First top prize winner of a $50 scratch-off in Connecticut comes forward

By Kate Northrop

WINDSOR, Conn. — The Connecticut Lottery has awarded the state's first top prize from a $50 scratch-off game, worth $4 million.

The first top prize winner in a $50 scratch-off lottery game in Connecticut has stepped forward to claim the $4 million prize.

Last Wednesday, an anonymous winner claimed the first $4 million top prize in the "$4,000,000 Fortune" game, the first $50 lottery ticket in Connecticut.

According to the Connecticut Lottery, the winner opted for the $3 million one-time lump sum of the prize as opposed to the annuitized $4 million prize paid out in installments over 20 years.

"What's very unique about this is that this is the first top prize we've sold for a $50 scratch ticket," Lottery Manager of Public Affairs Arthur Mongillo told The Register Citizen.

The player purchased their winning ticket at Lara Market on Kennedy Road in Windsor, which received a $40,000 bonus for selling it. When winners purchase and redeem scratch-off prizes of $10,000 or more, retailers receive a selling bonus equal to one percent of the prize value.

To congratulate the winner and celebrate the milestone, Lottery President and CEO Frank Suarez presented them with their check.

"That's not something that happens every day," Mongillo remarked.

The $50 "$4,000,000 Fortune" scratch-off game launched in December 2023 with three top prizes of $4 million and over $162 million in total winnings. Now, there are two remaining top prizes of $4 million, as well as three out of four second-tier prizes of $500,000 and four out of five second-tier prizes of $100,000.

With a total of 4,095,460 tickets released at the game's launch, the overall odds of winning any prize in the game are 1 in 2.38. The odds of winning the top prize of $4 million are 1 in 1,333,333.