Can You Stay Anonymous After Winning the Lottery in Minnesota?

Winning the lottery sounds amazing, but to keep it that way it's important to be smart about how you handle winning. Think about it: if you won the Mega Millions jackpot today would you be prepared? Would you be ready for the media attention and everyone suddenly knowing your name and exactly how much money you just won? It actually sounds a bit scary, right? Right now you're probably asking yourself a big question: if I win the lottery can I remain anonymous?

Whether or not you can win the lottery anonymously actually depends on quite a few things, such as the amount of money you won and with which lottery game you won it.

Minnesota also changed its privacy laws in 2021, so keep reading to find out exactly when you can win the lottery anonymously, and when you can't.

But why would I even want to win the lottery anonymously?

Becoming one of Minnesota's biggest lottery winners would be a pretty exciting event.

That doesn't mean it doesn't come with a lot of tough questions, like how much of the winnings will be left after taxes and whether or not to win the lottery anonymously.

Unfortunately, there are some serious downsides to publicly winning the lottery. The bigger the jackpot, the more of a threat it will be to your sense of privacy and security. Reporters and journalists might camp out in front of your home for days, while every business, charity, and old acquaintance of yours in Minnesota will come asking for a piece of your prize.

Worst of all, lottery winners have often been targeted by scammers and criminals, such as shady lawyers and even simple house burglars.

So why can't everyone win the lottery anonymously?

However, even with all the risks involved, there are many times and places you can't stay anonymous after winning the lottery.

There are a few reasons for this. For one, the general public trusts the lottery more when they get to see ordinary people actually winning it. Also, because state lotteries involve public funds that fund state programs and good causes, many see it as the public's right to know who receives lottery money.

Transparency is also important in making it clear that no one from inside the lottery is rigging the sysem. While these kinds of scandals almost never happen in real life, giving out some public information on lottery winners helps reassure people that everything is above board.

How to remain anonymous if you win the lottery in Minnesota

The good news is that Minnesota passed a law in 2021 that lets more of its lottery winners remain anonymous.

As of September 1, 2021, if you win more than $10,000 Minnesota automatically keeps your information private. This means that while the Minnesota Lottery knows your name and home city, no one else will get that information unless you personally decide that you want them to.

If you win less than $10,000 your name and home city are considered public data. This means that anyone can request that information. The Minnesota Lottery is making an effort to protect its winners as much as possible, though, and will no longer publicly post about lottery winners on their website without first receiving consent to do so. In fact, they have even gone to the trouble of removing the information of past winners who won before the new law went into effect from their website.

So if I win the lottery can I remain anonymous?

Minnesota has taken a lot of important steps to protect the privacy of its lottery winners. You can now play the lottery knowing that if you managed to beat the Mega Millions odds and win a spectacular jackpot, only you decide whether to go public, and even if you win less than $10,000 the Minnesota Lottery will stay as discrete as legally possible about your winnings.

While all this will be music to the ears of Minnesotan lottery players, make sure to remember that this doesn't apply to all lottery games in the states. The rules are different for lotteries with merchandise-only prizes and some scratchcard games, so check out the Minnesota Lottery website for more information on how to remain anonymous if you win the lottery.

You can't win if you don't play!

All this means that there's never been a better time to play the Minnesota Lottery online, but whether or not you can stay anonymous after winning the lottery only matters if you play the lottery!

Buy your lottery tickets today!