$196 Million Ohio Lotto Winner Chooses Anonymity - 06-30-08

June 30 - While it is not uncommon for attention-loving Americans to seek out their '15 minutes' of fame anyway they can, such as appearing on the Jerry Springer, or as a criminal on hit TV show Cops, or in a College porn movie, an Ohio $196 million Mega Millions lottery winner has chosen to stay anonymous.

In most states in America, large lottery jackpot winners must be identified by law. Case in point. Just last week, an ex-convict called Fred Topous Jr won a $56 million Mega Millions jackpot, a truly life-changing event.

Topous soon made headlines, though, not so much for the $34 million lump sum payout he chose, but instead for the heinous sex crimes he was convicted of many year's earlier and did prison time for as a result.

I guess no one says that your proverbial 15 minutes of fame have to be pleasant. Just ask any honored Darwin Awards recipient, high-profile rape victim, or innocent school kid caught up in the middle of yet another senseless school shooting.

However, in the case of the $196 million Mega Millions jackpot winner, his or her winnings were claimed last Friday by their lawyer on behalf of 'The Anthony Trust' which is a legal way of protecting the winner's identity in Ohio.

While the name of the winner is known to Ohio Lottery officials, an exception to the Ohio Public Records Act means that winners can have their lottery jackpots paid out to 'a trust' as opposed to them as an individual. This 'loophole' means that state officials don't have to reveal their identities.

Said Ohio Lottery spokesperson, Marie Kilbane, 'Not every state has this exception. However, here in Ohio it's legality that allows large lottery winners to keep their identities a secret, presumably to stop greedy friends, relatives, strangers and companies from crawling out of the woodwork'.