Nebraska Lottery | Guide to NE Lotto Results & Games

The Nebraska Lottery is an exciting and relatively new state lottery on the Lotto America playing field. It’s been in operation since state legislature brought in into being in 1993, but curiously, keno games have been in operation in Nebraska for a lot longer than that, as they have been managed and operated by local municipalities. A lottery tradition runs longer and deeper than the official history might suggest in the Cornhusker State, and that definitely shines through in the repertoire of games on offer.

Stick with us and we’ll take you through all the most important information you’ll need to succeed in the Nebraska Lottery. There’s a great selection of Draw Games to get your head around, all with different styles and payouts to enjoy. Also on offer are the state-specific and instantly winning Scratchers, of which Nebraska has a heap. We’ll also take you through the history and overview of the games in the state, and the laws and regulations that are a product of the intriguing history, so you’ll be as prepared as possible when you go to buy your next ticket.

The Various Nebraska Lottery Games Available

Okay, it’s game time. As you might already know, lotteries tend to fall into two major categories – Draw Games and Scratchers. Nebraska has a nice variety of both, as well as some quirky alternative lottery games that don’t quite fit into either. These provide a bit of variety and a fun excursion from the standard fare. From the national lottos, to the regional mid-west lottos, to the local favorites, there are plenty of opportunities to be had in Nebraska.

Draw Games: NE Lottos with Humongous Jackpots

Draw Games are the star feature of the Nebraska Lottery, just like most other lottery-playing states of the America. The concept is likely familiar – you select a set of numbers from a wider range, and tune in to the official drawing to match your numbers to the set that is drawn, matching more numbers to win more. The really big ones feature progressive jackpots that build and build until someone matches all numbers exactly. It’s important to keep track of what Draw Games are drawing when, so we’ve compiled the times into a schedule for your betting benefit.

Taking a look at the Nebraska Lottery Draw Games schedule, you might notice a distinct pattern. That’s right, three of the four daily draw games on offer are all drawn at the exact same time! 8:40 PM in the evenings is a pretty exciting time to be a Nebraskan Lottery player, and those games are the state’s own homegrown games too. The other daily game, and the bi-weekly games, are all multi-jurisdictional games, with bigger resources available, leading to bigger jackpots, so drawing times are markedly less frequent for those heavy hitters. We’ll break down each of the games listen in the schedule in the sections below in further detail.

Powerball: History Making

Powerball is a huge feature on the American Lottery calendar, probably the biggest, and its reputation is definitely deserved. In 2016, a record breaking $1.586 billion jackpot was won, making in the largest in lottery history. It was divided between 3 winning tickets. In 2006, the biggest jackpot for the time for a single winning ticket was won by a Nebraskan ticket, to the tune of $365 million! This 5/69 game has a bonus ‘Powerball’ feature of 1/26, making the odds of winning pretty high, but the jackpots are always higher.

Mega Millions: The Big Game

Mega Millions has been a part of the Nebraska Lottery Draw Game roster since 2010, when it, along with the other big multi-jurisdictional lottery, Powerball, came to an agreement about cross-selling tickets across all the lottery states of the United States. It’s on par with its counterpart too in terms of odds, structure and prizes – it’s a 5/70 game, with a bonus ‘Megaball’ to choose out of 25 numbers. The jackpots start at $40 million, and raise by $5 million each non-jackpot winning draw. While not as historical as Powerball, Mega Millions has a reputation as the Big Game, due to its previous name and the huge jackpots it regularly dishes out.

Lucky for Life: Cash for a Lifetime

Like the other aforementioned lotteries, Lucky for Life is a multi-jurisdictional game, on a rather smaller, regional scale than a national one. It’s proven to be a favorite in Nebraska, thanks to its tantalizing top prize of a payout of $1,000 each day for the rest of the winner’s life. That’s quite the prize, and according to the odds, it’s a lot more achievable than the other heavy hitters’ jackpots. It’s a 5/48 NE Lotto Draw Game, with a ‘Lucky Ball’ chosen from a range of 18. The odds speak for themselves – check them out below.

2by2: Mid-West special

2by2 is a NE Draw Game Lotto that is a feature in two other neighboring states across the mid-west of the United States – Kansas and South Dakota, making this multi-jurisdictional lottery quite unique among Draw Games, in fact, we haven’t seen anything like it before. On a $1 ticket, players pick 2 numbers from 26, and 2 numbers from 26 again, hence the name of the game. Drawings of the four numbers are then made every single day, so the wait is never long to hear if your favorite numbers have been drawn.

Pick 3: Simple at a Glance

If you’re looking for a Nebraska Draw Game Lottery with a lot of ways to customize your bet to fit your style and needs, look no further than Pick 3. While it may seem simple at first – simply choose 3 numbers each between 0-9 – it has a lot of depth and complexity when you examine all the ways in which you can play those numbers. Play them ‘Straight’ for an exact match, or ‘Box’ to match them in any order in 6 ways, using all different numbers. You can even play combinations of both, to really cover your bases. Have fun and experiment with what works best for you.

