Update: Cash4Life ended in early 2026 and has been replaced by Millionaire for Life.
Cash4Life was a multi-state lottery drawing game best known for its two headline jackpot prizes:
- $1,000 a day for life
- $1,000 a week for life
Read on for BettingUSA’s full Cash4Life rundown. We explain how it worked, where you could buy Cash4Life tickets online, the odds of winning, how it compared to other lottery games, and more.
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Although Cash4Life jackpots paled compared to Powerball and Mega Millions, players had significantly better odds of winning the top prize.
The way Cash4Life advertised its jackpot prizes was compelling (who wouldn’t love to have an extra thousand dollars a day for life?), but it was fundamentally no different than other prominent multi-state lottery games.
Cash4Life tickets cost $2, and players in Tennessee, New Jersey, and Missouri could activate additional small prizes for an extra $1 (more on that below).
Quick Cash4Life Guide
- Base Ticket Cost: $2.00
- Top Prize: $1,000 a day for life (or $7 million cash option)
- Jackpot Odds: 1 in 21.8 million
- Any-Prize Odds: 1 in 7.76
- Cash4Life Drawings: 9 PM Eastern daily
- Ticket Purchase Deadline: 8:45 PM Eastern
Where to Buy Cash4Life Online
Players could buy Cash4Life tickets online in some states directly from the state lottery’s website or mobile app.
Alternatively, players in some states could play Cash4Life online through the Jackpocket app, theLotter, and Jackpot.com.
Visit BettingUSA’s lottery hub to see which states have online lotteries or legal lottery apps.
States Where Cash4Life is Sold
Cash4Life was available in ten states:
- Florida
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
Tip: If Cash4Life wasn’t available in your state, there was a good chance you could play Lucky for Life online instead. Lucky for Life featured similar prizes, ticket prices, and odds, but it also closed in early 2026. Millionaire for Life replaced both games.
Cash4Life launched in 2014, beginning with New Jersey and New York, and expanded to seven additional states within three years. Missouri became the latest member when it switched from Lucky for Life to Cash4Life in 2021.
New Jersey was Cash4Life’s flagship member state and hosted the nightly drawing live from the New Jersey Lottery’s headquarters in Trenton.
How to Play Cash4Life
First, you had to decide whether to play Cash4Life online (select states only) or in person.
- Online: Open your favorite lottery app or visit your state lottery’s website to log in and select Cash4Life from the games menu.
- In-Person: Visit your nearest lottery retailer and request a Cash4Life payslip.
Next, you selected six numbers as follows:
- Five numbers between 1 and 60
- A Cash Ball number between 1 and 4
Alternatively, you could request a Quick Pick ticket to let the computer choose random numbers on your behalf.
Then, you would return the completed payslip to the cashier or hit “submit” if playing online.
You could watch the live drawing at 9 PM ET or check the results later at your state lottery’s official website to see if you won. Legal Cash4Life apps like Jackpocket also notified customers if they won.
The goal was to match all five white balls and the Cash Ball. Doing so won the top prize, $1,000 a day for life, or the cash option. If you matched all five white balls and missed the Cash Ball, you won the second-largest prize, $1,000 a week for life, which also had a cash-out option.
Cash4Life Add-On Features
Players in three states could pay an extra $1.00 per ticket for enhanced or additional payouts.
EZ Match was an instant-win game that paid immediate cash prizes of $2 to $500 and provided a 1 in 4.21 chance of winning any prize.
Activating the EZ Match feature added five random numbers to your Cash4Life ticket. If any of the EZ Match numbers matched your Cash4Life numbers, you won the amount printed next to the EZ Match number.
Here’s a screenshot taken from the Missouri Lottery website for context:
The New Jersey Doubler feature doubled all non-jackpot prizes. That shifted the minimum Cash4Life prize from $2 to $4, and since a Doubler ticket cost $3, it moved the game’s lowest prize from an even-money scratch to a positive gain.
Importantly, doubling your prize did not affect your odds of winning. In fact, adding $1 to your bets gave the NJ Lottery a slightly bigger advantage.
The Quick Cash option activated an instant-win game in which the computer printed five random numbers on your lottery ticket at purchase, and you knew immediately if you had won after your ticket was printed.
If any of the Quick Cash numbers matched your Cash4Life numbers, you won the amount printed next to the matching Quick Cash number. Available prizes ranged from $2 to $500, and the overall odds of winning a prize were 1 in 5.24.
