Television monitors broadcast sporting events inside the hall of Sports Haven in New Haven, where CT Lottery launched sports betting in 2021. (Courant file photo) (Mark Mirko/AP)
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.
[ Connecticut Lottery reports smooth start to long-awaited online gambling. Yes, people are betting on Russian table tennis. ]
The program provides resources to find a credit union financial counselor to help establish a financial plan. A website, WiseWinnings.com, supports the effort and Connecticut Lottery players who win $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 who have 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.
Working with Credit Unions Building Financial Independence, the “Wise Winnings” program is intended to reach lottery winners with information about how to invest their money in college education, a home purchase or paying off debt.
Officials at the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling have said gamblers are increasingly getting into financial trouble because of the ease of casino gambling on phones, tablets and laptops and sports betting that launched last year in Connecticut. Simmelkjaer said the financial planning initiative is not related to expanded gambling in Connecticut.
“I would say they’re fairly separate things, to be honest,” he said. “They’re similar in the fact we want people to make good decisions about the games they play, how often they play and how much money they spend.”
Stephen Singer can be reached at ss*****@co*****.com.
Copyright © 2022, Hartford Courant
Copyright © 2022, Hartford Courant
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