Live data from Hacker News

Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

msn.com

201–210 of 230 posts

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#201
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And print out an official lotto receipt on their official paper.... come on.

Who stays for their losing receipt?

Probably not many people do, but the point was made in regards to the comment that "a lot of people are cheated out of their winnings". I made the comment to simply point out that may have been the case in the future, but most modern lottery corporations have made efforts to eliminate that.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#202
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re: redacting names from Forbes lists and the like - and if it did? What is the point of said lists beyond a congratulatory pat on the back for those who want it? In this particular case, there is precedence where winning has been detrimental to the winners specifically for the sake of winning (scams, murders, etc.). I think that substantially outweighs the "need" for transparency of the lottery system to seem above…

This assumes you trust your government to actually award it to someone and you trust the ones running the lottery that who it was awarded to happened actually by chance. Because you'll never be able to investigate either without making the information available to someone outside the government (and even then, do you trust an "independent" auditor?). Transparency in government actions has value sometimes, even at the…

while that is very true, but what guarantees do I have that the people winning it publicly aren't actors, friends/family of lottery workers, etc.?

If I'm willing to pony up money at absurd odds for a chance to win a larger stack of money, honestly, I don't know how much private/public disclosure of winner is going to affect that. People go to casinos to gamble where the games are inherently stacked against you yet continue to do so.

I just think it is a concern for transparency that need not be there, honestly. Obviously, that's just an individual's opinion, but I don't think it benefits to the degree is assumed. There are some states in which you can win anonymously, and their lotteries are doing fine.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#203
post #6

I hope she wins. There's a pretty funny (or sad, I suppose) reddit comment about winning the lottery that seems pretty true: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_... Winning the lottery (publicly, at least) seems to be a real monkey's paw wish.

You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Let me say that again. You're not going to double your money, so cool it.

My dad grew up in the Great Depression. He used to say "The best way to double your money is fold it in half and stick it in your pocket."

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#204
I'm surprised you can't set up a shell corporation to collect the winnings and then pay you a monthly salary or something. Probably not proof against the most sophisticated of account thieves, but it keeps your name out of the papers. Is part of the law that the person who bought the ticket must be the one to redeem it?

Or maybe just hire an accountant/lawyer to cash the ticket and transfer the funds to her account? I mean she's got the money now.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#205
Both her, and Shane Missler, who won the Mega Millions in January should just disappear. I think her problem is that she wants her life to remain largely the same. Well it can't and it won't. But a few hundred million dollars gives you plenty of opportunities to start over, at any age, and take care of your inner circle from wherever in the world you want to live.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#206

I'm surprised you can't set up a shell corporation to collect the winnings and then pay you a monthly salary or something. Probably not proof against the most sophisticated of account thieves, but it keeps your name out of the papers. Is part of the law that the person who bought the ticket must be the one to redeem it? Or maybe just hire an accountant/lawyer to cash the ticket and transfer the funds to her account?…

Read the other comments on the thread. It’s possible to sign it as a trust as they are legal entities. Also, she already signed so she can’t use the trust option otherwise the ticket becomes nullified.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good, a tax on the uneducated, desperate, and mathematically illiterate is cruel and morally reprehensible to begin with. Propping it all up with publicity generated at the direct expense of the winners is pathetic.

What about those who are educated, successful and well versed in the mathematics of probability? They should be prevented from playing because you feel that some people should be protected from themselves? Or do we now need an IQ test before certain types of activities can be enjoyed?

Who is talking about preventing anyone? All it's being said is that they won't get the name of the previous winners.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#208

I think this is a good argument for restructuring the lottery. From what I gather, the big jackpots used to be smaller and the small wins used to be more frequent. They changed how it works because the larger the payouts of the big jackpot, the more of a ticket buying frenzy you have. Everyone actually wants to win. But not necessarily life changing amounts of money of this magnitude. We should go back to more small…

The Spanish Christmas Lottery (El Gordo de Navidad) has a curious system: rather than a different number per ticket, there are about 170 tickets with each number (it varies each year), and so the first prize is divided by them, which gives about 4M€ to each. But furthermore, each ticket is expensive (200€), so they sell tenths of each ticket individually. These tickets are also usually distributed sequentially, not r…

There was a 99% Invisible piece about that lottery last year, at https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/el-gordo/ . It focused on the town of Sodeto, where everyone won in 2011, except for one person.

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#209
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because, and I'll quote from article, "she signed her name on the back of the ticket shortly after winning, and altering the signature would nullify the ticket." That is, she could have formed an anonymous trust, but now it's too late.

This is completely unrelated to the question you're supposedly responding to. Some people are advancing the argument that it serves an important societal interest to publish this woman's name. Specifically, it builds trust in the lottery by publicizing that somebody won. bachmeier is pointing out that you could accomplish this equally well by making up a name and publishing it as the lottery winner. The fact that som…

I totally did not get that. I thought the suggestion was for the lottery winner to make up a name - an option which was no longer available.

Even looking at it now, while I can see that interpretation, it doesn't come easily to mind.

Thanks for pointing that out!

Re: Lottery winner asking a judge to let her keep the cash and remain anonymous

#210
post #106
post #6

I hope she wins. There's a pretty funny (or sad, I suppose) reddit comment about winning the lottery that seems pretty true: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vzgl/you_just_... Winning the lottery (publicly, at least) seems to be a real monkey's paw wish.

I really disagree with the common advice to take the lump sum - unless the winner is elderly. It seems to be centered on the idea that you can earn more interest/dividends yourself, but there are a few problems with that. 1. To get higher rates of return, you expose yourself to more risk of losses. The risk is real, i.e., you could lose everything. 2. You need even better (riskier) returns to pay for all the legal/in…

The main reason to take the lump sum is if you want to do things that cost more than the annuity. For example, starting a company, purchasing a company, running a political campaign, giving a large donation (e.g. endowing a position at a university), etc.
Post reply on HN