Anonymity sought by lottery winners.

Byline: Alan Blinder

RALEIGH, N.C. -- If you are lucky enough to win the lottery here, there is one thing you are virtually certain to lose: your privacy.

Like most of the 44 states with lotteries, North Carolina considers the identities of winners of large prizes to be a matter of public record. But this year, in which winners already have come forward more than 40 times to claim awards that the state publicized, lawmakers have considered whether the winners should be allowed to collect their money without having their names disclosed.

At the urging of lottery officials who warned that anonymity would threaten the appeal of the games -- and ultimately the revenue that flows into the state's treasury -- a legislative committee rejected the proposal last week. The issue, though, has surfaced in at least 10 states in recent years, and industry executives believe it will continue to be a subject of debate at a time when dozens of state governments rely on lotteries to relieve their strained budgets.

"I think it's the curse of the lottery that your name is out there forever,'' said Patrick Nowlin, who lives in southern Wisconsin and won a $41 million Powerball jackpot in 2007. "You've always got to keep looking out for a scam. Even after seven years, every once in a while I get a suspicious phone call.''

But lottery executives insist that disclosure, not just clever marketing or visions of tropical getaways, is the foundation of the public's interest and confidence in the games they offer.

"It's the best way we have of assuring our players that we offer honest and fair games, that anyone has a chance to win,'' said Alice Garland, the executive director of North Carolina's lottery, which had more than $1.8 billion in sales in fiscal 2014. "If you don't provide the winners' names, then I think it becomes suspicious as to whether there really are winners or not.''

A handful of lotteries, including those in Delaware, Kansas and Maryland, already allow winners to keep their identities private. Others allow trusts, instead of individuals, to claim prizes. But with sweeping secrecy offered only rarely, critics say the lotteries are exploiting winners by claiming that they are merely guarding the integrity of the games.

"Lottery officials are just more than willing to sell these people out and throw them to the wolves by the publicizing of their faces and their names so they can sell more lottery tickets the next time around,'' said Andrew Stoltmann, a...