Forgotten Lottery Ticket Transforms Oregon Woman into Millionaire Overnight

Quick Smiles:

• An Oregon woman became a millionaire after finding an overlooked ticket in her stash.
• Leslie Carr, a medical receptionist, discovered her lucky streak only after scanning the ticket at a local grocery store.
• Carr’s exuberant plans for the winnings include a new truck, a dream vacation to Hawaii, and paying off her mortgage.

In a twist of fortune, an Oregon woman discovered a $1 million winner among her stash of unattended lottery tickets. Oregon lottery officials presented this uplifting news on a recent Monday. Leslie Carr, a 52-year-old resident of Portland, had stored the winning raffle ticket, validated on March 15, in a Tupperware container filled with numerous other tickets.

Carr decided to scan these stashed tickets at her local Fred Meyer grocery store in Happy Valley, unaware that this was where she had bought the million-dollar ticket.

“I had no idea I was the winner,” Carr, a medical receptionist, amusingly confessed. Carr further admitted, “If it hadn’t been for the recent billion-dollar Powerball winner making headlines, I would have forgotten about it. We don’t usually check our tickets.”

Upon seeing a prompt on the scanner directing her to visit an Oregon Lottery office, Carr asked a store employee for help. “I heard him say, ‘Oh, I can’t cash this because your prize is worth over $1,000,’” she recollected. Carr revealed that this surprise caused a wave of excited “butterflies.”

With her newfound fortune, Carr plans to purchase a new truck and indulge in a luxurious Hawaii vacation. Additionally, she intends to use the money to clear the mortgage on the house she shares with her husband.

The lottery that Carr participated in offers the top prize of $1 million, with 300 prizes valued at $500 and 1,500 prizes of $100 each. The Oregon Lottery claims that this particular Raffle offers the best odds – just 1 in 250,000 – to win a million dollars among all their games.

The ticket sales for the Oregon Lottery’s Raffle game started on Dec. 21, 2023, and by March 8, 2024, all 250,000 tickets had been sold. Surely, Carr’s incredible finding brought an unexpected wave of happiness into her life, reminding everyone that sometimes the biggest surprises are hidden in the most unassuming places.

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