Lottery In Connecticut

John Miscikoski, a State Representative in Connecticut gained the nickname of “The Father of the Lottery” after campaigning for the legalization of a state Lottery every year for the best part of a decade. He would finally succeed in 1971 when Governor Thomas J. Meskill would sign Public Act 865 that would create the Connecticut State Lottery. The first tickets would go on sale in Connecticut the following year, with 3,000 retailers selling 50-cent tickets from February 15th, 1972.

Legal Lottery Options in Connecticut

These days you can find more than 2,800 lottery retailers within the state of Connecticut where you can play draw games, instant win games, Keno, and fast play games. If you would like to find your nearest lottery retailer in the state, take a look at the Where To Play page of the official Connecticut Lottery website.

Below we take a look at all the draw games you can play in Connecticut.

Connecticut Multi-State Games

You can now play for the biggest prizes in the country from Connecticut after the state has joined forces with the Multi-State Lottery Association back in 1995 for the first time.

US Powerball

The first Powerball draw with Connecticut players was held in November 1995 and since then the state has had more than its fair share of millionaires from this game. The largest winner to date came in November 2011, when a jackpot of $254.2 million would be paid out to the Putnam Avenue Family Trust.

Tickets are sold across Connecticut for $2, with the option to add PowerPlay for an extra dollar, this feature can increase your non-jackpot winnings with a random multiplier. Draws are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday night.

Mega Millions

Tickets for the Mega Millions draw have only been on sale since 2010 within the state of Connecticut. During its time in the state, there have been zero jackpot winners, so maybe it’s long overdue. This game has the longest odds of any United States lottery game and has paid out the single largest jackpot ever in October 2018 when a South Carolina player took home $1.537 billion.

The game is very similar to the Powerball draw, with tickets on sale for $2 and again with the option to increase any non-jackpot winnings with a multiplier known as the Megaplier for an extra dollar. You can be in with a chance of winning some serious life-changing money every Tuesday and Friday evening.

Lucky For Life

This game hits a little different, for starters, you can play this game every single day and if you win you’ll get paid for the rest of your life, with winners getting $1,000 every day and a second-place prize paying out $25,000 a year for life. Tickets cost $2 for this draw and the numbers are drawn each night at around 22:30.

Cash5

Initially named Cash Lotto, this game was released in Connecticut back in 1992. The game hasn’t changed one bit since launching, you still pick five numbers in the hopes of winning the top prize of $100,000. Draws are held nightly at 22:29 and tickets start at $1, with the option to add the Kicker which will increase your odds for an additional cost.

Connecticut Exclusive Lottery Games

The population of Connecticut is a modest 3.5 million, therefore the in-state games give you a pretty good chance of a return with a lower ticket cost than multi-state games and paydays that can’t be sniffed at.

Lotto!

This is the largest in-state draw game that Connecticut offers and regularly makes players multi-millionaires with a jackpot that builds from a starting point of $1,000,000.

Tickets are on sale for just $1 and you’ll have odds of 1 in 7,059,052 to win the jackpot with this 6 number game. Draws are held every Tuesday and Friday night.

Play 3 & Play 4

These are low-stakes games, with a good chance of returns. You can get tickets for as little as $0.50 and play for prizes from a few dollars up to $5,000. The biggest appeal of these games is that draws are held twice a day and you have some realistic odds of a meaningful payday.

Keno

You can also play Keno in the state of Connecticut, with tickets ranging from $1 to $20, letting you choose your stakes. Draws are held every four minutes from early in the morning till the early hours and you can win up to $1,000,000 with this game.

Additional Games

Connecticut also features plenty of quick action games, you can get your hands on all kinds of scratch cards with tickets on sale from $1 up to $30 which allows you to win up to $1,000,000.

You can also take advantage of printed Fast Play games at lottery retailers, these are instant play games where you have a chance at winning a progressive jackpot. You can play for different prices to win different percentages of the prize pool, for instance, a $5 ticket will win you 100% of the jackpot, whereas a $1 will net you 20% of the prize.

Connecticut State Lottery History

• June 1971 – Governor Thomas Meskill signs Public Act No. 865 which in turn creates the Connecticut State Lottery.
• February 1972 – Tickets for the lottery go on sale at 50 cents each in Connecticut making it the fourth state to have a lottery. There’s a weekly top prize of $5,000 on offer and sales go live in around 3,000 retail locations.
• September 1975 – The first scratch card goes on sale in Connecticut with a top prize of $10,000.
• March 1977 – The state launches the Daily Numbers game.
• November 1983 – The state launches the Lotto game, with the jackpot prize of $1,000,000.
• November 1995 – The state joins forces with the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) and begins to sell Powerball tickets.
• June 2009 – The state introduces self-service ticket checkers in retail locations.
• January 2010 – Connecticut begins to sell Mega Millions tickets.
• September 2010 – The state installs instant ticket vending machines at various retail locations.
• August 2011 – Connecticut launches its very own lottery website.
• June 2015 – The Connecticut Lottery launches its first Mobile App.
• April 2016 – The state launches Keno games to be played every few minutes of each day.
• July 2020 – The Connecticut Lottery launches Fast Play, an instant win printer ticket game.
• October 2021 – The Connecticut Lottery partners with Rush Street Interactive to launch the PlaySugarHouse online sportsbook.

What Does the Connecticut State Lottery Fund?

The state of Connecticut distributes all the revenues from the lottery funds across a range of different causes in the state. Since the lottery began in 1972 there has been over $10 billion raised and more than $19 billion paid out to winners, with 6% paid to retailers as a commission.

Revenues raised go towards helping things like:

• Health & Human Services
• Education
• Debt Service
• Retired Employee Benefits
• Active Employee Benefits
• Other Government Services
• Judicial & Corrections Services
• Transportation

Where Can You Play the Lottery in Connecticut?

Currently, you can only play the lottery in retail locations, and there are over 2,800 of those within state lines. However things are changing within Connecticut with the recent launching of online sports betting apps, we are likely to see online lottery sales legalized any day now.

Ciaran McEneaney

Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.