CT General Fund Nets $5 Million From Mega Millions Ticket Sales

By Gary Jeanfaivre 

Connecticut residents spent nearly $14 million on Mega Millions lottery tickets between Oct. 2 and Dec. 17, and $5 million of that is going to the state's General Fund.

Those sales were part of a jackpot run that ended Tuesday night when two winning tickets were sold—one in California and another in Georgia. Tuesday's jackpot of $648 million falls just shy of the record $656 million set on March 30, 2012.

According to CT Lottery, about 36 cents of every $1 of Mega Millions sales goes to the state's General Fund. And for this Mega Millions jackpot run, about $5.02 million was generated for the General Fund.

"It was very exciting and our players experienced the thrill of a big run right before the holidays," said Anne Noble, President and CEO for the CT Lottery.  "While the Mega Millions jackpot winning ticket was not sold in Connecticut, profits raised from the jackpot run still made Connecticut’s citizens a winner because the profits from the sale of Lottery tickets are delivered to the General Fund and support good causes throughout Connecticut.”

Some Connecticut residents actually did win Tuesday night, too.  In total, Lottery officials said, 259,363 winning Mega Millions tickets were sold in Connecticut for Tuesday's drawing, with prizes ranging from $1 to $5,000.

Players have 180 days from the date of drawing to claim a winning ticket.  Winning tickets for the Dec. 17 Mega Millions drawing expire on June 15, 2014.

Fast Facts from CT Lottery

• In fiscal year 2013, players won a record $699 million in prize money.
• At the same time, the CT Lottery provided a record $312.1 million to support the valuable services and programs funded by the state’s General Fund, including public health, libraries, public safety, education and more.
• CT’s Mega Millions sales returned $9.15 million to the General Fund in fiscal year 2013.