The Oregon Lottery has announced that it will return nearly $900m to the state of Oregon for the 2023 fiscal year, with unclaimed prizes for the year totaling $9m, which will also go back to the state.
The figure of $900m is down slightly from the previous year, which is set to be because of an increase in operating costs.
Payouts to players totaled nearly $16bn for the year with jackpot games increasing to record amounts, with eight players taking home prizes worth $1m and above.
The funding from the Oregon Lottery goes directly to benefit state parks and natural habitats, public schools, veteran services, outdoor school and economic development. Sales commissions on the Lottery games also go to help support retailers, including a number of small business owners. There are 3,800 lottery retailers across the Beaver State, who across the year collectively earned more than $310m.
Oregon Lottery Director, Mike Wells, commented on the latest news: “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.”
Last week, Scientific Games extended its contract with the Oregon Lottery, continuing to create and produce scratch games for the lottery as part of the contract extension, which is set to last for an additional five years.
