From now on, Connecticut Lottery winners will have six months less time to claim their prizes, in a change expected to reap $6.1 million in unclaimed prize money for the cash-starved state government during the first year.
Effective Aug. 2, the Connecticut Lottery Corp. adopted a prize redemption period of 180 days, discarding the longtime claim period of 365 days.
Last year, $604 million in Connecticut Lottery winnings were awarded and $13 million went unclaimed, roughly in line with the typical unclaimed-winnings percentage of about 2 percent. Bad luck for lottery players means good luck for the government: Officials calculate that the shortened claim period will mean a $6.1 million boost in state revenue.
"[D]uring the first full year of this change, we anticipate a one-time annual infusion of unclaimed prize money of approximately $6.1 million, divided over two fiscal years," the lottery corporation's president and CEO, Anne M. Noble, wrote in a July 29 letter to the co-chairmen of the committee that oversees legalized gambling in the state legislature.
One of those co-chairmen, Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, said Wednesday: "It's important that people who buy lottery tickets be aware of the time period change, particularly if they have winning tickets. I wouldn't want any lottery ticket winner to lose out because he or she is not aware that the new claim period is now 180 days."
Noble wrote that the change is intended "to bring us into parity with the lottery industry and to enhance our contributions to the General Fund." The state is now in a budget crisis, facing a projected two-year deficit of $8.56 billion, and officials are scrounging for new revenue wherever they can find it.
There are 45 domestic lottery agencies — in 42 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and District of Columbia — according to a fact sheet released by the Connecticut Lottery. Of that number, 27 lotteries — now including Connecticut's — have claim periods of 180 or 182 days for games with tickets sold at electronic terminals. Fifteen have one-year claim periods. Three — Georgia, New Mexico and Oklahoma — give players only 90 days to claim prizes.
The change for the Connecticut Lottery is not retroactive. It covers all games, including instant scratch ticket games and the "draw games" that involve electronic sales terminals. Draw games are Classic Lotto, Powerball, Lucky-4-Life, Cash 5, Play 3 and Play 4.
Effective Aug. 2, all draw-game prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. Instant scratch game tickets expire 180 days from the announced "End of Game" date for games numbered 1001 and up. To locate a scratch game's expiration date, players can go online to www.ctlottery.org/scratchoffs.htm, or call 860-713-2000.
States are finding more and more ways to shaft their residents for money.
After awhile you'll have to pay to park in your own driveway... oh, wait... some cities already have that.
This is a real sleazy move on the state's part. The message being sent here is they run a lottery but hope that more and more players don't cash their winners in.
"Oh, I see, you want me to play, but if I win you're hoping I don't realize it until after the claim period has expired."
From the OP:
From now on, Connecticut Lottery winners will have six months less timeto claim their prizes, in a change expected to reap $6.1 million inunclaimed prize money for the cash-starved state government during thefirst year.
and then this:
One of those co-chairmen, Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, saidWednesday: "It's important that people who buy lottery tickets be awareof the time period change, particularly if they have winning tickets. Iwouldn't want any lottery ticket winner to lose out because he or sheis not aware that the new claim period is now 180 days."
Horsefeathers. Sounds like the state if definitely hoping the players are not aware, not if the state is rubing their greedy little hands together and hoping to raise another $6.1 million by screwing players out of their winnings.
Lotto players in Connecticut should boycott the lottery to send them a message.
I hope they have to do a solid media blitz on this. No small article on the back page of the least read section of the newspaper or 15 second blip on the news. If they are making a major change like this, it should have a major, and prolonged, public announcement. I hope future winners take just enough time to get some sound legal advice and then claim their money, thereby proving their calculations wrong and cutting into the interest the state earns on the money while waiting for the winners to come forward (however little that amount may be).
Chances are if a player doesn't know he's a winner in six months, he'll never know. Six months has been the claiming period in Ohio from the beginning and Ohio hasn't had any more unclaimed prizes than other states. The gains for Connecticut will be one time only unless they down the road decided to reduce it again to 90 days.
Now this is a con. If private businesses ever did this there would be all kinds of
The change for the Connecticut Lottery is not retroactive. It covers all games, including instant scratch ticket games and the "draw games" that involve electronic sales terminals. Draw games are Classic Lotto, Powerball, Lucky-4-Life, Cash 5, Play 3 and Play 4.
Effective Aug. 2, all draw-game prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. Instant scratch game tickets expire 180 days from the announced "End of Game" date for games numbered 1001 and up. To locate a scratch game's expiration date, players can go online to www.ctlottery.org/scratchoffs.htm, or call 860-713-2000.
"....States are finding more and more ways to shaft their residents for money."
I agree whole heartidly with that.
...but the reality is unless someone is a complete krotchwaffle to let a prize come close to expiring for whatever reason,then you're probably well off enough and shouldn't even be gambling in the first place.I understand the "16 millionunclaimed" applies to scratches and unclaimed/misplaced lotto tickets or whatever.I also understand ugly divorces may hinder a person from running right out and cashing it in.But to the common person who gambles to get ahead just a little,then 180 days is more than ample time in my opinion.I'm not rich and I'm not poor and it sure as hell wouldn't take more than 2 weeks at best to collect a prize.
When you go to a bar/tavern,how long does it take before you take a sip of your drink?
I moved to Kentucky in 1993 and it's always been 180 days..What's the big deal?.....
Maybe I'm not getting something here, so let me think out loud for a moment ...
This is unclaimed PRIZE money;
money won by players who PAID FOR tickets, but then failed to claim the money THEY won;
the STATE, who already TOOK ITS CUT, then cries, "Dibs!" and proclaims itself the DEFAULT WINNER of part of the PRIZE POOL.
Hmmm ... A thought occurs: Shouldn't the unclaimed amount go BACK into the PRIZE POOL???
Hey, why not make it a week to claim prize money and steal even more money?
The good news would be if enough people stopped playing to make up for the state's theft.