Oregon Lottery Winners Now Remain Anonymous, Selling of Winning Tickets Prohibited
Posted on: September 27, 2025, 02:01h.
Last updated on: September 27, 2025, 02:01h.
- Oregon Lottery winners now remain anonymous
- Their identities are only made known through written authorization
Oregon lottery winners will no longer need to make their identities publicly known after a law passed earlier this year went into effect.
On Friday, Oregon became the 11th state to allow lottery winners of any prize level to remain anonymous. The Beaver State joins Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
In April, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 3115. Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed the lottery bill a week later.
HB3115 exempts the disclosure of Oregon Lottery winners’ names and addresses under the Oregon Revised Statutes. Before the law became effective on Sept. 26, the 91st day after the date on which the 2025 regular session of the Assembly adjourned sine die, which was Friday, June 27, lottery winners of all prize levels were mandated to allow their information to be made public to ensure the public’s trust in the lottery’s operations.
Lottery Anonymity
Oregon lawmakers reasoned that protecting lottery winners outweighed promoting the public’s perception of the lottery’s integrity, which regularly undergoes independent audits and reviews. HB3115 supporters argued that allowing lottery winners to remain anonymous would help rid the so-called “lottery curse” where major prize winners suffered hardship after their identities were revealed.
The bill gained strong support, with the House of Representatives voting 52-1 and the Senate backing the measure 23-5.
The Oregon Lottery says that while winners’ names and addresses are now confidential, the lottery will continue to make public their location (city, state, and zip code) and prize amount. For major winners, the Oregon Lottery can request that winners publicly disclose their information through a written authorization.
Though the Mega Millions jackpot has never hit in Oregon, the fifth-largest Powerball prize ever was won in the state in April 2024. Cheng and Duanpen Saephan, and their friend, Laiza Chao, all from the Portland area, claimed the April 2024 Powerball jackpot worth $1.326 billion.
Other major Oregon Lottery winners include Steven Nickell, who won a $150.4 million Powerball jackpot in June 2018. Abbas Shafii won a $328.5 million Powerball prize in January.
Lottery Tickets Cannot Be Sold
Another component of HB3115 is that winning tickets sold by the Oregon Lottery are now prohibited from being sold, transferred, or exchanged. Lottery winners sell their tickets at a discount for a variety of reasons, including tax implications and unpaid child support.
A person may not sell, or offer to sell, a winning ticket or share,” HB3115 states. A person must also not “purchase, or offer to purchase, a winning ticket or share, or claim, or offer to claim, a winning ticket or share for another person for compensation.”
In Oregon and most other lottery states, winnings can be intercepted if the winner owes certain debts, including child support. Before the Lottery issues a lottery prize in excess of $600, the commission checks the winner’s name and Social Security number against a database of obligors who are delinquent in paying child support.
If the winner is listed in the database, a 30-day hold on the prize being issued is initiated. The Oregon Lottery Commission notifies the Oregon Division of Child Support, and the two state agencies work together to settle the prize.
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