In 1984, Oregon voters passed an initiative creating the Oregon Lottery^®. Oregonians wanted the opportunity to play lottery games as well as use the profits from those games to help strengthen Oregon's then struggling economy.

In 1991, the Oregon Legislature, State Police and Attorney General's office wanted to eliminate the 10,000 gaming machines that were operating illegally in Oregon. To accomplish this, the Oregon Legislature directed the Lottery to begin offering video gaming and to oversee and manage this type of gaming. Benefits of the Lottery’s involvement to Oregon include:

• Generating revenue for state programs.


• Ensuring the games run honestly and fairly.


• Ensuring that taxes are paid on income earned from Video Lottery^SM sales.

With video gaming under the Oregon Lottery^®’s direction, beginning in 1992, players could play a variety of poker games on Video Lottery^SM terminals (VLTs) across the state. After being authorized by the Oregon Lottery^® Commission in April 2005, line games were made available in retail locations in May 2005. At that time, Video Lottery^SM retailers could elect to offer both poker and line games at a reduced commission rate, or continue offering just poker games at commission rates established in 2004. As of December 31, 2007, of the over 2,263 Video Lottery^SM retailers statewide, 2,237 offer both poker and line games, while 26 retailers offer poker only on their VLTs.

Payout percentages vary by game, but all games currently in the field range between 91-95%. This means that 91-95% of all credits played are returned to players in prizes. This average is based on millions of games played, taking into account not only the element of chance, but the variety of jackpots and possible combinations.

The payout percentage is higher than the actual cash-out percentage because as players play, they win prizes (credits) and choose to use those credits to continue playing rather than cashing out.

The payout percentage on each game remains the same for as long as the game is available.

Odds for Video Lottery^SM Games
It's important to note that Video Lottery^SM terminals operate randomly at all times, no matter how many wins or losses have occurred in the past, altering play patterns, time of day, or position of the machine within a Video Lottery^SM retail location. In other words, the result of your last game has no bearing on the result of your next game.

Odds of winning smaller prizes are much greater than the odds of winning the top prize. Remember, the outcome is random, every time you play. Overall odds for a particular game can be found either on the game’s main page or in the Help screens for each game.