New Jersey Pick 3
NJ’s Pick 3 game is a fast-paced lottery with two draws every day, loads of different ways to play, and some excellent odds. You can win up to $2,500 on a single ticket!
New Jersey Pick 3 Draws
New Jersey holds two Pick 3 draws every day – the Midday drawing is at 12:59 PM and it’s 10:57 PM for the Evening drawings. You can check the latest NJ Pick 3 results over on our New Jersey Pick 3 Numbers page, where we post them right after each draw.
How to Play New Jersey Pick 3
First of all, select three numbers from 0 to 9 – you can pick the same number more than once if you like, and this even affects the odds of winning and prizes on offer (more on that in our Ways to play section further down). Next, select a play type, and whether you want to wager $0.50, $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5 on your ticket. There are five play types to choose from, and we’ll explain them below.
Straight
To win a Straight bet, your numbers must match the winning numbers in drawn-order.
Box
To win a Boxed bet, your numbers must match the winning numbers, but the order doesn’t matter.
Straight/Box
You can win a Straight/Box bet in two ways. Match in any order to win the Box prize, or match the winning numbers in the exact order to win both the Straight AND Box prizes. The $0.50 wager amount is unavailable for this play-type.
Wheel
In a Wheeled bet, all possible combinations of your numbers are entered as a separate Straight play. Because of this, you can win by matching the winning numbers in any order. This play type is more expensive than the others – to work out the cost, multiply the number of combinations you can make with your numbers by the wager amount.
Pair
There are three types of Pair play, and players must choose one on their playslip. These are Front pair, Split pair, and Back pair. Players can win by matching the first two, first and last, or last two numbers depending on which type of Pair play they chose.
“Ways” to play NJ Pick 3
With the Box and Wheel play types, you can win with any combination of your numbers, but not all numbers are equal! You can only arrange 556 in three different ways, but you can arrange 567 in six ways! This is known as the number of “Ways” you play.
For Box plays, the odds are better if you play a 6-Way number, but to balance things out, the prizes are higher if you play a 3-Way number.
For Wheel plays, the odds are still better for 6-Way numbers, and the prizes are the same either way. But 6-Way Wheel plays cost twice as much as 3-Way Wheels!
Check the full list of odds and prizes for every play type on our NJ Pick 3 Prizes page.
NJ Pick 3 Add-ons, Extras, & Specials
If you thought the different play types and Ways to play were enough to be getting on with, then hold your horses- there’s more!
You can use the Fireball add-on to boost your odds, the Instant Match add-on for a quick win, or enjoy a limited time special like the Green Ball Double Draws. It’s all explained below:
Fireball
If you hate being one number off from winning, this is the add-on for you. After the three main numbers are drawn, a fourth “Fireball” number is drawn, also from 0 to 9. Players can swap one of the winning numbers for the Fireball to create winning combinations. If you win a prize using the Fireball, the payout is lower than normal, but it beats losing!
What’s more, players can win the main prize and a Fireball prize with the same ticket – here’s how. Let’s say I played a Straight bet on the number 112 + Fireball, and the winning balls were 112 with a Fireball of 1. Not only have I won my Straight bet anyway, but I can swap the Fireball 1 with each of the main 1’s to get two further Fireball Straight prizes. How cool is that?
Adding the Fireball to your ticket doubles the cost of your wager. Check the full list of Fireball odds and prizes for every play type on our NJ Pick 3 Prizes page.
Instant Match
For an extra $1, you could leave the store $500 richer! Here’s how the Instant Match add-on works. Players who opt for it are assigned three random numbers from 0 to 9 at the checkout, with each of these numbers has a prize printed beside it, ranging from $1 to $500. If any of the player’s chosen Pick 3 numbers match the Instant Match numbers, they win the prize associated with it, and can instantly cash in.
Check the full list of odds and prizes for Instant Match on our NJ Pick 3 Prizes page.
Green Ball Double Draws
Occasionally, the NJ Lottery runs a month-long promotion that can apply to a few different lotteries, including Pick 3. During the Green Ball event, your Pick 3 tickets have a shot at being entered into a second-chance drawing for no extra cost!
Immediately after each Evening draw, a new draw takes place from a pool of 6 white balls, and 1 green ball. If the green ball is drawn, then a new Pick 3 drawing is held there-and-then, and all Evening draw tickets are automatically entered into it. You can win prizes using the main Pick 3 numbers, the Green Ball numbers, or both! However, you can’t use the Fireball with the Green Ball numbers.
If a white ball is drawn, nothing happens for that evening. However, the white ball is removed from the pool for the next Evening draw, making a Green Ball selection more likely the next time around. This means that a Green Ball Double Draw is guaranteed to happen once every 6 days, getting more likely for every day without one! The pool is reset to 6 white and 1 green after every Green Ball Double Draw.