Portland woman wins $1 million Oregon Lottery Raffle

Oregon Lottery publicity photo shows woman handing over mock ticket.

Leslie Carr, 52, won the $1 million Raffle on March 15, 2024.Oregon Lottery

A 52-year-old medical receptionist from Portland is the latest winner of an Oregon Lottery jackpot.

Leslie Carr had the winning ticket tucked away in a Tupperware container with several other lottery tickets.

“I had no idea I was the winner,” Carr said. “If it weren’t for the billion-dollar Powerball winner making news, I would have forgot. We don’t check our tickets.”

She brought her tickets, including one for the $1 million Raffle, to the store where she’d purchased them — the Happy Valley Fred Meyer. Carr was surprised to learn that not only did she have a winning ticket, but the prize was so large that the store couldn’t cash her ticket.

“That’s when I started getting butterflies,” Carr said. She plays the Raffle regularly but had never won until she took home the top prize.

For prizes over $1,000, winners need to go to an Oregon Lottery office.

Carr said she plans to pay off her house, buy a new truck and maybe take a vacation to Hawaii.

The Oregon Lottery said in a news release that the annual Raffle “offers the best odds of any Oregon Lottery game to win $1 million — 1 in 250,000.” The winnings from the raffle are distributed as a lump sum.

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