Fraudulent schemer Mirlande Wilson has been exposed. Wilson is the Maryland McDonald’s worker who first claimed she won the $600 million Mega Millions jackpot lottery and then later claimed she lost the winning ticket.
Now, an anonymous winner has emerged. Although Maryland law does not require lottery winners to reveal their identities to the public, it is safe to say Mirlande Wilson is not the winner. We will never know who actually won unless that person changes his or her mind and consents to public disclosure.
That brings up a question about anonymity in lottery winnings. Suppose someone does participate in lottery pools, which is when multiple players lump their money together to increase their odds of winning. Having a state law of anonymity could actually allow the ticket holder to abscond with all the money, much of which would be owed to the other players in the lottery pool.
Out of deference to private agreements, states should not allow anonymity of lottery winners. If I were a lottery player and lived in a state like Maryland with anonymity guaranteed for lottery winners, I would avoid playing in lottery pools unless I were the one taking all the money and buying the tickets at the store. Human greed is just too high to trust someone like that.
But in a state without such an anonymity law, you can always find out who won. Whether anonymity laws like the one in Maryland increase or decrease lottery ticket sales is not clear. As someone who does not participate in lottery pools with others (it doesn’t really increase your odds by that much and is a logistical nightmare), I would like anonymity if I buy a winning lottery ticket. The problem is you can’t have a dual system because you can’t take a winner’s word for it that he bought the ticket only with his own money. States should generally not provide anonymity laws based on the undeniable fact that lottery pools are a common practice.