GOP argues for lottery privacy bill

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican leaders are trying to convince their colleagues to pass a bill that would allow lottery winners to keep their identities secret.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos introduced the bill in April on the same day that Manuel Franco of West Allis claimed a $768 million Powerball prize. Franco told reporters he started feeling paranoid when he realized he had won.

Vos submitted written remarks to the Assembly Committee on State Affairs during a public hearing on the bill Wednesday. He says the bill would protect “the sanctity of a citizen’s privacy.” Bill co-sponsor Gary Tauchen told the committee that most people don’t want identifying information released to the public.

The bill would prohibit a retailer who sold a lottery ticket, state lottery officials and the state Department of Revenue from releasing winners’ names without their consent. The measure also would exempt any written records of winners’ names from Wisconsin’s open records law.