You Won The Lottery! But, Can You Stay Anonymous In Illinois?

Maybe you're someone who drops a few bucks now and then on lottery tickets, especially when we get into the billion-dollar jackpots like we saw just a few weeks back. While we're at it, imagine for a second that you've won really big money.

Or, maybe you're someone who has never and will never throw your money away on something that gives you odds for winning of 292.2 million to one. For you, let's imagine that you've lightened up for a second and bought a lottery ticket that matched all the winning numbers.

For either side in this scenario, keeping your identity private so you're not deluged with people wanting a cut of your cash would be very important--but can you do that in Illinois, or do they release your name to the world?

I Hate To Be The Bearer Of Bad Tidings, But If You Play The Lottery In Illinois And Want To Remain Anonymous If You Win A Big Jackpot---You Probably Should Have Moved To Another State

Actually, I could and should be a bit more precise. Here in Illinois, if you win a lottery jackpot worth over $250,000 you can request to keep your name and hometown confidential. I guess that Illinois lottery officials think that prize money totaling less than a quarter million dollars just isn't worth anyone's time to bug a winner for a few bucks.

If you wanted to keep all that information to yourself, these states are happy to try to accommodate you, so maybe go win a lottery in one of them (hat tip to MyHighPlains.com):

• Delaware: Winners are allowed to remain anonymous, regardless of prize size.
• Kansas: Winners in Kansas can request to remain anonymous.
• Maryland: In most cases, winners can remain anonymous.
• Mississippi: The state lottery won’t identify a winner unless they have given written consent.
• Missouri: Your name is only released if you give the lottery written consent
• Montana: Your name is not released, but where you live may be.
• New Jersey: Winners can choose to remain anonymous.
• North Dakota: Winners have the option to remain anonymous
• South Carolina: A winner in South Carolina can remain anonymous, despite recent efforts to change that.
• Wyoming: Winners can remain anonymous or give permission to the state’s lottery to share some information.