You can win a jackpot of $ 123 million if you are lucky enough to match the winning lotto numbers in this Wednesday's US Powerball. And can you imagine how it will transform your life? This is what happened in the case of Jack Freney who—with the numbers 17-37-53-54-61—won $191M in January.
But if you win, would you want everyone to know about it?
Should winning be a secret?
Your life can get quite interesting when you win. Winners are inundated with calls from reporters who want to share the good news with the world. The public nature of the win also means that all kinds of people come out of the woodwork wanting to use your money. Perhaps friends want to take advantage of your good fortune, or you suddenly meet family members you never knew existed. If you didn’t have to tell anyone about your winnings it can save you some unwelcome attention and give you the space you need to plan your new life.
Is anonymity possible for a US Powerball Jackpot winner?
According to legislation in many US states, your personal information gathered through the lottery system is public knowledge. So journalists can easily find out who won the jackpot, meaning everyone will want to share in the happy occasion.
Some states allow you to remain anonymous, while others allow you to work around the personal information requirements by setting up a trust to collect your winnings on your behalf.
Unless you buy your lottery tickets in one of the states that allow you to make such a plan or that allows you to just stay anonymous, you'll almost certainly find details of your lottery jackpot win splashed all over the news.
In the states listed below you can stay anonymous because legislation doesn’t dictate your personal information must be made public:
- Delaware
- Kansas
- Maryland
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- South Carolina
Some other states will allow you to collect your winnings through a 'blind trust' which means you don't have to be named as a winner but can instead instruct an attorney to collect your lotto winnings on your behalf.
The states that currently allow winnings to be collected on your behalf trust are:
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Vermont
It takes a bit more work to set up than just turning up at the claims office with your winning US Powerball lottery ticket, but anything that helps you with planning your financial future when you get a huge windfall like a lottery jackpot win can't be a bad thing.
