August 14, 2012

Mr. Gary Grief

Executive Director

Texas Lottery Commission

P.O. Box 16630

Austin, Texas 78761-6630

OR2012-12811

Dear Mr. Grief:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 461927 (TLC File No. L-15773).

The Texas Lottery Commission (the "commission") received a request for the names of the winners of a specified lottery. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses other laws that make information confidential. The commission states the "only exception to disclosure of information related to the claim process, or the prize winner, was decided by the legislature and implemented by statute in section 466.022 of the [Government Code]." Section 466.022 of the Government Code provides, in part:

(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, all commission records are subject to public inspection in accordance with [the Act].

(b) In addition to commission records excepted from disclosure under [the Act], the following information is confidential and is exempt from disclosure:

. . .

(3) the street address and telephone number of a prize winner, if the prize winner has not consented to the release of the information.

Id. § 466.022(a), (b)(3). In particular, the commission states "only the street address and the telephone number of a prize winner are confidential." See id. § 466.022(b)(3). In the instant case, you inform us the prizewinner claiming the prize is a revocable trust. See 16 T.A.C. § 401.309(a) (defining "prize winner" as name of person who presented valid ticket, claimed lottery prize and is recognized by the Texas Lottery as the person entitled to receive lottery prize payments and is not an assignee of the lottery prize). Accordingly, you have submitted the trust agreement as responsive information pertaining to the names of the lottery winners at issue in the request. We note section 466.022(b) provides commission records are subject to the exceptions found in the Act. See Gov't Code § 466.022(b); see also id. § 466.022(a). Accordingly, we will address your argument against disclosure.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information if it (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). This office has found information that reflects an individual's personal financial decisions and is not related to a financial transaction between the individual and a governmental body is generally highly intimate or embarrassing. See Open Records Decision Nos. 600 (1992), 545 (1990). Although a prize winner's actual receipt of prize payment is a financial transaction between the prize winner and the commission, we conclude the submitted trust agreement reflects the trustors' personal financial decisions regarding how to manage the prize funds and does not involve a financial transaction between the trustors and a governmental body. Furthermore, we find there is no legitimate public interest in the trust agreement. Therefore, the commission must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Cynthia G. Tynan

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CGT/akg

Ref: ID# 461927

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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