Lotto CD-ROM Too Close to I-Gaming for Connecticut

The launch of a new CD-ROM game from the Connecticut Lottery Corp. is being delayed due to an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general regarding the game's similarity to Internet gambling.

The game, called Treasure Tower, was to be given free to Connecticut lottery customers who buy four instant scratch tickets for $15. The outcome of the computer game is predetermined, and players can either play the 20-minute game or click on "automatic solution," which will tell them the outcome of the game.

The game, which was created and sold to the Connecticut Lottery Corp. by Loto Quebec, offers players a one of 260,000 chance to win $25,000.

"It seems like a complicated and somewhat bizarre new game that may come perilously close to Internet gambling."

- Richard Blumenthal

The game does not interact with the Internet at all, said Loto Quebec Media Relations Director Jean-Pierre Roy.

Diane Patterson, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Lottery Corp., said she could not comment on the matter beyond saying that the state attorney general had requested that the launch of the game be delayed. She that when the game would launch was "under review."

"We're really not discussing anything that's going on with (the attorney general) at this point," Patterson told Interactive Gaming News.

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general, said earlier this week that the game is being investigated because it raises "red flags" about a possible connection with Internet gambling.

"We have received some complaints," Blumenthal told the Hartford-Courant. "It seems like a complicated and somewhat bizarre new game that may come perilously close to Internet gambling."

Roy said the game involves gathering keys and using them to unlock a series of doors. In Quebec, six different versions of the game have been launched. The outcome of the game is entirely predetermined before a player even inserts the CD-ROM into his or her computer, Roy said.

"If you have to win, you will win," he said. "If you don't have to win, you will not win."

After having sold the game to countries including Switzerland and Belgium, as well as U.S. states including Iowa and Kentucky, Roy said no jurisdiction has ever questioned whether the game involved Internet gambling.

Blumenthal's office said they could not comment on the matter to Interactive Gaming News until next week.

Roy also said that the game comes with a parental control feature that allows parents to password-protect the game so that children and teenagers can't play it.