Cash4Life: Official Guide, Rules, Odds & How to Play
Number of balls to pick: 5 Main Numbers 1 to 60 and 1 Cash Ball 1 to 4
Odds to win the jackpot: 1 in 21,846,048
Cash4Life draws: every day at 9:00 PM Eastern Time
Ticket cost: $2.00
Participating States: As of April 2021, Cash4Life is offered by ten state lotteries, including Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia.
What is Cash4Life lottery?
Cash4Life is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery drawing game; as of April 2021, it is offered by ten state lotteries and is drawn nightly. Ticket sales began on June 13, 2014, in New York and New Jersey; the first drawing took place three days later.
Cash4Life drawings are held every day at 11:00 pm ET. Tickets cost $2.00 per play.
How to play Cash4Life lottery?
Players select five numbers from 1 to 60 and one "Cash Ball" number from 1 to 4. Alternatively, players can opt for a Quick Pick to have numbers randomly generated. You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing.
Odds to win Cash4Life jackpot
| Winning selections | Odds | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Match 5 Numbers + Cash Ball | 1 in 21,846,048 | $1,000 A Day for Life (or $7 Million Lump Sum) |
| Match 5 Main Numbers | 1 in 7,282,016 | $1,000 A Week for Life (or $1 Million Lump Sum) |
| Match 4 Numbers + Cash Ball | 1 in 79,440 | $2,500 |
| Match 4 Main Numbers | 1 in 26,480 | $500 |
| Match 3 Numbers + Cash Ball | 1 in 1,471 | $100 |
| Match 3 Main Numbers | 1 in 490 | $25 |
| Match 2 Numbers + Cash Ball | 1 in 83 | $10 |
| Match 2 Numbers | 1 in 28 | $4 |
| Match 1 Number + Cash Ball | 1 in 13 | $2 |
As you can see, the odds of winning Cash4Life jackpot are not great! You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to win Cash4Life lottery!
Cash4Life Odds Calculations
If you ever wondered, why are the odds so sky-high, let's have a look at how exactly are they being calculated.
In every Cash4Life drawing, 5 white balls are drawn together with a single yellow ball, making it a total of 6 balls.
Main Balls Odds
There are 60 numbers to be picked from the total pool of the main balls. None of the balls can repeat. To find out how many possibilities are there to pick 5 balls from the pool of 60 balls, we can use this simple combinatorics formula:
(60 * 59 * 58 * 57 * 56) / (5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1) = 5,461,512
That means there are over 5 million ways to pick 5 numbers from the total pool of 60 numbers without repeating.
Bonus Balls Odds
Now we need to add Bonus ball odds.
There are 4 numbers to be picked from the total pool of the bonus balls. None of the balls can repeat. And we need to pick only 1 ball.
This is pretty simple, it's 4 ways to pick 4 balls if you pick only one ball.
Overall Odds To Win Cash4Life
To add this all together, we need to multiply both calculations.
Total odds = 5,461,512 * 4 = 21,846,048
So there you have it! If you wanted to purchase every possible combination to guarantee you winning the jackpot, you would need to purchase around 22 million tickets!
But the good news is, there are better ways to improve your odds of winning Cash4Life without spending so much money.
Winning VS Losing Combinations
Did you know that after each Cash4Life draw, there will be exactly:
Winning Combinations: 2,783,954 (15%)
Losing Combinations: 19,062,094 (85%)
Winning Probability Calculations
In the USA Cash4Life, you have to pick 5 numbers from 1 to 60 and 1 Cash Ball from 1 to 25. To win the smallest prize, you need to match either the Cash Ball number or at least 3 Main Numbers and no Cash Ball. The number of combinations that will always win any prize after each draw is calculated as follows:
Total Number of Combinations
The total number of ways to choose 5 Main Numbers from 60 and 1 Cash Ball from 4 is given by:
\( \binom{60}{5} \times \binom{4}{1} = \frac{60!}{5!(60-5)!} \times 4 = 5,461,512 \times 4 = 21,846,048 \)
Prize Tiers and Winning Combinations:
| Prize Tier | Odds | Winning Combinations |
|---|---|---|
| Match 5 + Cash Ball | 1 in 21,846,048 | 1 |
| Match 5 | 1 in 7,282,016 | 3 |
| Match 4 + Cash Ball | 1 in 79,440 | 275 |
| Match 4 | 1 in 26,480 | 825 |
| Match 3 + Cash Ball | 1 in 1,471 | 14,825 |
| Match 3 | 1 in 490 | 44,175 |
| Match 2 + Cash Ball | 1 in 83 | 263,430 |
| Match 2 | 1 in 28 | 779,940 |
| Match 1 + Cash Ball | 1 in 13 | 1,680,480 |
| Total Winning Combinations | 2,783,954 | |
Notable changes
Doubler NJ Option: Introduced on May 15, 2017, in New Jersey, allowing players to double non-"for Life" prizes for an additional $1 per play.
(Source: Wikipedia)
How to win Cash4Life
Increase your chances to win the jackpot by following these expert tips and strategies:
How To Win Cash4LifeAnd play via our lottery partner
