CHOICE A:  Winning the jackpot in an "anonymous" state where you MUST walk into the lottery headquarters to claim prize (DE, ND, KS, SC, MD)

CHOICE B:  Winning the jackpot in an "anonymous" state whereas you can send a "trustee" (such as a tax attorney) to the lottery headquarters to claim the prize through a trust or foundation (OH, NH, LA, OK)

Which choice would you prefer and why?

i voted choice A because if im in an anonymous state it wont matter if i show up or not because they wont print my name and they wont take any pictures of me. if the press is there then the lottery workers can sneak me out the back.

It doesn't matter to me.

 Just let me win first.....................

Of course I would always prefer to take the money and hide, but if I win the $33 million FL jackpot Sat night and they tell me I have to run naked down the main street in town yelling "I won, I won, I won!!  I'll do it.  So what if the tellers at the bank will be pointing & snickering?  At least I'll be very rich.

 I couldn't care less if the whole universe knew. I know how to say the word NO to beggars.

"run naked down the main street" 

My vote was B, simply because of the jackpot was big enough the media might have someone stakingf out the lottery office to see who comes to claim their prize anonymously!

Well Justx, all I can say is I hope you win!!! 

i think all justx will have on is an LP hat and a smile...

Choice B. Controlling the money via a trust or foundation is the best way to go. The super rich do this all the time. Nelson Rockefeller didn't "OWN" much of anything, but he "Controlled" vast amounts of a lot of things.

And in some circles Choice B is known as "sending in a beard"!

Justxploring, just make sure the press does not get a clip of you.  You will be forever remember in the lottery annals as the winner who ran naked in the streets!  You just know they will be hounding you to get a piece of the money.  You will never be able to hide again.  LOL!

At my age, they'll probably pay me a bonus to put my clothes back on!

The tabloids - I think this one was the Weekly World News- once ran a story thatjackpot winners had some kind of orange drink before they played their tickets.... after that story ran, coenvenience stores started selling a lot more orange drinks.

Now because of this thread, people will misinterpret it andwe'll see a story -

Floridians show up naked to play lotto!

A Florida woman calling herself Ms Xploring said that..... 

the good thing is no one will ask you for money because they wont recognize you in public because you will have your clothes on

I live in Louisiana so I have option B.  I don't want to deal with the beggars, mooching relatives, people with sure fire business ventures, and riminals who will try to extort money from winners by threat. Stories I've read here on Lottery Post tell why B is the best option.

I remember one story about a winner in Florida who was getting all sorts of people begging for money. The couple was about to buy a new truck for themselves but when the dealership learned they won the lottery, the price of the truck increased between the time they made the deal and when they went to pick it up.  They ended up buying the truck from another dealership but still, those kind of things can happen even though they shouldn't.  They ended up moving to Nevada, a place where nobody knew them and there was no state income tax.

If I hit it big, I plan to claim it quietly and when I can quit my job, I plan to wait until several months after the win after the excitement has died down, just to keep others from getting suspicious.

I also run a lottery pool down at my job and I've recommended if we do win enough to quit, we claim anonymously, and then leave our jobs one at a time, some months apart, again to avert suspicion.  I don't know if my coworkers will go along with that, but it would be a good way to keep out the moochers, beggars, and other opportunists from finding out.

Just my opinion.

I would prefer choice A.

It SHOULD be that way in every state. I live in P.A., no such luck.

Option B requires you to trust someone (a lawyer, no less) with millions, so that's out.

My plan involves using a trust, but claiming it myself as a trustee.

By clever naming of the trust, such as the "lucky 20 Trust", you can create the illusion that there were multiple winners. You can also decline the press conference and decline photos.

I would NOT claim with any other family members named for their protection, they can be covered in the trust.

what I might do if ever presented with the situation is to record all phone calls and use a cameraphone to capture all solicitations and use them as evidence against the state because to me, identifying the winner = reckless endangerment.

I have pictured the way to go in and claim for me and my family. We will go to the costume shop and get the Beverly Hillbillies outfits (missing teeth included), sit in the confrence room and when they ask us what are we goin to do now that we are millionaries Pa will say "Welllll now we's gonna fix the old tin roof, and I recon we can get a hog, and Ma can make a pot of pinto beans". It is either that or we go in in Lotery post t-shirts, ballcaps(go cubbies), and sunglasses. I am still trying to work out all the possibilities.

    Good luck to all that play.

I live in Indiana which does not allow an anonymous winner.  However, 2 people have claimed prizes as a Trust and not had their names released so I that gives me some hope that if I ever win I can stay out of the press.  The problem is according to law in Indiana the Executive Director has the sole discretionary authority to release the name of the winner here.  So even if you do claim as a Trust with a nondescript name your name might still be released to the public. 

It will be interesting to see what will happen with the latest Powerball winner.  The Hoosier Lottery is making a big deal out of selling the winning ticket.  As soon as they learned there was a winner they immediately scheduled a "Media "Event" at the store that sold it.  That was Sunday and then on Monday they issued a Press Release saying the winner hasn't come forward yet and everybody wants to know who it is. 

With the way things have been going for the Hoosier Lottery lately I have a feeling they are desperate for some poistive news and I bet they release the winners name even if they do form a Trust.  Which to get back to the original question is, I think, the best way to go. 

Jim

I pick choice A based upon the poll question. I like to remain anonymous without having a sales tax.

I picked choice A.  I don't trust lawyers.  But then, I'm  not that concerned with staying anonymous anymore, either.  I know how to tell people "No."

Well since I live in Michigan neither options work for me.  So I guess if I win the Mega Millions I'll have to claim it and just let them take pics of me but I will probably avoid any interviews. 

I live in Michigan too and I think I'd lobby for anonymity laws to be passed though it'd be pointless for me, heh.

 I think I'd try and beg for my name not to get released and when it didn't work, I'd go do an interview saying how I didn't want to come forward but had no choice. Then get the people who'd reply to it with a  "how dare he say that, he just won millions of dollars, we have a right to know, blah blah blah" attitude.

I'd just try to disappear.