神祕伊拉克人買美國彩票中640萬美元
SEATTLE — The man from Baghdad showed up unannounced this month in a state office building in Salem, Oregon, with a piece of paper in his hand that he said was worth $6.4 million. He politely asked that his name be kept quiet, then told state officials that he had set up a local bank account into which they should deposit money annually. And then he went away, richer and more mysterious than when he arrived.
西雅圖——來自巴格達的這名男子本月突然出現在俄勒岡州塞勒姆市的一座政府辦公樓前，手中握着一張據他稱價值640萬美元的紙。他禮貌地要求對他的名字保密，而後告訴政府官員，他已開立一個本地的銀行賬戶，他們應該將錢按年存入。然後他轉身離開，比來時更富有也更神祕。
It was not an ordinary day at the Oregon Lottery.
這是俄勒岡州博彩(Oregon Lottery)不尋常的一天。
The story started with small details, lottery officials said, and became bigger from there: The man was 37, an Iraqi Kurd. He had recently arrived in the United States from his home in Baghdad, and he said in fine English that he had won the Oregon Megabucks lottery drawing in late August by possessing the six correct numbers — without ever having visited the state.
博彩官員稱，這個故事從小細節開始，然後開始延伸：這名男子37歲，是伊拉克庫爾德人。他最近離開巴格達的家來到美國，英語流利，他在8月下旬憑藉六個正確號碼贏得俄勒岡大百萬(Oregon Megabucks)彩票抽獎——那時他甚至還沒有來過這個國家。
The ticket, lottery officials learned, had been bought through , a company based in the island nation of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea, but had been printed out in a little deli on the outskirts of Bend, Oregon, called Binky's.
博彩官員瞭解到，這張彩票通過一家總部設在地中海島國馬耳他的公司購買，但在俄勒岡本德市郊區一家名爲Binky's的小熟食店打印。
Lottery officials' jaws dropped. Then they picked up the phone, calling the Department of Justice and Interpol. Was the man who he said he was, a successful businessman who had bought his ticket online? Was he on any kind of watch list? And how on earth would a lottery ticket from Binky's, of all places, end up in the possession of a man from halfway around the world?
博彩官員十分驚訝。然後他們拿起電話，呼叫司法部(Department of Justice)和國際刑警組織(Interpol)。這名男子是否如他自己所說，是在網上購買彩票的成功商人？他是否處在任何類型的監視名單中？Binky's售出的一張彩票，最終怎麼會偏偏落入半個地球開外的人手中？
But there was more: Despite Oregon laws that make lottery winners' names public, the man wanted anonymity. His life, and the lives of members of his family, he said, could be put in danger back home if his new net worth became known.
但故事不止如此：儘管俄勒岡法律公開彩票中獎者的名字，但這名男子希望匿名。他說，如果他新獲得的財富爲人們所知，他和家人的生命都可能在國內受到威脅。
He told lottery officials that he had set up a bank account in Oregon where he wanted the first of 20 annual payments of $158,720 to be deposited, and that he intended to give the money to his two sons.
他告訴博彩官員，他已經在俄勒岡開立一個銀行賬戶，他希望把20年支付的第一筆15.872萬美元存入該賬戶，他打算把錢給他兩個兒子。
arranges lottery ticket sales from around the world to buyers from all corners. It boasts of having “official tickets for all the world's biggest lotteries” — including Powerball in the United States and EuroMillions in France — as well as “100 percent commission-free wins.”
可以辦理世界各地的彩票銷售，賣給全球各個角落的買家。它聲稱擁有“所有全球最大彩票抽獎活動的官方彩票”——包括美國的強力球(Powerbal)和法國的歐洲樂透彩(EuroMillions)——以及“中獎後100%免佣金”。
Sean J. Riddell, a lawyer for , said the Oregon Lottery winner was still in the United States, but declined a request for an interview. Nor, Riddell said, would the man comment on his work or other details of his life in Iraq, or how he had acquired his visa to come to the United States.
肖恩·J·裏德爾(Sean J. Riddell)是的一名律師，他說，俄勒岡博彩的中獎者仍在美國，但拒絕接受採訪。裏德爾還表示，這名男子不會透露他的工作或在伊拉克的其他生活細節，也不會回答他是如何獲得美國簽證的。
The Oregon Lottery's director, Jack Roberts, said that an investigation was continuing into whether international lottery ticket sales are entirely legal — he said he had his doubts — but that the winner had done nothing wrong as far as anyone could determine. Everything checked out, Roberts said, most crucially the six winning numbers on the ticket.
