The Connecticut legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee recently decided not to vote on bills that would have allowed third-party companies to sell state lottery tickets online and eliminated the expiration date. Committee members heard testimony that the bills would lead to internet fraud, lost business for convenience stores and increased risks of underage gambling and gambling addiction. State Senator Timothy Larson, committee co-chairman, said, “There just wasn’t support for these going forward.”
The first bill would have let third-party companies sell state lottery tickets over the internet—not the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, which operates the state lottery. Currently eight states allow players to buy lottery tickets or subscriptions online. President and Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation Anne Noble said, “Internet sales of lottery tickets should be carefully operated and managed by the lottery, not any variety of service providers seeking a license.” Patrick McHugh of Scientific Games, supplier of products to the Connecticut Lottery, said allowing outside companies to sell state lottery tickets would risk the integrity and security of the state lottery.
The second bill would have eliminated lottery tickets’ current 180-day expiration date. Over the years several efforts have tried but failed to remove prize-claim expiration dates. Noble said the state would lose $8 million -$16 million in annual revenue from unclaimed lottery prizes. She added Connecticut also possibly could be disqualified from selling tickets for the multistate games Powerball and Mega Millions, which require a 180-day period for claiming prizes. The bill also would have established a so-called tribunal to determine if prizes on expired tickets should be paid.
