St. Patrick’s Day numbers announced
The Oregon Lottery this year held its first St. Patrick’s Day raffle, and the lucky winner will get $1 million.
Ten other lads or lasses will win $20,000 prizes. All of the numbers in the Oregon raffle were announced today.
Big winner
The winner of the $1 million St. Patrick’s Day grand prize holds these numbers: 246114. Whoever holds that ticket won’t be needing payday loans any time soon.
To view the other winning numbers, which entitle the holders to the $20,000 prizes, check out this press release on the Oregon raffle.
Lottery helps state budget
The Oregon Lottery helps all Oregonians, not just the winners. The lottery is run by the state. All lottery dollars that aren’t handed over to individual winners go back to the state. That ends up being about $480 million per year. Two-thirds of that money goes toward education.
Oregon Lottery history
Voters approved the system in 1984. At that time, usage of lottery dollars was loosely regulated and simply aimed to “help strengthen Oregon’s economy and to create jobs.”
In 1995 Oregon voters approved a measure that allowed lottery dollars to go toward funding public education. In 1998 Oregonians voted to direct 15 percent of lottery earnings to parks and recreation.
Controversy
The Oregon Lottery has been a tremendous financial help to the state, particularly considering its lack of sales tax. However, the state-sanctioned lottery has not escaped controversy.
The lottery is, of course, a form of legalized gambling. Many critics believe gambling is immoral, dangerous or addictive. But Oregon votes prevail against these arguments.
Helpful or harmful?
Because of the controversy surrounding lotteries, very few states have followed suit in using similar methods to supplement their budgets.
What’s your opinion? Do state-run lotteries do more harm than good?
It went to vote. The people have spoken and they want their lottery.
That will make somebody’s day, that’s for sure.