Overview of the Connecticut Lottery: Results and Game Types

Greetings and welcome to the most comprehensive breakdown of the Connecticut Lottery. We’ll take you through the greatest of the lottery games on offer, offering you the best odds for the best payouts, while still keeping an eye on those tantalizing jackpots. Connecticut is home to one of those seemingly national lottos – Lucky for Life began in the Constitution State and has now spread to almost half of the states of the United States! There’s a bounty to be found in Connecticut, with an abundance of lottery games on offer, so what are you waiting for?

Read on and together let’s find out the best Connecticut Lottery games on offer in the Constitution State! We’ve sorted through and selected the top games with the best odds for you to check out and play. Always remember that to play the Connecticut Lottery, it’s best to be as informed as possible. Familiarize yourself with the numerous Draw Games in the state, the large assortment of Scratchers available from retailers, as well as the important laws and the interesting history of the CT lotto. We’ll make sure you’re all caught up with the game types, draw times, and the best odds out there!

The Various Connecticut Lottery Games Available

Over the next few sections, we’ll take you through all the categories of games on offer in Connecticut. As you might already know, there are two main categories that most lotteries fall under. Draw Games are the most common, and have the most at stake, while Scratchers offer a little more fun instant wins, without the dreaded anticipation (we think it’s pretty fun though). Most state’s also offer some alternative lotteries outside of these two categories that usually come in the form of instant win games, and Connecticut is no exception. Sit tight as we take you through the best Connecticut Lottery games on offer.

Draw Games: CT Lottos with The Big Jackpots

Connecticut has a nice selection of Draw Games on offer. Of course, there are the usual suspects – Mega Millions and Powerball form the quasi-national lotteries, that are on offer in pretty much all states that legalize lottery gambling. What is a Draw Game? You probably already know. They involve the selection of numbers from a range on ticket purchase, and then later, the matching of those selections to a publicized drawn amount. Match more numbers to win big! It’s pretty hard to match them all, and therefore this type of lotto tends to have some pretty huge jackpots. Check out these draw times.

As you can see from our draw table, there are a nice assortment of varied draw times so you’ll never have to wait too long between drawings to see if your lucky numbers win. Most of the heavy hitting jackpot Connecticut lottos have bi-weekly drawings – that’s Mega Millions, Powerball, Lucky for Life, Lotto! – and the smaller ones that payout more regularly have more frequent drawings. Want to know more? Check out each of the detailed sections below.

Mega Millions: The National Hero

Mega Millions is a big multi-jurisdictional lottery that appears across the entirety of the USA of Lottery, and thankfully, also in the Connecticut Lotto. It’s a 5/70 game, with an additional 1/25 ‘Megaball’ to select. Tickets cost $2, but you can opt in for a multiplier for an extra $1, in order to boost your non-jackpot winnings by up to 5 times! Speaking of jackpots, they can reach the territory of $500 million, as the jackpot rolls and builds. There’s a lot more than just the jackpot though, check out the other prizes and their odds breakdowns below.

Powerball: History Making

Powerball bares a lot of similarities with Mega Millions, and along with that other dominant multi-jurisdictional Draw Game, fights for the lottery limelight as it offers huge jackpots at historic levels. In 2018, Powerball paid out a record $1.54 billion jackpot, splitting 3-ways to winners across the country, while the biggest Connecticut Lottery winning ticket was a Powerball one, of $254 million in 2011. It’s basically a 5/69 game, with an extra 1/26 ‘Powerball’. Tickets cost $2, with an additional $1 boosting your odds with a ‘Power Play’. Check out the breakdown below.

Lucky for Life

Lucky for Life is another of those multi-jurisdictional Draw Games that offer pretty huge winnings, but on a smaller, more regional scale than the other two aforementioned heavy hitters, with Connecticut actually the home state of this fabulous draw. It’s a 5/48 game, with a 1/18 ‘Lucky Ball’ bonus, offering better odds than Powerball and Mega Millions, but a little slighter in the prize department. But you shouldn’t underestimate the prizes! Getting the top prize gets you $1,000 a day for the rest of you life! That kind of prize keeps you treated till the end of your days, while not losing too much money to the tax man.

Lotto!: A No Frills Draw Game

Connecticut’s own Lotto! is a good old fashioned Draw Game without any bells and whistles. Sometimes we all need to get back to our lottery roots and forget about some of the more “exciting” lottery games that can just be too overwhelming at times. It’s a 6/44 game, where your $1 ticket can snag the jackpot, starting at $1 million, if you can manage to select all six drawn numbers. If not, never fear, there are three other ways to win a prize. While great in its simplicity, the overall odds on Lotto! are not too great, with 1 in 39.3 of tickets returning a prize.

