January 24, 2025
Discover the story of Illinois' record $552 million Mega Millions jackpot won anonymously online. Learn about Illinois State Lottery's privacy rules, the use of the winnings for the state's Common School Fund, and a related lottery ticket fraud investigation
A recent $552 million dollar jackpot was claimed in Illinois by a resident who has chosen to remain anonymous. The resident had purchased their ticket online, and this amount is the largest ever jackpot for the online Mega Millions in the country. It is also the second-biggest prize in state lottery history.
Playing the Lottery is a common practice for many people throughout Illinois. It’s as simple as purchasing a ticket for $2 at a gas station on your way to work with the hopes of lucking out and cashing out, or, as in the case of the anonymous recent winner, as simple as clicking a link online and entering your credit or debit card information.
A big factor in the Lottery is the identity of those who have won big. Many people would prefer to keep their names confidential, so as to avoid being hounded by friends and family, and even random strangers, for a payout. It can also be a matter of safety – lottery winners who are identified may be subjected to harassment, burglary attempts, blackmail, and even kidnapping. So, flying below the radar when it comes to revealing such a large monetary windfall seems very prudent and advisable.
According to the state lottery rules, those who have won a grand prize of $250,000 or more can choose to remain anonymous. Since this latest jackpot totaled more than $500 million, the winner was well beyond the threshold amount to be able to keep her identity out of the public sphere.
The Illinois Department of the Lottery created the Personal Identity Information Protection Policy under the Identity Protection Act and the Personal Information Protection Act of the Illinois Compiled Statutes. As detailed in the policy statement, the purpose of the policy is to ensure that the Department “maintains the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the information it acquires from its retailers, employees, contractors, vendors, and customers.” It also “establishes guidelines and procedures to address the protection, collection and utilization” of personal identity information.
This policy applies to individuals and businesses who are part of the lottery ecosystem, at all parts of the supply chain, and beyond, who have interacted with the Department of the Lottery and provided it with otherwise confidential information about themselves. “Personal Identity Information” is defined in the policy as “an individual's first name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements, when either the name or the data elements are not encrypted or redacted:”
Any information that is publicly available and done so via lawful means, and is from local, state, or federal government records, does not count as personal identity information.
The policy includes provisions for:
The Lottery in Illinois is governed by, no surprise here, an Act in the Compiled Statutes known as the “Illinois Lottery Law”. It was enacted to “implement and establish within the State a lottery to be conducted by the State through the Department.” Section 2 of the Act goes on to explain that “the entire net proceeds of the Lottery are to be used for the support of the State's Common School Fund”.
The Illinois General Assembly found that it is in the public interest to have the Lottery be overseen by a third-party signatory to a management agreement with the Department of the Lottery. The Act lays out the responsibilities of the Department and states that it “shall be accountable to the General Assembly and the people of the State through a comprehensive system of regulation, audits, reports, and enduring operational oversight.”
The Department's administration of the Lottery through a management agreement with a private manager is done with the intent to “promote and ensure the integrity, security, honesty, and fairness of the Lottery's operation and administration.”
So, clearly, there are safeguards in place in Illinois to make sure the lottery system is run smoothly. The main factor is that the Lottery maintains a high level of reliability. It must be as immune as possible to any type of fraud. But it proves to be too enticing for some people to pass up the possibility of hoodwinking the lotto.
Two people in Grundy County wanted in on the potentially massive payouts that a winning lottery ticket could provide and purportedly may have engaged in a lottery ticket fraud. Officers from the Minooka Police Department attempted to apprehend the suspected fraudsters, who were wanted for the lottery ticket fraud investigation. The suspects fled from police and continued along Bluff Road.
The neighboring Channahon Police Department was dispatched to help and set up spike strips on Center Street in Channahon. The suspects were able to avoid the spike strips by jumping the curb along the street.
Reports indicate that in so doing, the car carrying the suspects almost hit a Minooka Police Officer before crashing into a ditch on the side of the road. Officers were able to immediately apprehend the passenger and take them into custody, while the driver took off on foot into the adjoining woods.
The Grundy County Sheriff’s Department, the Will County Sheriff’s Department, the Joliet Police Department, and the Illinois State Police all assisted in setting up a perimeter to try to locate the fleeing driver. K9 units and drones were brought in to help.
Within a couple of hours, a report to the police indicated a person who matched the description of the suspect had run across a local golf course. Staff at the golf course managed to clear the course with the help of deputies, and the suspect was found and arrested shortly thereafter.
There is not much background information available relating to what initially happened with the suspects and their alleged lottery ticket fraud. It may have been that they had falsely claimed to have won and tried to collect money, or they tried to turn in a counterfeit lottery ticket, but this is just conjecture.
Section 20 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes delves into fraud and counterfeiting. The language related to fraudulent lottery tickets reads that “any person who, with intent to defraud, shall falsely make, alter, forge, utter, pass or counterfeit a lottery ticket or share issued by the State of Illinois under this Act shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.”
It goes on to explain that “it shall be prima facie evidence of intent to defraud for a person to possess a lottery ticket or share issued by the State under this Act if he or she knows that ticket or share was falsely made, altered, forged, uttered, passed, or counterfeited.”
So, this means that any person who has in their possession a fake lottery ticket that they created and has the intent to use it for fraudulent purposes but has not yet actually carried out the action of trying to pass off the fake ticket as real is already guilty of a felony. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t yet made the attempt.
This begs the question of what must happen to alert authorities if that person hasn’t actually tried to use the ticket yet. The statute may contain a tiny loophole, but it may not necessarily need to be sealed, considering how unlikely it would be for a person to “accidentally” invoke it. The suspects in the case at hand must have done something to bring this about; otherwise, what would all of the fuss have been about?
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