神秘伊拉克人买美国彩票中640万美元
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.
西雅图——来自巴格达的这名男子本月突然出现在俄勒冈州塞勒姆市的一座政府办公楼前，手中握着一张据他称价值640万美元的纸。他礼貌地要求对他的名字保密，而后告诉政府官员，他已开立一个本地的银行账户，他们应该将钱按年存入。然后他转身离开，比来时更富有也更神秘。
It was not an ordinary day at the Oregon Lottery.
这是俄勒冈州博彩(Oregon Lottery)不寻常的一天。
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.
博彩官员称，这个故事从小细节开始，然后开始延伸：这名男子37岁，是伊拉克库尔德人。他最近离开巴格达的家来到美国，英语流利，他在8月下旬凭借六个正确号码赢得俄勒冈大百万(Oregon Megabucks)彩票抽奖——那时他甚至还没有来过这个国家。
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.
博彩官员了解到，这张彩票通过一家总部设在地中海岛国马耳他的公司购买，但在俄勒冈本德市郊区一家名为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?
博彩官员十分惊讶。然后他们拿起电话，呼叫司法部(Department of Justice)和国际刑警组织(Interpol)。这名男子是否如他自己所说，是在网上购买彩票的成功商人？他是否处在任何类型的监视名单中？Binky's售出的一张彩票，最终怎么会偏偏落入半个地球开外的人手中？
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：尽管俄勒冈法律公开彩票中奖者的名字，但这名男子希望匿名。他说，如果他新获得的财富为人们所知，他和家人的生命都可能在国内受到威胁。
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.
他告诉博彩官员，他已经在俄勒冈开立一个银行账户，他希望把20年支付的第一笔15.872万美元存入该账户，他打算把钱给他两个儿子。
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.”
可以办理世界各地的彩票销售，卖给全球各个角落的买家。它声称拥有“所有全球最大彩票抽奖活动的官方彩票”——包括美国的强力球(Powerbal)和法国的欧洲乐透彩(EuroMillions)——以及“中奖后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·里德尔(Sean J. Riddell)是的一名律师，他说，俄勒冈博彩的中奖者仍在美国，但拒绝接受采访。里德尔还表示，这名男子不会透露他的工作或在伊拉克的其他生活细节，也不会回答他是如何获得美国签证的。
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.
俄勒冈博彩总监杰克·罗伯茨(Jack Roberts)称，关于国际彩票销售是否完全合法的调查仍在继续，并表示自己对此有所怀疑，但谁也看不出中奖者做错了任何事。罗伯茨说，一切都已经过审核，最关键的是彩票上的六个中奖号码。
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.
因此支票已经开出。罗伯茨同意匿名，尽管他同时补充道，如果这一决定遭到质疑，法院可能会否决他。
“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.”
罗伯茨说，“我可不想因为我导致他的孩子被绑架之类。公众需要知道他是谁，但他更需要安全，这是我的决定。”
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.
外国居民此前也曾参与并赢得美国彩票。1992年，一群澳大利亚人在弗吉尼亚博彩中赢得2760万美元。但当时不存在任何普及的互联网商务或在线博彩形式。
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.
称，2012年，两名外国居民通过经由该公司购得的美国彩票中奖，不过奖金远低于这名伊拉克男子的中奖金额：两位中奖者共获得125万美元。
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.
法律专家说，有许多博彩法律已有几十年历史，且并不明确。尽管少数几个州已试行在线彩票销售，但联邦法律不允许跨州销售，除非同时得到两个州的允许。除赌马之外，在线博彩仅在内华达、新泽西和特拉华州合法。
But in cases like this, in which the lottery ticket was bought over the counter, not through the Internet, the uncertainty runs deeper still.
但这类从柜台而非网络购买彩票的情形有更多的不确定性。
“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，充其量不过是处于法律的灰色地带，” 基斯·C·米勒(Keith C. Miller)说道，他在爱荷华州得梅因市的德雷克大学(Drake University)讲授博彩法。
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·纳尔逊·罗斯(I. Nelson Rose)是位于加州科斯塔梅萨的惠蒂尔法学院(Whittier Law School)的法学教授，也是一位著名博彩专家，他坚持另一种观点。
“I think it probably was 100 percent legal,” he said, referring to the Oregon transaction.
“我认为这可能是100%合法的，”他这样评价俄勒冈的交易。
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.
在一封电子邮件中指出，公司本身没有下赌注，也没有通过邮件或网络转移任何彩票，但相反的是，它提供所谓的“信使服务”，让人们走进像Binky's那样的商店，把钱掷在柜台上。公司在网站上自称通过彩票购买的交易费赚钱，对中奖金额没有抽成。
“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.”
“我们在超过25个国家设有可靠、安全的当地办事处，我们通过这些办事处实体购买官方彩票，并向玩家的安全个人帐户提供扫描件，确认其所有权，”公司在一封电子邮件中这样说道。“当玩家中奖时，他有权要求亲自兑奖。”
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.
该公司还补充道，实际彩票“从未归我们所有，我们只是代客户保存在一个安全的地方，直到他兑奖。”公司称，它已“转交的中奖彩票”价值超过3500万美元。
