Connecticut Lottery

The Connecticut Lottery is run by the state government and is headquartered in Rocky Hill. The lottery began in 1972. The lottery is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which is based out of Iowa.

The Connecticut Lottery has several games that includes numerous scratch offs, Classic Lotto and Powerball. Connecticut uses drawing machines and numbered balls during live drawings for its games, which is similar to the state of Florida (except for the optional PowerPlay which is selected by a random number generator). This is unlike other states that are using controversial computerized drawings. For lottery games that have drawings, players can choose a quick pick, select their own numbers, or have a combination of both.

In order to participate in a Connecticut Lottery game, a player must have a minimum age of 18 years. At no time, may a minor play or cash in a winning ticket. Scratch off tickets are required to be claimed within 180 days of the official game ending, if they are numbered 1000 or higher. All other tickets are set to expire one year later. Winning drawing tickets must be claimed within 180 days of an official drawing. However, lottery tickets that have been purchased before August 2, 2009 have a longer expiration date of one year.

The Connecticut Lottery has a standard of withholding 5% of a player's winning ticket that has a value of at least 0. This is unlike other U.S. lotteries that only begin to withhold monies for federal taxes for values over ,000.

The lottery suffered several losses when an employee shot and killed four co-workers at the former headquarters located in Newington in 1998.

History of the Connecticut Lottery

The state lottery was officially created in 1971 when Public Act No. 865 was signed into service by Governor Thomas Meskill. Thereafter, the first tickets were sold on February 15, 1972. The initial weekly lottery game show, called Double Play, commenced in 1976. Out of service lottery games like the Rainbow Jackpot consisted of pre-printed tickets that were not scratched off by lottery players.

Miscellaneous

Scientific Games' WAVE lottery terminals were phased into the Connecticut Lottery in the beginning of 2008. This new generation of machinery used new betting slips prints lottery tickets thermally onto glossy paper. These machines contain an LCD screen that is visible to lottery customers. It has advertisements for the Powerball jackpot and Classic Lotto. It also displays an intermittent commercial or public service announcement such as an Amber Alert, which is sponsored by the state of Connecticut. When a winning ticket is inserted (on-line or scratch-off) and validated, it will announce "Congratulations! You are a winner!" The lottery now advises players to use the new machines first before handing their winning ticket to a store employee for final validation. All lottery retailers receive a 5% commission on lottery sales.

In the spring of 2009, MUSL and Mega Millions went into negotiations that would allow Mega Millions to be available to members. This would also require that Powerball be sold in Mega Millions states. Yet, these talks fell through. If they once again come into existence, this would allow Connecticut to offer both Powerball and Mega Millions. This would be unlike what had happened to the state of Georgia when it was forced to drop out of the MUSL when it decided to partner up with Mega Millions in 1996 (previously referred to as The Big Game until 2002). There is a possibility that the Connecticut Lottery will be able to sell official tickets for the Mega Millions in the near future if a cross-promotion is allowed. This would keep residents from leaving the state to go to New York or Massachusetts to purchase them.