Cash4Life Jackpots and Prizes
Cash4Life had nine prize levels, including two jackpot-sized “for life” prizes.
| # of Matches | Prize |
|---|---|
| 5 + Cash Ball | $1,000 a day for life |
| 5 | $1,000 a week for life |
| 4 + Cash Ball | $2,500 |
| 4 | $500 |
| 3 + Cash Ball | $100 |
| 3 | $25 |
| 2 + Cash Ball | $10 |
| 2 | $4 |
| 1 + Cash Ball | $2 |
$1,000 a Day for Life
Players who matched all five white ball numbers plus the Cash Ball number won the jackpot, advertised as $1,000 a day for life.
Note: Winners did not literally receive $1,000 a day for life. Instead, they received an annuity that paid $365,000 once per year for a minimum of 20 years.
Winners could also opt for a lump-sum payout of however much it would cost to purchase the annuity (about $7 million).
$1,000 a Week for Life
Players who matched all five white balls but not the Cash Ball won the secondary prize of $1,000 a week for life, delivered as an annual $52,000 payment for at least 20 years. At the time of Cash4Life’s retirement, the lump sum payout was about $1,000,000.
Cash4Life Odds
Although Cash4Life had smaller jackpots than the other prominent multi-state lottery games, players had much better odds of winning.
The probability of winning the $1,000 a day Cash4Life jackpot was just under one in 22 million, while the odds of winning any prize were 1 in 7.76.
That was about 13 to 14 times better than winning the Powerball (one in 292 million) or Mega Millions (one in 302 million) jackpots. Meanwhile, the odds of winning any prize in Cash4Life were about three times better in Cash4Life than Mega Millions or Powerball.
| Prize | Odds of Winning |
|---|---|
| $1,000 a day for life | 1 in 21,846,048 |
| $1,000 a week for life | 1 in 7,282,016 |
| $2,500 | 1 in 79,440 |
| $500 | 1 in 26,480 |
| $100 | 1 in 1,471 |
| $25 | 1 in 490 |
| $10 | 1 in 83 |
| $4 | 1 in 28 |
| $2 | 1 in 13 |
Cash4Life Strategy
Don’t believe anyone who tells you they have a lottery system that will help you win.
For starters, why would they be giving this top-secret gambling information for free?
Another problem – why aren’t they rich beyond all measure, unimaginably wealthy from consistently beating the state lottery systems?
Every Cash4Life drawing was an independent random event, meaning every number was equally likely to be drawn no matter what happened before. Whether a particular number had been drawn five days running or had been missing in action for a week had zero impact on the odds that number would be selected in the next drawing.
In short, 99% of the Cash4Life strategy posted online was garbage. At best, it was useless. At worst, it was harmful because it created unrealistic expectations and encouraged players to forgo responsible gambling.
Given the above caveats, this was the best way to play Cash4Life as strategically as possible:
It began by controlling your spending. Even at $2 a ticket, it was easy to drain your bankroll or spend more money than you wanted to.
The easiest way to manage your spending and approach Cash4Life strategically was to determine how much you wanted to spend on the game each year. That told you how many tickets you could afford each week.
For example:
Suppose you enjoyed playing Cash4Life as often as possible but didn’t want to lose more than $400 a year. At $2 a ticket, you could comfortably play 200 times a year, and even if you lost on every ticket (unlikely), at least you stuck to your budget. Two hundred tickets a year was 3-4 a week, which should have been plenty to scratch your lottery itch.
Other intelligent (and actually useful) Cash4Life strategies included checking your tickets immediately after each drawing, signing the back of every ticket, and keeping your mouth shut if you won.
Comparison: Cash4Life vs. Lucky for Life
Cash4Life and Lucky for Life cost the same amount to play and offered similar prizes, but the games were different enough to warrant a comparison.
| Cash4Life | Lucky for Life | |
|---|---|---|
| Any Prize Odds | 1 in 7.76 | 1 in 7.8 |
| Top Prize | $1,000/day for life | $1,000/day for life |
| Top Prize Odds | 1 in 21.8 million | 1 in 30.8 million |
| Second Prize | $1,000/week for life | $25,000/year for life |
| Second Prize Odds | 1 in 7.2 million | 1 in 1.8 million |
Both games offered similar top prizes and overall odds of winning, but they diverged significantly in secondary prizes and the odds of winning.
The most noteworthy difference between Cash4Life and Lucky for Life was the value of the secondary prize and the odds of winning. When comparing secondary prizes, there was an obvious tradeoff:
- Cash4Life’s secondary prize had twice the value of Lucky for Life’s secondary prize
- Lucky for Life gave players a 4x better chance to win the secondary prize in Lucky for Life (1 in 1.8 million) versus Cash4Life (1 in 7.2 million)
The difference in the odds of winning any prize between the two games was minimal, at 1 in 7.76 versus 1 in 7.8.
Cash4Life FAQ
Randy Ray is a recognized gambling expert, with industry experience dating back to the early 2000’s.