RALEIGH — North Carolina state lawmakers want to allow more lottery winners to claim their prizes anonymously, citing stories of jackpot winners harassed by friends, family and outsiders.
A Senate committee on Wednesday quickly approved Senate Bill 402 to allow winners of $5 million or more to claim their prizes without being publicly identified. Current law allows winners of $50 million or more to keep their identities confidential.
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Sen. Ralph Hise, a Republican, amended the bill from its original $1-million threshold at the request of the North Carolina Lottery Commission, which “does use prize winners as advertising and those kinds of things and try to show people that somebody actually can win.”
Hise said the bill comes from a conversation he had with someone who won $5 million from a scratch-off ticket. Hise said professionals with investment opportunities routinely showed up at the winner’s door.
“There’s no reason to subject that kind of individual to that,” Hise said.
The North Carolina Education Lottery said that, in 2024, there were four wins of $5 million or more and 75 wins of $1 million or more.
Critics argue identifying winners can help make the process transparent.
A similar bill in the House (HB 401) would allow any lottery winner to claim their prize without identifying themselves publicly.
Under both pending bills, the winners would still have to make their identities known to the North Carolina Department of Revenue, the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities.