The Oregon Lottery’s fiscal year of 2023 will have returned nearly $900m to the Beaver State. Funding from the lottery goes toward Oregon’s state parks, veteran services, public schools, outdoor school and economic development.
The $900m total is down slightly from the fiscal year of 2022, but operating costs increased this year. The Oregon Lottery financial year ran from July 1 2022 to June 30 2023.
Players of the lottery in Oregon saw payouts of almost $16bn in 2023, with eight specific players winning prizes of over $1m. However, the lottery also had about $9m in unclaimed prizes left at the end of this period, which will also go toward the state programs mentioned above.
Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells (appointed this past August) said, “Oregon Lottery’s success allows us to support programs that help our state thrive. We’re focused on running our operations as efficiently as possible to benefit the public programs Oregonians care about.”
Small business owners also benefited from becoming Oregon Lottery retail partners, as the state’s 3,800 lottery retailers earned over $310m in fiscal year 2023.
Since 1985, the lottery has earned over $15bn for the state, and since 2016 the organization has also maintained the highest possible level of accreditation for responsible gambling, as recognized by both the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries and the World Lottery Association’s programs.
Recently, the lottery also extended a partnership with Scientific Games, and has added over 1,000 Light & Wonder video lottery terminals to its state total.
