New Jersey Lottery Guide: Numbers, Odds & More

Welcome to the most comprehensive guide to the New Jersey Lottery out there. If you’re looking for all there is to know about The Garden State’s games, the best odds, the biggest jackpots, you’re in the right place. If you’re not looking for all that, why not stick around for a while and learn something. As well as taking you through New Jersey’s best lottery games, we’ll also give you a little insight into the status of the NJ Lotto today, and how it came to be.

Stick with us as we guide you through the New Jersey Lottery’s best games and their rules, odds and prizes, from those big winning Draw Games with their drawing times to the instantly winning Scratchers, as well as those quirky state-specific Alternative Lottery Games that don’t quite fit in either of the two major lottery categories. Take a second to learn a bit more about the history of the NJ Lotto, and don’t get caught out not knowing enough about the laws and regulations of the New Jersey Lottery – by the end of this guide you’ll have more opportunities at winning big.

The Various New Jersey Lottery Games Available

First things first – we’ve got to talk about games. New Jersey has a spectacular range of lottery titles available, covering the two major categories of Draw Games and Scratchers, and offering some in between gems. Over the United States, there are a few games that are ever-present, and the fact remains true for New Jersey with those multi-jurisdictional lotteries, offering massive jackpots and lofty dreams. The NJ Lotto also brings some unique state-specific games to the lottery table, reminding us that, of course, “anything can happen in Jersey”.

Draw Games: those NJ Lottos with Huge Jackpots

New Jersey has a splendid selection of Draw Games on offer in its repertoire. There are 11 games to choose from, when you want your Draw Game Lottery fix, all with their own perks and quirks that make each game distinct. They all have a structure and style in common – buy a ticket to select a set of numbers from a wider range, and play those numbers against a later official drawn set in order to win! Check the table below for the draw times. Draw Games have the biggest jackpots, but due to this they have the highest odds, and those jackpots are pretty hard to score.

As you can see from the drawing schedule above, New Jersey is stacked when it comes to Draw Games. Those bigger, multi-jurisdictional lottery games, like Powerball and Mega Millions offer huge jackpots, and therefore only draw twice a week, so as to give the jackpots enough time to build. Those smaller, local games have daily drawings, with some even drawing twice a day! If you buy tickets to the right lottos, you could have 5 draws at the same time! The next few sections will take you through all those NJ Draw Games, with their prizes and odds broken down for you.

Powerball: History Making

Powerball is one of the most famous Draw Game Lotteries across the United States, and for good reason. In 2018, it dished out the biggest jackpot in lottery history – an immense $1.54 billion was split amongst three lucky winners. Powerball has only been in New Jersey since 2010, since the two big lotteries agreed to cross-sell both lotteries in states across America – it produced a Powerball jackpot of $211 million, only months after beginning to sell tickets! We hope you’ll be as lucky. It’s a 5/69 game, with a 1/26 ‘Powerball’, check the odds for selecting the NJ winning numbers below.

Mega Millions: The Big Game

Mega Millions used to be known across the United States of Lottery as The Big Game – and its reputation is definitely still pretty set along the same lines. Similar in structure and prize amounts to Powerball, Mega Millions is a 5/70 game, with a 1/25 ‘Megaball’ bonus number. Heaps of jackpots have been won across this multi-jurisdictional lottery’s portfolio of states, oftentimes in the dizzying heights of $500 million, but New Jersey is yet to feature a resident to score such an immense jackpot. It’s only a matter of time, in our opinion. Check the prize and odds breakdown below.

Cash4Life: Daily Dreams

Cash4Life is another multi-jurisdictional game offered by the New Jersey Lottery, but it’s more of a regional game than a national one, offered across much of the southeast of the US. Its appeal is pretty clear – daily chances to win a lifetime flow of money into your coffers, we think opportunities like those are pretty hard to pass up. You’ve just got to pick the right five numbers from 60, and get the Cash Ball from out of four in order to win. Tickets are only $2, so it’s really not that much to get the chance to set yourself up for life.

Pick 6: A Simple Winner

Pick 6 is one of Jersey’s top lotteries, and it’s home grown and unique to The Garden State too. It’s got a starting jackpot of $2 million, and with $1 tickets, it’s really a no-brainer in terms of its bang for your buck. Simply choose 6 numbers from a range of 49, and that’s it! There’s no complicated bonus number to watch out for, or any other ways to play. What you can do is add $1 for each play, to add a random XTRA multiplier to your ticket, increasing your non-jackpot winnings! Drawings are bi-weekly. Check out the structure of Pick 6 and its prizes and odds in the breakdown below.

Jersey Cash 5: The Daily Special

Jersey Cash 5 is another Jersey Lotto special, but while Pick 6 gives you two chances of winning per week, Jersey Cash has daily draws, giving you a shot at the jackpot every day! Plays cost $1, and you can again boost those non-jackpot winnings by purchasing an XTRA multiplier. You select 5 numbers between 1 and 43, and hope for the best. The progressive jackpot starts at $75,000 and builds until all 5 numbers are matched and the top prize is won. Check that prize and the rest with their odds of winning in the table breakdown.

Pick 4: Double Daily Draws

Pick 4 drawings are held twice daily, once in the afternoon, and again in the evening – that’s just frequent enough to be a dessert for dinner and lunch! The number selection is pretty simple, just 4 numbers ranging from 0-9, but the real customization comes with the different ways in which you can bet and construct a play. You can bet the 4 numbers for a ‘Straight’ exact match, ‘Box’ in any order, ‘Pairs’ in the front and the back of your selection, or any combination of these plays. You can increase your chances by using different numbers in your 4 digits, reducing your prize. Customization is king in this New Jersey Draw Game Lottery.

