Beating the odds
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:41 AM PST
Editor’s note: This is the second part of an ongoing series on gambling locally and in Oregon.
Andy Gates
Argus Observer
ONTARIO
Win or lose, gamblers all pay to play.
Yet the local face of gambling often showcases two very different scenarios regarding the state’s multi-million dollar gaming industry.
On one hand, five Malheur County residents enrolled in gambling treatment between 2005 and 2006, according to Oregon Department of Human Services information.
On the other side of the spectrum, six Malheur County winners beat the odds and won more than $3,500 each last year, according to a press release from the Oregon Lottery.
While many people often do prosper with gambling many more do not.
Oregon’s problem gamblers amass an average debt of $23,127 each, according to the Oregon DHS.
Though it is apparently unknown how many Malheur County residents are in that kind of vacuum, it was estimated last year that 2.7 percent of Oregon’s population has a gambling problem, according to Oregon DHS information.
Ontario Powerball winner Frank Dutra is one reason why the payout for traditional lottery winners in Malheur County jumped by more than 200 percent between 2005 and 2006, Oregon Lottery Winner Awareness Coordinator Ray Martin said.
Dutra was the county’s biggest winner last year.
He beat the odds of 1 in 3,563,609, and won $200,000.
Dutra’s listed phone number in Ontario has been disconnected, and he could not be reached for comment.
Daniel Holly Jr. Adrian, was another big winner last year in Malheur County — he snagged $30,000 — the highest prize possible on a Triple Tripler Bingo Scratch-it ticket.
Holly’s win beat the odds of 1 in 200,000.
However, Holly said Monday he did not want to talk about his win.
Rosemary McBride of Jamieson, won $8,750 in Keno last year, and she was also one of the county’s top winners, according to an Oregon Lottery release.
That win overcame odds of 1 in 230,115, Martin said.
McBride does not even like to gamble, she said.
“Everyday living can be as much of a gamble,” as playing the lottery, McBride, who is a retired rancher, said.
Lottery is the habit of McBride’s husband, she said, who buys into the lottery, and then leaves winning tickets on their table with her name on them.
“I think he puts my name on it to bug me, he thinks it’s funny,” she said.
However, McBride said she is a willing lottery participant, through grudgingly redeeming winning tickets.
“I wouldn’t go out and play, but yes, I’m willing because I mail them in,” she said.
Winning, which is a thrill for most people, is not that way for McBride, she said.
Lottery gains, McBride said, seem to encourage subsequent play, she said.
“If he’s going to play, I’d rather he wins than not. But sometimes I think it (winning) encourages him,” McBride said of her husband.
McBride said she does not know exactly how her recent winnings were spent, but she said she imagines they were funneled into her family’s checking account.
Traditional lottery sales, not including video poker, climbed from about $3 million in 2005 to $3.3 million in 2006, Oregon Lottery Spokesman Chuck Bauman said.
Payouts for traditional lottery games also increased to $336,768 in 2006 from $106,068 in 2005, Martin said.
Oregon law requires at least 50 percent of the Oregon Lottery’s annual sales be returned to the public in the form of prizes, according to the Oregon Lottery Web site.
However, the Oregon Lottery had net sales of $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2006, while Oregon lottery players won around $226 million in the 2006 calender year, according to information from the Oregon Lottery.
The apparent discrepancy, Martin said, could have been influenced at least in part by video poker, where winnings can be difficult to track with respect to sales.
