[imagesource: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post]

The town of Lonaconing, in Maryland, has a population of 1 200 people, or around 400 families.

It’s the sort of town where keeping secrets is probably rather tough, but somehow the winner (or winners) of a $731 million Powerball jackpot (around R10,3 billion) has managed to do just that.

Coney, as the locals call it, is being torn apart by whispers and rumours, with many residents trying to unearth the identity of the winner of the biggest jackpot ever in Maryland, and the fifth-richest payout in US history.

The ticket, with six numbers, was sold to somebody who lives in the town, according to the owner of Coney Market, from where it was bought.

But Maryland is one of seven US states that allow lottery winners to remain anonymous, and that is most definitely a good thing.

Below via The Washington Post:

An anonymous letter circulated naming a 76-year-old grandfather of seven and his longtime partner as the winners. Besieged with requests for free money, they denied being sudden multimillionaires.

Gold diggers poured into town. People showed up from Georgia and Ohio and Arkansas, asking for a piece of the prize to care for an ailing relative, or to save their struggling farm, or to pay for that European trip they’ve yearned to take…

“They say, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get,’ ” said the guy being asked, Richard Ravenscroft, who owns the market. “People don’t know the winner’s name. I’m the person whose name they do know, so they ask me.”

Asking for a handout to look after a sick relative or save a farm I can understand, but imagine trying to wangle a trip to Europe out of a stranger?

People even tried to use the winning numbers – 40, 53, 60, 68, 69 and Powerball 22 – to unearth the winner, thinking they may be the age of family members.

That’s particularly daft, because the lottery organisation has confirmed that the winner bought tickets with random numbers selected by the ticketing machine.

Town residents are now becoming increasingly impatient that none of the money has yet been used to improve life in the town, which has fallen on hard times

The poverty rate of 24% is twice the number for the state of Maryland:

But the first thing on most minds is the simplest question of all: Who won? The golden ticket was purchased in January, and the winner — winners, actually; it’s a group of unknown size that calls itself the “Power Pack” — claimed the award in late May. (The $731 million will end up being $367 million because the winners chose a lump-sum payment rather than 30 years of installments, plus the feds and the state take a hefty share as taxes.)…

“Everyone is still, ‘Who is it?’ ” said Bob Fazenbaker, 67, who’s retired from the auto parts store up the road from the market.

Anybody who has recently bought a new car, or done any form of renovation to their property, has had accusations levelled against them.

Even the simple act of heading to the local casino can arouse suspicion.

Many believe the winners are Wilbur Miller and Nancy Winebrenner, and they were the two people named in the anonymous letter that did the rounds.

They were so inundated with requests and meetings that they were forced to hire security and a lawyer to look into harassment, before writing a letter to the local paper denying that they won.

The mayor himself argues that Miller couldn’t have won, because, on the day that a lottery winner travelled to Baltimore to claim the prize, the two of them spent the day together in Lonaconing.

Perhaps he’s being paid to provide an alibi, I would imagine some townsfolk arguing.

Ravenscroft says that sooner or later, the truth will come out:

The winner can’t hide forever, Ravenscroft figures. Win millions, and you’re going to want to spend some of it. Then the pressure from friends and family and neighbors and gold diggers will become impossible.

“We’ll find out who the winners are,” the shopkeeper says, “when they quietly move away.”

Tough to argue with that. I would be packing up my things as we speak.

There’s even a 2010 documentary, Lucky, that looks at how striking out rich can instantly turn people against you:

[source:washpost]