The $11 million is after the  withholdings. When he files his return he can expect to find most of his income in the top bracket, which means 35% for federal and 6% for Kentucky. The 59% of the cash value he gets to keep will still be a bit over $9.5 million, though. I'm guessing that's enough to get by for a while.

"what if someone wins and they owe money or child support?"

You know that the state knows who the anonymous winner is, right?  If they have a debt that's part of the public record (which means past-due child support and any debt for which a judgement has been filed) the state will know.

There wasn't as much potential harm in giving out the winner's information and taking their picture holding a huge check when lotto jackpots were $1 million. Most payouts were $50,000 before taxes for the next 20 years so how much a person could "give away" was limited.

With jackpots of $50 to $100 million, winners should get the right to be anonymous up to a point. If a lottery wants to get a group of players complaining and saying the lottery is rigged, all they have to do is say "the winning ticket was sold somewhere in the state". State lotteries need a way of proving to the players the jackpot was actually won so many states publish the name of the store selling the winning ticket.

Powerball and Mega Millions winners are national news the next day but knowing which store in Rhode Island sold the winning ticket doesn't mean much to an Idaho player. The real problem the winner has in remaining anonymous is the local news people trying to get information from the store owner and clerks.

I don't think anybody I know is obligated to tell me they won and I won't call them stingy if don't tell me. But if they are talking about somebody that owes them money, the circumstances are much different.

No, you mean it needs to come a little further south. It's already been "east" in Bardstown, then "north" in Shepherdsville, now come home to Hardin County! ;)

The lottery does not want anyone remaining anonymous because they think it hurts sales. If they give out all that money you can bet they want everyone knowing. This comes with the territory. I for one am very skeptical until I see the cash. This will never change because winners are the minority, and are the only ones who care about privacy. The majority however who do not win, will always want to know who won for legitimacy reasons.