PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek recently signed a bipartisan bill allowing Oregon lottery winners to remain anonymous while aiming to deter scammers from buying winning tickets for less than full value.

House Bill 3115, which was sponsored by Rep. John Lively (D-Springfield) and Rep. Kim Wallan (R-Medford), requires the names and addresses of lottery winners to be exempt from public disclosure unless the lottery winner provides written permission.

The legislation also bans lottery winners from selling their winning tickets and bans others from purchasing or claiming a winning lottery ticket prize for another person.

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While Oregon Lottery remained neutral and did not support or oppose the bill, the agency's senior manager of communications and policy, Matt Shelby, testified about the practice of "discounting," when a lottery winner sells their winning ticket for less than full value.

According to Shelby, some people may sell their winning lottery tickets for less than full value because they want to avoid traveling to prize claim centers in Wilsonville or Salem. However, Oregon Lottery is aware of some "nefarious" reasons to buy or sell winning tickets.

“A player may also sell their ticket for more nefarious reasons, such as if they know they owe outstanding child support, and that all or part of their prize may be garnished against that debt per ORS 461.715,” Shelby explained in written testimony.

In other cases, Shelby said, "Someone at the bar you’re playing at gives you some false information, like the state’s going to take 70% of that prize or they’re going to check your immigration status when you (go to an Oregon lottery payment center). None of those things are true, but someone may give you that information in an attempt to scare you and then offer to pay less than face value for the ticket."

According to Shelby, Oregon Lottery is also aware of individuals making a business out of buying winning tickets at a discount.

"We’re aware of a handful of pawn shops and a couple individuals here in the state who have made a business of buying winning tickets at deep discounts. These folks come into Lottery with stacks of tickets to claim at once. And while common sense tells us that they’re not the winner on all those tickets – nobody is that lucky – we don’t have a way to prove for each individual ticket who the original prize winner was," Shelby explained, noting these professional ticket buyers will openly advertise these services online or hand out business cards at bars and restaurants.

According to Shelby, Oregon Lottery is against discounting and has taken steps to reduce its prevalence, including in 2023, when Oregon Lottery adopted a rule banning retailers from facilitating the practice.

While HB 3115 aims to deter discounting, Shelby said enforcement will remain a challenge.

“Enforcement challenges will remain so long as lottery games are played anonymously. It’s simply the case that when a person presents an unsigned winning ticket or play slip to us for payment, we don’t know whether the claimant is the original winner or not, and so the practice of discounting may continue even with passage of the bill," Shelby said. "Lottery will continue to explore solutions to the issue, such as providing a way to claim prizes digitally or expanding 'known play' in which a player would need to log in or otherwise identity themselves and, thus, attach their name to any prizes won.”

After Governor Kotek signed the bill on May 8, the law will take effect 91 days after the Oregon legislative session ends in June.

In a letter to Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-West Eugene & Veneta) and Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego), Gov. Kotek described her support for the legislation.

The governor noted that after January's public hearing, an amendment was added to the bill exempting lottery winners from public disclosure, noting, "Though this amendment did not receive any opposition, it raises important questions about the Oregon Lottery's responsibility to make sure participation is safe and accessible while also enduring transparency and integrity in the system."

“As Governor, I believe that safety and transparency are not mutually exclusive and can be achieved concurrently. Given this, I will direct the agency to continue to make non-identifying winner information such as city and zip code readily available,” Kotek wrote.” I believe the Oregon Lottery will maintain strong oversight of the system, and thus I hereby sign HB 3115 into law.”