unwanted, possibly dangerous attention. The bill would allow those who win the lottery to have the choice to keep their identities anonymous. Allowing a privacy option gives people a more secure feeling and does not leave them open to harassment or a flood of requests for funds, loans or donations.

Only a small number of states allow winners of the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpots to remain anonymous. Unfortunately, Michigan isn't one of those states.

If I won the jackpot in a lottery, I would no doubt want to remain anonymous. I got a taste of the outcome years ago when Free Beer and Hot Wings announced (joking) on the air that I won the lottery. Before I even knew they said it on the radio, my phone was blowing and people were hitting me up that I hadn't talked to in years. It was crazy how fast people were coming out of the woodwork to get a piece of it. It was funny as hell once I figured out what was going on.

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