News writer
Winning the lottery is a dream come true — but does it have to come with instant fame? Virginia lawmakers don't think so.
A new bill, overwhelmingly passed by both the House and Senate, aims to give big winners a choice: stay anonymous or go public. If signed into law by the governor, it would mark a major shift in how lottery winners' identities are handled in the state.
House and Senate pass new bill
The Virginia House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a new bill, which is taking steps to increase the privacy of lottery winners in the state. The Virginia House unanimously voted to pass the bill 97-0, and the Virginia Senate passed the bill in a 35-4 vote.
The current law states that any Virginia Lottery winner of $10 or more could be publicly identified as the winner by lottery officials. Any lottery winner of $10 million or more in the state could remain anonymous if they chose to do so.
However, this new bill allows anyone who wins $1 million or more not to have their name released by the state unless they provide written consent. The law would still allow lottery officials to reveal the winner's name, hometown, and amount won for any prizes under $1 million.
These changes give lottery winners some security and peace of mind, advocates of the bill fought for. These changes would affect two sections of Virginia's Code: the Freedom of Information Act exclusions (§ 2.2-3705.7) and the lottery disclosure regulations (§ 58.1-4029).
Since the bill passed both the House and Senate in Virginia, it is now headed to the governor's desk for his signature. After he signs it, the law would go into effect.
Anonymity differs by state
Now that Virginia seems to be moving towards anonymity for larger lottery winners, they are joining the ranks of other states in the country that already do the same thing.
There are currently at least 22 other states that have laws in place to protect the privacy of lottery winners. These laws differ by state, with some having a threshold as low as $1 up to $1 million in other states like West Virginia and Texas.
In California, the law states lottery officials must release the winner's full name and where they bought the ticket. Colorado will only release the lottery winner's first name and last initial.
Arizona allows winners of $100,000 or more to keep their names confidential for 90 days and Florida does the same thing, but for winners of $250,000 or more.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, any winners of $10,000 or more for in-state games can prevent lottery officials from making their name public. However, lottery officials require any Michigan residents who win big playing multistate lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions to release their names publicly along with the dollar amount they won. A new bill introduced this legislative session would allow for these multistate lottery winners in Michigan to also remain anonymous, if they chose to do so.
Enjoy playing the Virginia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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