俄勒岡博彩總監傑克·羅伯茨(Jack Roberts)稱，關於國際彩票銷售是否完全合法的調查仍在繼續，並表示自己對此有所懷疑，但誰也看不出中獎者做錯了任何事。羅伯茨說，一切都已經過審覈，最關鍵的是彩票上的六個中獎號碼。
So the check was cut. Roberts said “yes” to anonymity, as well, although he added that a court could overrule him if the decision was challenged.
因此支票已經開出。羅伯茨同意匿名，儘管他同時補充道，如果這一決定遭到質疑，法院可能會否決他。
“I didn't want to be responsible if one of his kids gets kidnapped,” Roberts said. “It's my decision that the need for his safety outweighs the public's need to know.”
羅伯茨說，“我可不想因爲我導致他的孩子被綁架之類。公衆需要知道他是誰，但他更需要安全，這是我的決定。”
Foreign residents have played and won U.S. state lotteries before. A group of Australians won $27.6 million in the Virginia Lottery in 1992. But that was before Internet commerce or online gambling existed in any widespread form.
外國居民此前也曾參與並贏得美國彩票。1992年，一羣澳大利亞人在弗吉尼亞博彩中贏得2760萬美元。但當時不存在任何普及的互聯網商務或在線博彩形式。
In 2012, two foreign residents won prizes through tickets in U.S. lotteries bought through , the company said, although those prizes were much smaller than the one claimed by the Iraqi man: $1.25 million between the two winners.
稱，2012年，兩名外國居民通過經由該公司購得的美國彩票中獎，不過獎金遠低於這名伊拉克男子的中獎金額：兩位中獎者共獲得125萬美元。
Lottery laws are in many cases decades old and less than clear, legal experts said. Although a few states have experimented with online lottery sales, federal law makes it illegal to sell lottery tickets across state lines unless allowed by both states. Gambling online, with the exception of bets on horse racing, is legal only in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.
法律專家說，有許多博彩法律已有幾十年歷史，且並不明確。儘管少數幾個州已試行在線彩票銷售，但聯邦法律不允許跨州銷售，除非同時得到兩個州的允許。除賭馬之外，在線博彩僅在內華達、新澤西和特拉華州合法。
But in cases like this, in which the lottery ticket was bought over the counter, not through the Internet, the uncertainty runs deeper still.
但這類從櫃檯而非網絡購買彩票的情形有更多的不確定性。
“I think is at best in a gray area of legality,” said Keith C. Miller, who teaches gambling law at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
“我想，充其量不過是處於法律的灰色地帶，” 基斯·C·米勒(Keith C. Miller)說道，他在愛荷華州得梅因市的德雷克大學(Drake University)講授博彩法。
Another prominent gambling expert, I. Nelson Rose, a professor of law at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, went firmly the other way.
I·納爾遜·羅斯(I. Nelson Rose)是位於加州科斯塔梅薩的惠蒂爾法學院(Whittier Law School)的法學教授，也是一位著名博彩專家，他堅持另一種觀點。
“I think it probably was 100 percent legal,” he said, referring to the Oregon transaction.
“我認爲這可能是100%合法的，”他這樣評價俄勒岡的交易。
The said in an email that it made no wagers itself, or transferred any lottery tickets by mail or Internet, but that it instead provided what it called “a messenger service,” using people who walk into shops like Binky's and plunk money on the counter. On its website, the company says that it makes its money in transaction fees for the ticket purchases and that it collects no percentage of winnings.
在一封電子郵件中指出，公司本身沒有下賭注，也沒有通過郵件或網絡轉移任何彩票，但相反的是，它提供所謂的“信使服務”，讓人們走進像Binky's那樣的商店，把錢擲在櫃檯上。公司在網站上自稱通過彩票購買的交易費賺錢，對中獎金額沒有抽成。
“We physically purchase the official tickets through our reliable and secure local offices located in more than 25 countries and make a scanned copy available to the players' secure personal accounts, which confirms their ownership,” the company said in an email. “When a player wins, he is entitled to claim the prize in person.”
“我們在超過25個國家設有可靠、安全的當地辦事處，我們通過這些辦事處實體購買官方彩票，並向玩家的安全個人帳戶提供掃描件，確認其所有權，”公司在一封電子郵件中這樣說道。“當玩家中獎時，他有權要求親自兌獎。”
Actual lottery tickets, the company added, are “never owned by us but only kept in a secured location on behalf of the customer until he claims his prize.” The company said it had “handed over winning tickets” valued at more than $35 million.
該公司還補充道，實際彩票“從未歸我們所有，我們只是代客戶保存在一個安全的地方，直到他兌獎。”公司稱，它已“轉交的中獎彩票”價值超過3500萬美元。
