Connecticut Classic Lotto

Connecticut Classic Lotto is one of the games offered by the Connecticut Lottery. It is drawn twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The earliest version of the game began in 1983 as a pick-6-of-36. Later it became a 6/40 game. The current 6/44 matrix was adopted in September 1989. The in-state game underwent further changes, such as adding a cash option in 1997, and switching to what proved to be an unpopular "wild card" version in 1998.

The name was changed to "Classic Lotto", and the wild card ball disappeared, in May 1999. The current game (as of 2007) pays winners $2 for matching three numbers, with parimutuel prizes for matching more numbers. The jackpot is won if all six match.Top-prize winners choose lump sum or annuity within 60 days of claiming the jackpot. In the unlikely event that the annuity is chosen, the prize is paid in 21 yearly installments.The overall prize pool is 52% of sales, half of which goes toward the jackpot alone.

As with all Connecticut Lottery games, the minimum age to play Classic Lotto is 18.

The Classic Lotto jackpot was most recently hit on June 8, 2007; the jackpot is almost never shared by two or more tickets.

Winners of Classic Lotto (jackpot or otherwise) have one year to claim their prizes. A Classic Lotto jackpot of $3.5 million (annuity) on a ticket bought in February 2006 went unclaimed. The Connecticut Lottery had several options for distributing the $2.1 million cash that would have funded the jackpot prize; as of June 2007, there has been no official word as to what the money will be used for. It is possible the money will go into future Classic Lotto drawings; for a time in the mid-to-late 1990s, unclaimed jackpot cash was used to guarantee starting jackpots of $2 million, instead of the usual $1 million.

[http://www.ctlottery.org Connecticut Lottery]