A trust claims Ohio's Millionaire for Life jackpot as $18 million cash option

The $1 million-a-year Millionaire for Life jackpot won in Ohio on September 8 has been claimed by a trust, and the people behind it will stay unnamed.

The Lee-Raymond Passive Trust, represented by attorney Maxwell A. Trubiano, claimed the prize and chose the cash option of $18,000,000 over $1 million a year for life, the Ohio Lottery said. After federal and state withholding, the trust will receive $13,185,000.

The ticket was a quick pick sold at Libby Sunoco in Maple Heights, at 5270 Warrensville Center Road. It matched 14, 19, 36, 41, and 42 and a Millionaire Ball of 2, a 1 in 22,910,580 shot on a $5 play.

Why a trust keeps the name out of public records

In Ohio, the name and address of a person who claims a lottery prize are public records. A change that took effect in March 2022 carved out one exception. When a prize is claimed using a trust, the name, address, and Social Security number of each beneficial owner stay confidential and cannot be requested under the state public records law, unless the owner agrees in writing.

The law requires the commission to document every beneficial owner before paying a prize of this size, and it can share them with other government agencies. Those agencies have to keep them confidential too. What the trust changes is who else can see them.

That makes the trust the standard route to privacy in Ohio, much as a Massachusetts trust claimed $25 million this month with only its trustee named and a New York LLC collected a $10 million scratch-off. Which states allow what is covered in our look at staying anonymous, and the case for telling almost nobody is made here.

The cash option equals 18 years of payments

The $18 million lump sum is the same as the first 18 annual payments of $1 million. A winner who lived 60 more years could have collected more by taking the annuity, and the annuity guarantees a minimum of 20 years of payments to the winner or their estate.

A prize this size lands in the 37% federal bracket, so roughly another $2.3 million is likely due at filing next April, as we laid out when the ticket was first reported. Our lottery tax calculator runs the numbers for any state.

The trust came forward well inside the deadline. Ohio gives draw-game winners 180 days from the drawing to claim.

Millionaire for Life launched on February 22 in 31 states and has produced three jackpots in its first 208 drawings, on April 27, May 21, and September 8. Two of the three jackpots were sold in Ohio, the first at a Giant Eagle in Cleveland. The game also pays $100,000 a year for life for the second prize matching five numbers without the Millionaire Ball, a prize a Michigan woman won this year. How the drawings work is in our guide to the game.

Sources

Ohio Lottery: $20 million Millionaire for Life prize claimed by trust

Ohio Revised Code section 3770.07: Claiming of prizes