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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
state lottery; prizewinner confidentiality
Purpose
Allows optional confidentiality for Arizona State Lottery (Lottery) prizewinners of $100,000 or more.
Background
The Lottery Commission (Commission) is responsible for overseeing the Lottery to produce the maximum amount of net revenue consonant with the dignity of Arizona. The Commission shall authorize the Executive Director of the Commission (Director) to adopt rules relating to: 1) the types of Lottery games to be conducted; 2) the licensing of agents to sell tickets or shares; and 3) the manner of payment of prizes to Lottery winners. The Commission also authorizes the Director to issue orders which may include: 1) the price of Lottery tickets; 2) the prize structure of Lottery games; and 3) the frequency of drawings (A.R.S. § 5-554). The Director and five members of the Commission are appointed by the Governor, with no more than three commissioners coming from the same political party (A.R.S. §§ 5-552 and 5-553).
The names of individuals that are paid Lottery prizes are confidential for 90 days from the date the prize is awarded and are not a public record unless a prizewinner chooses to waive their confidentiality (A.R.S. § 5-573).
In FY 2018 the Lottery produced $981,377,844 in total ticket sales, with players winning $647,652,599 in prizes (Lottery Annual Report).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Makes a prizewinner that is paid a Lottery prize of $100,000 or more confidential on request of the prizewinner and not a public record.
2. Specifies that if a prizewinner does not request confidentiality, the prizewinner will be kept confidential for 90 days from the date the prize is awarded.
3. Makes technical changes.
4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
COM 2/19/19 DP 5-3-0-1
3rd Read 2/26/19 35-24-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 5, 2019
MG/AA/gs