The Connecticut Lottery is starting to see some improvement in its online platform.
However, sales trends continue to be below expectations, forcing new goals for the state when it comes to iLottery.
As one of the new states with online lottery, Connecticut hopes to overcome some early speed bumps and navigate its way toward a strong first year.
During a Thursday lottery Board of Directors meeting, Connecticut provided an update on where it currently stands.
iLottery sales hit $2 million in CT
The Connecticut Lottery began a soft launch of its iLottery platform on June 10.
By June 25, the official launch was held, just prior to the start of fiscal year 2025.
Thursday, Connecticut reported that iLottery sales were at $2 million through the end of last week. Its online platform offers eight different draw games and Keno.
Through August, Connecticut’s total lottery sales were $222.5 million, including iLottery. That was 2.5% below the $228 million the state had budgeted for the same time period. Compared to FY24, sales were down $21 million.
In a more updated total, total sales were at $365 million entering this week, down $26 million from a year ago.
The reason behind the big dip in total sales can be attributed to lower jackpots for Mega Millions and Powerball thus far in FY25.
Multistate draw games declined $43 million in sales compared to FY24 in Connecticut, but instant tickets and in-state draw games are up year over year.
Connecticut Lottery not on pace for $10 million online goal
For its first year of an online lottery, Connecticut budgeted $10 million in iLottery sales. That would be about $28,000 per day.
That average has not been hit often in the state.
On Thursday, Connecticut Lottery Director of Marketing Brett Steen announced that the goal had only been achieved during five days in the last six weeks.
Sitting at $2 million in sales through three months has the state on pace for closer to $8 million in first-year purchases.
Because of that, the CT Lottery is now adjusting its average needed going forward to $30,000 per day in sales.
To reach that goal, Connecticut is looking to double down on acquisition. Registration for iLottery has faced some barriers since its launch, making it more challenging for new players to seamlessly transition into online play.
That, along with the lack of larger multistate jackpots, has kept acquisition numbers lower in Connecticut, according to Steen:
“We know that those are big points in terms of both acquisition and sales. So, as we get higher jackpots, we should organically see those (acquisition) numbers (increase).”
One recent addition for iLottery that should aid in sales is that the mobile app is now available for Android devices.
Registrations unable to occur on mobile website
Registrations have had some hoops to jump through for the Connecticut online lottery.
Due to regulation requirements in the state, users have not been able to register for online play through web browsers on their phones.
Customers must register and play exclusively through a separate mobile app run by the CT Lottery.
According to Connecticut Lottery Corporation CEO Frank Suarez, that’s been a major hurdle for growth:
“Because of a very unique regulatory requirement that we have here in Connecticut, if someone goes to our website on their phone or another mobile device, they cannot register, purchase a ticket or anything through the mobile website. They have to download an app. That’s a big obstacle.”
The issue is related to geo-tracking that is required in the state that the mobile website isn’t currently equipped with.
The Connecticut Lottery is working with platform provider IGT to resolve the problem. Once that’s settled, the lottery should allow users to register through the mobile website should they not prefer to download an app.
Photo by lucadp via Shutterstock
Graphic from the Connecticut Lottery
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