The third time was the charm Tuesday for a bill to allow lotto winners to keep their names hidden from the public.
House Bill 1382, by Rep. Jim Sorvillo, R-Little Rock, passed by a narrow vote of the House on Tuesday, after previously having failed twice. The anonymity bill would apply to winners of jackpots worth more than $500,000.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
Sorvillo said he was inspired to run the bill after reading stories of lotto winners in other states being harassed, and even killed, over their winnings.
Opponents of the bill argued that people always have the option to not play the lotto, and that debt collectors may need to know if people who owe them win it big.
Sorvillo's bill passed by a vote of 53-30, after surviving a procedural challenge.
-- John Moritz