After Iowa gas station employee Timothy Schultz won a $29 million lottery jackpot in 1999, he decided to hold a press conference. Lottery officials told him it would help him avoid being “hounded by media” since state law required his name to be disclosed anyway.

But the then-21-year-old soon felt the consequences of his overnight fame.

He felt like a “deer in headlights,” and his life immediately changed: Strangers regularly asked him for autographs or to “rub him for good luck.” Shultz, now in his 40s, said he would consider remaining anonymous today if he were given the choice.

“I wasn’t just Tim anymore, I was Tim the lottery winner,” Shultz said.

Saturday’s drawing is for $1.8 billion

Saturday’s $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot is the second-largest in history, but even if there is a winner, don’t expect to find out who they are or how they plan to use their winnings — unlike when Schultz won, most winners can now remain anonymous.

Lawmakers in many states have changed the rules in recent decades to protect winners from being targeted by criminals and unscrupulous people asking for money. And even in the approximately two dozen states where names are disclosed, winners are advised to avoid public scrutiny.

Kurt Panouses is a lottery lawyer who has represented winners for decades, including some worth hundreds of millions.

Panouses advises his clients to use intermediaries where possible and claim their prizes on busy news days, such as Election Day, to avoid coverage.

Panouses regularly fields inquiries from investors, scammers and people in need, all trying to reach his clients.

“It’s hard for people who don’t have the experience or life perspective to say no,” Panouses said.

Long history of public disclosure

It wasn’t always this way. For centuries, public disclosure of those with winning tickets was an essential part of ensuring people could trust lotteries.

Lotteries in America date to the 1700s, when governments, like now, used them to raise money. Jonathan D. Cohen, the author of “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America,” said they were born out of a “distinctly American desire for government services without paying taxes for them.”

Early on, they were more like raffles. Winners would be announced at fairs with ticket holders in the audience.

In the 1980s, in some states, Cohen said, people would buy tickets to jackpot games with in-person drawings. About 20 people would stand on stage and one would win. Their emotional personal stories helped fuel the popularity of lotteries.

“Here’s this housewife, here’s this orphan,” Cohen said. “The person who wins the lottery is sitting right there and, of course, immediately starts weeping.”

The big multi-state lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions, which roll over prize money when no one wins and generate ever-larger jackpots, disrupted that approach, he said.

It reduced the human element but allowed for bigger prizes.

Nine states allow all lottery winners to remain completely anonymous for all lotteries. Ten states allow lottery winners to remain anonymous for wins above a certain amount, ranging from $10,000 in Minnesota to $10 million in Virginia.