Pick 5: More Simple, More Numbers

Pick 5 is more similar in style to the big multi-jurisdictional lotteries, than Pick 3, as its name would suggest. You select 5 numbers from a range of 38, and play them the same way each time, going for an exact match for a stab at the rolling jackpot, which begins at $50,000 and grows from there with each non-jackpot draw. It’s drawn every single day, with plays costing a measly $1. Not too bad, sometimes simple is best.

MyDay: Every Day, Year Round

Nebraska again has pulled out a unique Draw Game in a style and structure that we’ve never seen before. MyDay is another daily Draw Game that goes for $1, and rather than choose random numbers, you need to select the numerical digits that represent a day (01-31), a month (01-12), and year (00-99), for a total of 6 digits. The dates that you select have to be real, and that’s including leap years. This makes for an intriguing and fun NE Lotto that shakes up the sometimes monotonous style.

The Best Nebraska Scratchers with the Best Odds

Scratch Off tickets have long accompanied Draw Games as the little brother of the lottery world. They can so super fun and so useful, offering instant wins that put cash in your pocket, filling the gaps between Draw Game drawing times so you can always have some games going at once. Nebraska has a nice selection – we’ve whittled them down to top 5, ranked according to their overall odd of returning you any kind of cash prize on top of your investment.

1. Limited (Odds: 1 out of 2.50)
2. Cash Craze Crossword Doubler (Odds: 1 out of 2.83)
3. Golden Cherry Multiplier(Odds: 1 out of 2.93)
4. Ultimate Bonus Crossword (Odds: 1 out of 2.95)
5. Royal Riches (Odds: 1 out of 3.00)

The Nebraska Lottery Off Scratch Ticket top spot for the Scratcher with the best overall odds of returning any kind of cash prize goes to Limited, for 1 in every 2.50 tickets paying out. Those kinds of odds, and well, the rest of the top 5 Nebraska Scratchers, come with a price, and all of the Scratchers except for Cash Craze Crossword Doubler ($10) are in the upper category of price, going for $20 a piece. We think the odds are just too good to pass up, especially if you’re aware of how many of the top prizes have gone, so you can best make your Scratch Lottery decision.

Alternative Nebraska Lotteries

When it comes to Lottery Games that don’t quite fit in either of the Draw Game or Scratcher category, Nebraska doesn’t have a whole lot compared to other states of around the nation. Many other states offer Sports betting, or distinct whole lottery games that are in a different format than the major two.

What Nebraska does offer, however, is a selection of instant win interactive Scratcher games on its app. That’s right, you no longer have to even Scratch to be in the running to win huge jackpots and prizes, you can just download the Nebraska Lottery app from your preferred app store and gain access to the interactive Scratcher games along with a heap of other great features.

The Most Important Laws Regarding NE Lotteries

There are a few important Nebraska Lottery laws that must be mentioned, as they impact greatly on how you play the game and the conditions of receiving your winnings. All states have their own spin on the Lottery, shaped by the specific rules and regulations that form the cornerstone of the states’ distinctiveness. Basically, what’s legal in Nebraska isn’t always legal across the border in Kansas or Wyoming. We’ve compiled the most important laws for the Cornhusker State in the table below.

Curiously, Nebraska is the only state in which you must be 19 years old in order to purchase a lottery ticket. Most other states determine the age to be either 18 or 21. However, that’s where the quirks end. In terms of taxes and anonymity for lottery winners, Nebraska is pretty middle of the road. The 5.0% state tax is better than some states, but not as good as others that do not tax at all. Anonymity can be a huge asset in if the option is available to you, so as to not attract any unwanted attention, but unfortunately Nebraska does not allow players to not disclose their identities nor form a trust to purchase a ticket under.

History and Overview of the Nebraska Lottery

The Nebraska Lottery is in its adolescence. Formed in 1993, the 37th state lottery to form has had a little time to grow and develop into a burgeoning and bountiful bunch of games. It directs the revenue that does not go to prizes to public education, environmental programs, compulsive gambling recovery assistance, and the state fair, after a bill passed in 2004 that moved the revenue away from the state’s General Fund and into these more specific programs. In this way, the state’s lottery has raised over $717 million for these various programs.

Nebraska has had one notable huge win in the Lottery’s history – a $365 million win back in 2006, from a Powerball drawing. That win at the time was the biggest win in Powerball’s history for a single winning ticket! In true generous Nebraskan style, the winning ticket was shared between 8 people who worked at a local canning factory. Since then, the various lotteries have surpassed those huge heights but a winning ticket hasn’t been found in Nebraska.

Conclusion

That’s all for our guide to the Nebraska Lottery, and all it has to offer. The various Draw Games give you some diverse and varied betting opportunities through its fun roster, as do the states Scratcher games. What is lacking in the alternative lottery games in Nebraska is made up by the fact that through the app, you can play your favorite Scratchers interactively. While we’re sad to see you go, don’t forget to come back and visit to check the page for the most recent winning numbers and results, and of course don’t forget about the other states of the American Lottery.

Common Questions about the State Lottos

There’s always a few lingering questions that even the best of us have after a guide like this, so we’ve compiled the top most common and frequently asked questions that arise when it comes to the Nebraska Lottery. As we like to say, a winning bettor is an informed bettor, so take the time to scroll through these questions and make sure you have a good handle on the Nebraskan Lottery before you buy your next ticket!