Q: With the Mega Million lottery jackpot at more than a billion dollars if someone from North Carolina wins it, do they have the option to stay anonymous or do they have to release their identity? M.B.
Answer: Van Denton, the communications director for the N.C. Education Lottery, said that you can remain anonymous for a while after winning a major jackpot, but eventually, your identity will be made public.
“In North Carolina, the law allows a winner of a lottery prize of $50 million or more to opt to stay anonymous for 90 days after they claim the prize. A winner also has 180 days to claim the jackpot.
“So, it would be possible for someone to keep it quiet for nine months if they waited till the 180 days was up, claimed the prize, and then opted to be anonymous for 90 days.
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“At the end of the 90 days, however, the basic information on the winner — name, where they are from, how much they won, and the game they placed — would be public.
“All our jackpot winners so far have opted to do news conferences. They’ve found that once they share the news they can pretty much go back to their private lives,” Denton said.
Email: AskSAM@wsjournal.com
Write: Ask SAM, 418 N. Marshall St., #100, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
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