More than $74 million in revenue generated on both sides of the Hudson

NEW YORK, NY – Lottery officials in New York and New Jersey – the founding members of the groundbreaking CASH4LIFE game– today held tandem cyber celebrations to commemorate the first anniversary of their joint Lottery offering giving players a chance to win not one but two prizes of a lifetime.

First prize in the popular multistate game is $1,000 a day for life. Second prize is $1,000 a week for life. In the past year, 18 Lottery players have won one of the coveted “For Life” prizes while millions more have shared over $69 million in lower-tier prizes ranging from $2 to $2,500.

There remains one unclaimed $1,000 a day CASH4LIFE prize from a ticket purchased in New York for the drawing held on July 24, 2014. The soon-to-expire ticket was purchased at the Milky Way Deli on Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn.

The first drawing of the CASH4LIFE game was conducted June 16, 2014 from the New Jersey Lottery’s drawing studio in in Lawrenceville. One year and 104 drawings later, CASH4LIFE has generated more than $74 million in revenue to fund important in-state programs and services in both New York and New Jersey.

New York Lottery Acting Director Gardner Gurney said of the game’s success, “The CASH4LIFE game is a proven winner. It represents the high level of collaboration, innovation and customer awareness required to keep players entertained and give new players a reason to try their luck. The success of this game has inspired us to apply these same principles to our scratch-off games with similar success.”

New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said, “New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said, “We attribute the success of CASH4LIFE to its unique prize proposition. The market acceptance has exceeded our expectations and what began as a local game, is now expanding to other states. The positive overarching message resonates with people everywhere – health, happiness and CASH4LIFE. What more could anyone ask for?”

The CASH4LIFE game is a double matrix game requiring players to select five numbers from a field of 60 and another number – the Cash Ball – from a separate field of four. Players who match all six numbers win an unprecedented $1,000 a day for life prize. To date, a total of eight New York and New Jersey lottery players have won the top prize offering a guaranteed minimum payout of $7,000,000. Ten additional players have matched the first five numbers drawn to qualify for the $1,000 a week for life prize, which offers its own guaranteed payout of $1,000,000. Winners of either prize may receive substantially more given the winner’s age at the time he or she claims because as long as the winner keeps living, the state issuing the prize will keep paying.

The CASH4LIFE game was launched in 2014 in New York and New Jersey with the expectation that other Lottery jurisdictions would join as they became statutorily eligible. The Pennsylvania Lottery joined the CASH4LIFE consortium in April of 2015 and the Virginia Lottery began selling tickets last month.

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.11 billion in fiscal year 2014-2015 to help support education in New York State.  The Lottery’s contribution represents 14 percent of total state education aid to local school districts. 

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education.  It takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

About the New Jersey Lottery

Since its inception in 1970, the New Jersey Lottery (NJLottery.com) has contributed more than $23 billion to the State in support of education and institutions. In Fiscal Year 2014, the Lottery’s contribution was more than $965 million. Among its beneficiaries are: veterans homes, colleges and universities, school nutrition programs, homes for the developmentally disabled, psychiatric hospitals, higher education scholarship programs and the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf.