Portland woman wins annual $1M Oregon Lottery Raffle
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Portland woman claimed a winning Oregon Lottery Raffle ticket on Monday -- winning the $1 million top prize, Oregon Lottery announced.
"I had no idea I was the winner," said 52-year-old Leslie Carr, who works as a medical receptionist. "If it weren’t for the billion-dollar Powerball winner making news, I would have forgot. We don’t check our tickets.”
According to Oregon Lottery, the winning ticket, which was drawn March 15, was tucked away with a stack of other lottery tickets before Carr scanned them at a Fred Meyer in Happy Valley -- where she bought the winning ticket.
After a message on the machine notified her she needed to go to an Oregon Lottery office, she asked a staff member to double check, Oregon Lottery said.
“I heard him say, ‘Oh, I can’t cash this because your prize is worth over $1,000,’” Carr explained. “That’s when I started getting butterflies.”
Carr plans to spend the winnings on a new truck, a vacation to Hawaii, and to help pay off the mortgage on her home she shares with her husband, officials said.
Raffle prizes include the $1 million top prize, along with 300 prizes worth $500, and 1,500 prizes worth $100.
According to Oregon Lottery, Raffle offers the best odds (1 in 250,000) to win $1 million in all the Oregon Lottery games.
Officials said Oregon Lottery’s Raffle game went on sale Dec. 21, 2023, and all 250,000 tickets were sold by March 8, 2024.