Winners of instant riches get some tips

Lottery teams up to launch financial literacy program

The Connecticut Lottery Corp. and a credit union charitable organization on Monday launched a financial literacy and education campaign to help winners of sudden wealth cope with their good fortune.

The “Wise Winnings” initiative offers no-cost financial advice to Connecticut Lottery cash prize-winners and tips on financial planning for a windfall. The program offered by the Lottery, which disbursed $900 million in winnings last year, and Credit Unions Building Financial Independence is intended to help lottery winners manage sums of money they’ve never handled previously.

Every Connecticut Lottery player who wins $600 or more will receive an informational brochure with their prize check.

“We’re putting information in their hands at the same time they get a check in their hand,” said Robert T. Simmelkjaer II, chairman of the Lottery board of directors.

Lottery winners too often fall short of “good financial outcomes, ending up in bad financial shape, which obviously should not happen,” he said.

Simmelkjaer, who worked at ESPN and NBC Sports before Gov. Ned Lamont appointed him to the Lottery board in 2020, said he had seen top-paid athletes lose much of their money because of poor financial planning or none at all. “Money can go very quickly,” he said.

With the Mega Millions lottery reaching $1 billion in late July and numerous news accounts of lottery winners whohave gone broke because they had no idea how to manage sudden wealth, financial advice is a necessity.

Bruce Adams, president and chief executive officer of the Credit Union League of Connecticut, said financial well-being includes the ability to absorb financial shock, “which can come in many forms, whether it is coming into a lot of money quickly or finding yourself in sudden debt.”

“The best thing we can do is interrupt the spending pattern,” he said. “Stop and think.”

CUBFI is the charitable, nonprofit arm

of the Credit Union League of Connecticut.

Wise Winnings is part of the Connecticut Lottery’s responsible gambling efforts that include educational campaigns and materials on how to gamble safely, monetary and in-kind contributions toward problem gambling programs and services and retailer and employee training.