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to the fiduciary of the decedent prize winners’[sic] estate
upon receipt of an appropriate probate court order
appointing such fiduciary. The division shall be relieved
of any further responsibility or liability upon payment of
such installment prize payments to the fiduciary of the
estate of a deceased installment prize winner or the heirs
or beneficiaries thereof named in an appropriate probate
court order. [Conn. Agencies Regs. sec. 12-568-5(d) and (e)
(1993).]
The Division was authorized to, and did, fund its LOTTO
obligations through the periodic purchase of commercial
annuities. The Division was named as owner of these contracts,
and all payments made thereunder were remitted to the State. No
specific prizewinner was either a party to or a named beneficiary
of the annuity contracts. The record does not reflect the cost
of these contracts, presumably because the State typically
acquired a combined annuity to provide for payment of all LOTTO
prizes won during a specified period of time. Additionally,
payment of awards to lottery winners was not guaranteed by any
State agency. However, at no time through the submission of this
case had the State ever defaulted on amounts due to the
approximately 2,000 persons who had won LOTTO jackpots since the
game’s inception in 1983.
Decedent’s LOTTO Prize
In late 1992, decedent and his wife won a Connecticut LOTTO
prize in the amount of $15,807,306.60. The award was payable in
20 annual installments of $790,365.34 each, commencing on
December 3, 1992. After receipt of the first such installment,
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