Pick 3: Better Odds, Less Return

Pick 3 is similar to Pick 4, just scaled back, with greater odds of returning a prize and winning the top spot! Select 3 numbers, again ranging from 0-9, and match them to the drawn numbers. The same terminology regarding exact Straight matches and any order of Box numbers remains the same with the different ways you can play. There are more combinations and odds with the various ways you can construct a bet than the ones listed in the table below, but you’ll have the find all the combos yourself – it’s part of the fun!

5 Card Cash: 2 Ways to Win

5 Card Cash is a NJ Lotto that offers the player two ways to win, with each ticket purchased. It’s a bit of a cross between a Draw Game, and a Scratcher, in that you can play your numbers, or ‘hand’, instantly to win $5,000, and wait until the daily evening drawing to win up to $100,000! It plays a lot like poker, but thankfully you don’t need much of a poker face in order to win. Select 5 cards when you purchase a ‘hand’ for $2 (you can purchase up to 10 at once!) and opt for an ‘All In’ play for an extra $1 to go for more prizes and the chance at a progressive jackpot.

New Jersey Lottery Scratchers: Best Scratchers with the Best Odds

Sometimes Draw Games can take their toll on us bettors, constantly waiting for the drawing time can build up an anxious anticipation that is sometimes best avoided. Or sometimes the wait is just not long enough. That’s where Scratchers – or Scratch Off tickets – come in. You’ve probably seen them before, those little bits of card that provide instant wins by scratching away at the symbols to reveal prizes. That’s instant money right into your pocket. We’ve gone through and selected the New Jersey Lotto Scratchers with the best overall odds at returning you a prize, so you can play them with confidence.

1. 200X The Money Bonus (Odds: 1 out of 3.43)
2. $3,000,000 Mega Bucks (Odds: 1 out of 3.50)
3. Hit $2,000! (Odds: 1 out of 3.61)
4. $200 Million Cash Bonanza (Odds: 1 out of 3.62)
5. Instant Cash Millionaire (Odds: 1 out of 3.63)

There are Scratchers abound in New Jersey, so many in fact that it’d take a whole guide in of itself to take you through the lot. That’s why we’ve selected these gems so you don’t have to. Generally as a rule of thumb – the lower the odds, the more expensive the ticket is, and these top five NJ Lotto Scratchers are all in the top price end, ranging from $20 to $30. But with great odds and pricier tickets come greater prizes, and these Scratchers can net you in the millions.

Alternative New Jersey Lotto Games

The standard Draw and Scratcher game styles fill out the majority of the New Jersey Lottery repertoire, but there are often a handful of unique games on offer in America that don’t quite fit either of the two categories. In New Jersey’s case, there is a whole distinct category of games called Fast Play games, that offer the best of both worlds.

Like Scratchers, these games offer instant wins, to return your prizes immediately and with no waiting around for a draw. All of the NJ Fast Play games also offer progressive jackpots that build and build, a feature more closely linked to Draw Games. Tickets go for $1, $2, $3, $5, and $10, returning you 10% of the progressive jackpot if you win the top prize for $1, 20% for $2 all the way up to 100% for the more expensive tickets.

As far as the distinct games go, Jersey Jackpot is the one to go for, in our humble opinion. It offers the whole range of the Fast Play ticket types, so you can play around with each of the odds and styles for the right one for you. The best overall odds are the more expensive tickets obviously, with the $10 ticket getting you a 1 in 3.26 chance of a cash prize.

The Most Important NJ Lottery Laws

Lottery laws can differ from state to state, like many other laws that are administered by the state. Each state of the US is subject to their own gambling laws and regulations, meaning that what is legal in New Jersey isn’t quite legal in New York. Many of these laws stem from curious historical and cultural antecedents, such as the importance of religion in the state, and the approach to taxation or other forms of casino-based gambling. Check out the table below for the key laws.

In our opinion, as far as the New Jersey Lottery laws go, The Garden State has it pretty good – you can be 18 and still play the best NJ Lottery Games out there, and remain anonymous while you take in your big winnings. This is only a recent development in the state, with the relevant legislation being passed in January of 2020, but a hugely important one, if you want to protect your privacy. Taxes are quite high in NJ however, with winnings over $500,000 taxed 8%, and 5% for winnings between $10,000 and $500,000.

History of the New Jersey Lottery

The New Jersey Lottery has been in operation for a long time, since 1969 – the time of Woodstock and men walking on the moon. This makes it one of the oldest lotteries in the US, with New Hampshire leading the pack, being established in 1964. In its over 50-year history, the NJ Lotto has contributed over $42 billion in prize winnings, and raised over $28 billion for the state, and recent developments indicate the Lottery is not slowing down any time soon, with record jackpots and new games with more frequent drawings.

On the New Jersey Lottery’s website and socials above, you can find news and recent developments, and breakdowns of all the games, if you feel like navigating their website. You can see all the big winners in the state’s history, if they desired to disclose their identities, of course, beginning from January of 2020.

Conclusion

The New Jersey Lottery is quite the opportune and generous one, compared to the games on offer in other states. The huge range of Draw Games and Scratchers – as well as Fast Play games – might have its roots in The Garden State Lottery’s long and extensive history, building momentum and reputation like a progressive jackpot. Things are looking pretty bright for the NJ Lotto’s future, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to be a part of it after reading this guide. Check back here for winning numbers, we’re bound to miss you, and don’t forget to head to our US lottery page and check out the rest of the United States Lotteries.

Common Questions that People Also Ask

Before you go, you might have some lingering questions, or just want a bit more clarity on some of the hot topics in the New Jersey Lottery. We’ve compiled some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Lottery, and answered them for you here, so you don’t have to look too far.