The three-year wait for an online lottery in Connecticut could finally be at an end. According to the latest update by the Connecticut Lottery Corporation (CLC), lottery players in the state should be able to purchase draw tickets and play Keno online before the end of June.
On May 20, the Lottery confirmed with PlayiLottery, another Catena Media publication, that they estimated that a launch would happen within a launch would happen within three to four weeks.
That timeline suggests that the Connecticut online lottery will launch in the second or third week of June. However, Lottery officials haven’t committed to anything more specific yet. On May 30, Bonus made a follow-up inquiry and confirmed that mid-June is still the plan. Our contact stated:
Still on track for that timeline.
Once the iLottery goes live, Connecticut players can buy tickets online for several games:
- Mega Millions
- Powerball
- Lotto!
- Lucky for Life
- Cash5
- Play3 with Wild Ball
- Play4 with Wild Ball
- Keno
The launch has been coming for a long time. In 2021, lawmakers approved online draw sales and Keno as part of an omnibus bill that also included Connecticut online casinos and sports betting.
The online casinos and sportsbooks launched later the same year. However, the CLC has been slow to take advantage of the online lottery option.
After nearly two years of promises, in May 2023, the CLC announced that it had partnered with its retail technology partner, International Gaming Technology (IGT), for iLottery, with a target launch of late fall 2023. However, it failed to keep that timeline due to technical issues.
The Lottery Points The Finger at IGT for the Delays
As fall 2023 approached, many lottery players were expecting to hear a firm launch date.
Instead, in October, a notice appeared on the Lottery website’s contact page, stating that there had been unexpected challenges relating to quality control. It said the app is still being tested to ensure it functions as intended.
Updates since then have been sparse. According to the minutes for the February 2024 CLC Board of Directors meeting, President Gregory Smith said IGT had been unable to meet regulatory requirements. He added,
The launch for the ilottery platform is further delayed and that although IGT has known about the regulatory requirements for about a year, they are struggling to meet some of them. We do not have a projected new launch date at this time.
While IGT has the necessary software already running elsewhere, the company must adjust its technology in each state to meet regulatory requirements.
An estimate on the launch finally came a couple of months later. During the April CLC board meeting, Smith said that IGT must complete a few more Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) requirements.
However, he remained hopeful and targeted a mid-May launch. That has now been moved back one more month, but it seems like the online lottery is finally close to launching.
IGT’s Technological Woes Not Limited to Online Launch
CLC initially targeted a fall 2023 launch mainly because it would coincide with the rollout of IGT’s new retail system. However, troubles with the company’s Aurora system, which replaced Scientific Games’ technology, started almost as soon as it came online in May 2023.
A series of incidents frustrated lottery players in May and June 2023. These included the system’s inability to check some tickets, scanning others incorrectly, and network outages. An investigation by the DCP ensued, but it concluded that the system was working “largely” as intended.
However, by December 2023, only 38 out of 168 self-service kiosk retailers were operational. Like the mobile app, the delays were attributed to the need for additional testing to ensure the kiosks were operating as intended.
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