A Kentucky lottery winner can remain anonymous for up to one year if the prize exceeds $1 million, thanks to a 2025 law. For prizes at or below that threshold, your name is subject to public records requests, but claiming through a revocable living trust keeps your personal name off the claim itself.
The $1 Million Anonymity Law
House Bill 46, passed unanimously by the Kentucky House in 2025, lets winners of prizes with an overall gross value above $1 million elect to keep their name, address, and likeness out of public record for up to one year from the date the prize is claimed. During that window, the Kentucky Lottery Corporation cannot publish your name or likeness unless you sign a waiver form the Corporation provides.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky HB 46 – An Act Relating to the Identification of Lottery Winners
The law also amends the Kentucky Open Records Act (KRS 61.878) to exempt an eligible winner’s identifying information from public inspection for that year. Non-identifying details stay public, including the retail location where the winning ticket was sold. When the year ends, the standard open records rules apply again and your information becomes obtainable through a request.1Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky HB 46 – An Act Relating to the Identification of Lottery Winners
Prizes at or Below $1 Million
The anonymity election in HB 46 doesn’t reach prizes of $1 million or less. The Kentucky Lottery Corporation is classified as a public agency under KRS 61.870, so its records fall under the Kentucky Open Records Act.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky SB 55 – An Act Relating to the State Lottery Anyone can file a public records request and receive your name, city of residence, and prize amount.
The Lottery may ask whether you want to participate in media events or a press release, and you can decline. That’s separate from open records. Turning down a photo doesn’t stop someone from filing a formal request later. For winners below the million-dollar threshold, this is where a trust does the work the statute won’t.
Claiming Through a Revocable Living Trust
If you set up a revocable living trust before signing your ticket, the trust becomes the claimant and its name is what appears on the public record. The approach works for prizes of any size and can add a layer of privacy even when you also qualify for the one-year statutory anonymity period.
You create the trust with an estate planning attorney. You choose a name for it (it doesn’t have to include your own), appoint a trustee to manage the assets, and set out how the money will be distributed. The trust needs to be fully executed and legally valid before you sign the ticket or file a claim. Flat-fee trust drafting from estate planning attorneys typically runs between $1,000 and $4,000, though a large lottery prize can justify more complex planning that costs more.
What a Revocable Trust Won’t Do
Privacy is the benefit. Asset protection isn’t. Creditors can still reach assets held in a revocable living trust during your lifetime because you keep control and can modify or dissolve it at any time. An irrevocable trust offers stronger creditor protection, but it means permanently giving up that control. If you have existing debts or judgments, that tradeoff is worth talking through with an attorney.
The Tax ID Question
A revocable living trust can sometimes operate under the grantor’s Social Security number when the trustee furnishes that number to all payers.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025) The Kentucky Lottery’s claim form asks for a federal tax identification number, so obtaining a separate EIN through IRS Form SS-4 is cleaner. An EIN application is free and takes minutes online.
How to File a Trust Claim
The first move is the most important, and the easiest to get wrong: don’t sign the ticket in your personal name. The trustee signs the back of the winning ticket using the trust’s official name. From that point forward, the trust is the claimant.
KRS 154A.110 specifically addresses payment of lottery prizes to trustees of revocable living trusts and requires a copy of the trust and a notarized letter of direction to be filed with the Corporation.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 154A.110 – Prizes Taxable, Withholdings From Prize, Verification Rules and Prize Payments Your claim package should include:
- The winning ticket, signed on the back with the trust’s name.
- A completed prize claim form listing the trust’s information, including its federal tax ID.
- The full trust agreement showing you established it.
- A notarized letter of direction from you, as settlor, instructing the Kentucky Lottery to pay the prize to the trustee.
The notarized letter is the piece people most often overlook. Have your attorney draft it alongside the trust, and get it notarized before you head to lottery headquarters. Prizes over $600 also require a copy of a valid government-issued photo ID with the claim form.5Kentucky Lottery. Claim a Prize
Practical Privacy Steps After a Win
The statute and the trust take care of the public record. They don’t make you invisible.
Before you claim, keep the win to yourself. Every person you tell is a potential leak. Make copies of the ticket and store the original in a safe or bank safe deposit box while you assemble your team. Don’t sign the ticket until you’ve decided whether you’re claiming personally or through a trust, because signing in your own name first can complicate a later trust claim.
After you claim, expect your contact information to circulate. Changing your phone number, opening a P.O. box, and tightening social media privacy settings are small moves that save large headaches. Scammers target known winners. Anyone contacting you claiming to be a lottery employee, asking for upfront fees to release a prize, or requesting banking information is running a scam. No legitimate lottery asks a winner to pay money to collect winnings.
Build a team before you make major decisions: an estate planning attorney, a tax professional, and a fee-only financial advisor. Take time before big life changes, and think carefully about becoming the family bank. Planned generosity holds up better than reactive generosity.