Governor signs bill into law granting full anonymity to winners of any prize amount

By Kate Northrop

On Thursday, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill into law that grants full anonymity to all Oregon lottery winners, regardless of the prize amount.

Oregon lottery winners will now be able to keep their identity private thanks to the passage of House Bill 3115, which stipulates that the only way the Oregon Lottery can publicly release a player's name is if the winner grants permission.

House Bill 3115 protects the name and address of a prize winner from public disclosure by the Oregon Lottery and makes it so that the agency requires written authorization from the winner to disclose the information.

However, lottery winner privacy is just one small aspect of the bill. The larger portion of the legislation addresses a ticket reselling industry that has taken root in the state of Oregon, one that lawmakers have been champing at the bit to crack down on.

The bill's passage means it is now illegal to sell or purchase a winning ticket (or share of a ticket) or claim a prize for another person for compensation.

If someone purchases a lottery ticket in violation of this law and deducts that purchase price on their federal taxes, they must add that amount back to their federal taxable income for Oregon tax purposes.

These additional measures address the widespread ticket reselling behavior, also known as "discounting," in which individuals will offer to purchase a winning ticket from a player at a price lower than the full value of the ticket. In turn, the winner receives cash for the ticket right away rather than having to potentially travel several hours to a claims office, risking losing the ticket in the mail, or waiting several weeks for the payout.

Some players also prefer to sell their winning ticket because it means they wouldn't have to publicly reveal their identity while someone else claims the full value of the ticket in their stead. It was a win-win for both parties.

The intent of the new law aims to circumvent the reselling practice, which legislators argued enabled tax evasion. Oregon residents who owe debts or child support would turn to discounters to avoid having these debts deducted from their prize.

While opponents of lottery anonymity argue that concealing the identities of winners eliminates an aspect of transparency in the Lottery, Governor Kotek remained confident that the agency would guarantee fair practices and conveyed support for the measure in her bill signing letter to House Speaker Julie Fahey and Senate President Rob Wagner.

"As governor, I believe that safety and transparency are not mutually exclusive and can be achieved concurrently," Kotek wrote. "Given this, I will direct the agency to continue to make non-identifying winner information such as city and ZIP code data readily available. I believe the Oregon Lottery will maintain strong oversight of the system."

The Oregon Lottery will still share winners' identifying information with state and federal tax authorities to check for debts or taxes the individual may owe.

While the bill does not specify further repercussions for participating in the ticket reselling secondary market, it directs the Oregon State Lottery Commission to adopt rules enforcing the new law and to continue verifying the validity of claimed tickets.

The law goes into effect 91 days after the 2025 legislative session ends.

Lottery Post maintains a state-by-state list of lottery privacy laws throughout the United States and several other countries.