Reason we may never know who won $1.9 billion lottery
As America waits for the winner of the $1.9 billion Mega Millions jackpot to claim their prize, the truth is we may never know who the lucky person is.
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There’s a chance the identity of the person who won $US1.337 billion ($A1.9 billion) in America’s Mega Millions jackpot will never be known.
Under Illinois state rules, lottery winners of more than $US250,000 ($A357,000) can choose to remain anonymous.
The winning ticket to the mind-boggling fortune was sold at the Speedy Cafe Speedway petrol station in Des Plaines, lottery officials have said.
No one has come forward yet to claim the massive prize, with lotto officials saying it’s not even clear whether the winner was an individual or pool, the New York Post reports.
Illinois is one of a few states that allow lotto winners the option of anonymity.
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While in Australia, all lottery winners have the option to remain anonymous, that isn’t the case in the US. Only some states offer winners some form of anonymity, including New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, according to a list compiled by Fox News.
But in New York, winners should expect to be required to attend a public announcement or press event, according to the state lottery’s website.
“The New York Lottery is a government agency and Lottery prizes are public funds, so we owe it to all our players to disclose the names of winners,” the site says.
Still, lotto anonymity has gained momentum in the US in recent years, including in New York, where a proposal was passed the state legislature in 2019 before being vetoed by then-governor Andrew Cuomo.
The winner of America’s highest ever lottery prize – for $US1.537 billion ($A2.2 billion), purchased in South Carolina in 2018 – has never been revealed.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Reason we may never know who won $1.9 billion lottery