The Oregon Lottery will return more than $947 million to the state for the 2024 fiscal year – a $48 million increase from the previous year.

Lottery generated $940 million in profit and reduced reserves nearly $8 million, enabling the higher return. Unclaimed prizes for the year totaled $8 million and will also go back to the state.

The numbers show that state revenue from sports betting jumped substantially and far more than budgeted: The state netted $55.3 million from sports bettors, a 72% increase from 2023. That net gain came from a gross total of $565.5 million bet on sports, which is 7.2% higher than the agency budgeted.

The funding directly benefits state parks and natural habitats, public schools, veteran services, outdoor school, and economic development. Oregon Lottery is self-funded through the sale of games, not tax dollars, and voters and the Legislature designate where the money goes.

“Oregonians help support the state programs they care about by playing our games,” said Oregon Lottery Director Mike Wells. “We continue to celebrate the wins of our players, the retailers who sell our games, and the public programs lifted up by these funds in our communities.”

Lucky lottery players earned payouts totaling nearly $16 billion for the year. Including a record-breaking $1.3 billion Powerball win in the spring, 13 players took home prizes worth $1 million or more. Prizes big and small account for about 92% of the Lottery dollars played.

Sales commissions on Lottery games also support retailers, many of whom are small business owners. The 3,800 Lottery retailers across Oregon collectively earned close to $310 million in commissions this year.

Since 2016, Oregon Lottery has maintained the highest level of accreditation for responsible gambling from both the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries/National Council on Problem Gambling and the World Lottery Association’s (WLA) Responsible Gambling programs. Oregon is one of only eight lotteries in the U.S. to reach this level by the WLA.