On March 7, the Pennsylvania Lottery celebrated its 50th birthday. A half-century, hard to believe, right? That’s when a 50-cent ticket went on sale in the lottery’s first game, and a winner would receive a top prize of $50,000, and there would be periodic drawings for $1 million prizes.

Now, Pennsylvanians participate with residents of other states as they seek massive Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots. Winners from California, Florida and Tennessee shared the largest jackpot to date - the $1.586 billion Powerball haul in 2016.

Right from the beginning, this question arose: Should the names of lottery winners be made public, or should winners have an option to remain anonymous?

Most states have opted to keep the names of big lottery winners public, but there has been an ever-increasing drumbeat to shield winners from public view because of instances where big winners were targeted by fraud and, in some cases, physical violence. Some of these incidents involved family members who felt they were entitled to share in the wealth.

Now, State Sen. John Yudichak, I-Carbon and Luzerne, wants to pass legislation that would give winners the option to keep their names private. Yudichak is seeking co-sponsors for the legislation, which he plans to introduce soon. If the winner declines release of his or her name, only the winner’s city and county would be revealed.

In his memo to potential co-sponsors, Yudichak, who chairs the Senate’s Community Economic and Recreational Development Committee, said, “While recognizing the importance of transparency in Pennsylvania Lottery operations, I believe it is equally important to protect our lottery winners’ privacy and protect them from criminals and scam artists who prey upon big jackpot winners.’’

Only eight states allow winners to keep their names secret, but even these can remain anonymous so long as their winnings are below a certain threshold. The states are: Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

So why publicize the names? To prevent any hanky-panky, that’s why. A former computer programmer of the Multi-State Lottery Association was convicted on charges of rigging the lottery by writing code to allow him to predict the randomly drawn numbers of multimillion jackpots in five states. He was released on parole earlier this month after serving five of a 20-year sentence, but he could go back to jail if he doesn’t make $1.6 million in restitution to the defrauded states.

As word of scams and violence upon lottery winners spreads, courts and judges have become more sympathetic to requests for anonymity. For example, in New Hampshire, a judge in Merrimack ruled in favor of a $560 million winner who asked to remain anonymous. In his ruling, the judge said that if “Ms. Doe’s” name were revealed she could be “subject to an alarming amount of harassment, solicitation and other unwanted communications.” He added that this in itself is reason enough to keep her name and address private.

During my search, I found that although the names of many big prize winners are publicized with their pictures taken holding supersized checks with the amounts on them, others are not.

An example was last year when the winners of the biggest lottery jackpot in Pennsylvania history claimed their winnings but stayed anonymous in the process. The winning ticket in May 21’s $516 million Mega Millions lottery drawing was sold at a convenience store in Bucks County and won by a five-member group from the Peace of Mind Trust. The winners requested anonymity. The group’s attorneys issued a statement, which said, “The winners live in small communities in eastern Pennsylvania and desire to keep their lives as normal as possible. Maintaining anonymity is key to ensuring that normalcy.”

On the other hand, some winners are publicized in a big way. Take for example Brian Mineweaser, 49, of Chester County, who won the $1 million prize awarded just after midnight in January during ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

When I went to the Pennsylvania Lottery website to find out whether names were routinely published, I found that the names of some winners included just a first name and last initial and the county in which they lived. For example, last December in the Pick 6 game, two winners from Carbon County were shown: Gregory B., $1,027, and Linda A., $1,025. No hometowns were listed. There were five winners from Schuylkill County during the same month with about the same amounts of winnings. If I or anyone else want their full names and hometowns, and want to go through the trouble, we could file a Right to Know request. Even so, no addresses or phone numbers are provided.

Why does the lottery publicize names in the first place? Several years ago, a lottery spokesman answered that question by saying that these disclosures help reassure the public that the winners are real people and that the lottery operates with transparency and integrity.

Keep the law as it is, and require the lottery to continue to name the winners of large prizes. By doing so, it gives us confidence that at least one thing in our lives isn’t rigged.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.