Cash 5: Go For The Kicker

Cash 5 is a – you guessed it – 5 Draw Game, where you select 5 numbers from a range of 35. The table below shows the odds and prize amounts for the different levels of winning. You can purchase an extra ‘Kicker’ number for $0.50 on top of your ticket and open up your chances to win extra prizes! If your Kicker number (1 from 35) matches any of the winning numbers, you’ll instantly win. Cash 5 with a Kicker purchase is a great way to boost your chances of winning, and we think that’s pretty great.

Lucky Links:

Lucky Links is a little different to the other Draw Games out there in the Connecticut Lottery realm – and that’s why we like it. It might be unfamiliar at first but we’re sure you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Instead of choosing your own numbers, you’re randomly assigned 8 numbers arranged in a square, out of a possible 22. Match the numbers and the lines they form to the configuration drawn to win! You can match 8 lines (the center is a free space). Add an extra $1 on top of the $2 ticket to get double the prize for 3,4,5 and 6 line prizes.

Connecticut Scratchers: Lottery Scratchers with Best Odds

Each state comes with their own selection of unique scratch cards. Connecticut has plethora of Scratchers that are worth having a crack at. Scratchers, while not dishing out the same immense jackpots that CT Draw Games might, are fantastic at giving Connecticut bettors more opportunities at winning. They mean instant wins, and pretty big ones too, if you know what tickets to look for. There are a lot out there, and we’ve gone through the bunch and selected the CT lottery games with the best overall odds at returning a prize.

1. $250,000 Cashword 6 (Odds: 1 out of 3.00)
2. $100,000 Cashword 10 (Odds: 1 out of 3.21)
3. Money (Odds: 1 out of 3.40)
4. Diamond 7s (Odds: 1 out of 3.46)
5. 30X Cash 6th Edition (Odds: 1 out of 3.53)

Scratchers differ in prizes, and therefore differ in prices too. From as little as $1, to as high as $10, there’ll likely be the perfect Connecticut Scratch Off ticket for your specific budget and needs. What you’ll need to know is that the ones with the best odds (and best prizes), and these listed above, are usually the most expensive. You can’t have a big win without a little risk now can you?

Alternative Connecticut Lottery Games

Most states offer an alternative to the classic Draw Game and Scratcher style of lottery, but unfortunately Connecticut is somewhat lacking in the department of alternative lotto games. What the Constitution State does offer, however, is a spin on the old classic, Keno. Keno is technically a Draw Game style of lottery, but you’ll be forgiven if you don’t realize it. The reason is that drawings happen every four minutes (!) making this Draw Game bear a striking similarity to Scratchers, in that you can win pretty much instantly. How do you play? Simply choose how many numbers you want to play, from 1 to 10, out of a range of 80. You can then choose the amount you want to wager, making this game one of the most customizable out there.

Important Laws Regarding CT Lotteries

Just like a lot of the laws across America – criminal, property, family, etc. – the laws surrounding the lottery differs from state to state. What’s legal in Connecticut regarding legal age to purchase a lottery ticket, for example, isn’t the same as Arizona. The amount of your winnings taken as a tax by not only the federal government, but also the state governments, changes depending on your income and also what state you are a citizen of. We’ve broken down some of the key laws surrounding the CT lotto for you, check them out.

The majority of the things we listed in the table are self-explanatory, such as the legal age to purchase a CT lottery ticket in Connecticut, and the lack of an online lottery, but more needs to be said about anonymity. Anonymity is hugely important when it comes to retaining your privacy when it comes to big wins – you never know who’ll come after your prizes. Unfortunately, Connecticut requires that your name, city, and prize amount be listed on public record, unless you have a valid protective order or Address Confidentiality Program authorization card.

History of the Connecticut Lottery

The Connecticut Lottery is in the old category when it comes to state lotteries. It’s been around since 1971, when a keen state legislator lobbied for the advent of a lottery in order to raise revenue for key state funding. In its long history, it’s remained a relatively small lottery, due to the size and small population of the state, but it has raised a pretty modest sum for the Constitution State, to the tune of over $9.5 billion. That’s a lot of civil projects!

In the long history of the CT lotto, a few people have managed to snag some pretty stellar jackpots. Just recently, a $21.3 million jackpot was won by a man in Danbury, CT, who opted to take the total $25.8 million as a lump sum, reducing it to a smaller figure. The biggest win was way back in 1992, where $31 million went to a Connecticut local, but there have been some close jackpots since.

Conclusion

Okay, there’s all the key information about the Connecticut Lottery for you. There are some top-notch Draw Games, some fun Scratchers that are more than just a distraction, and some a great alternative to the popular two lottery types that’ll keep things interesting. Whenever there’s a winner for those nerve-wracking Draw Games we’ll have everything posted here, so remember to check back here for all your Connecticut Lottery winning numbers. If you’re curious about any other state lotteries, check out main American lottery page and follow to your favorite state.

Common Questions that People Also Ask

Just before you go, scroll down a little and read our most common questions surrounding the CT lotto. No question is too silly – an informed bettor is one who gets the biggest piece of the pie, with a little bit of luck of course. Even if you think you know it all, check out these tidbits below.