All news

New Jersey Lottery experienced a technical difficulty during a Pick-4 evening drawing

The mishap resulted in more possible winners for the Pick-4 game.

New Jersey Lottery Pick 4 with Fireball logo on a white background.
Todd Betzold

A mishap recently occurred with the New Jersey Lottery during a Pick-4 drawing, but it ended up being a good thing for the players.

During the evening drawing of the Pick-4 game on Thursday, March 14, the New Jersey Lottery experienced a mechanical glitch, but they were able to quickly resolve the issue.

The mechanical glitch

During that Pick-4 drawing, the New Jersey Lottery announced that not all of the balls were released into the chamber before a winning number was selected. Because of that, it resulted in an incomplete draw.

The numbers originally drawn were 8826. The Fireball number was 2.

After noticing the error, the New Jersey Lottery quickly replaced the machine with a secondary Pick-4 machine. Lottery officials tested and reset this secondary machine before a second drawing occurred without incident.

The numbers drawn for this second drawing were 8782, with the Fireball number 2

If you would like to watch the videos of both drawings, you can do so by going to the New Jersey Lottery's social media pages.

Twice the winners now

Since there were two drawings held, the New Jersey Lottery stated they will be honoring both sets of drawn numbers, even though the first drawing was an incomplete draw.

If you won during the second draw, the lottery states you should mail in a claim form along with your tickets to the lottery. Claim forms can be found at any lottery retailer, or they can be downloaded from the claim section of our New Jersey Lottery page.

The mechanical glitch didn't affect the Fireball number drawn since it is drawn from a separate machine. The Fireball number, 2, remains valid for Pick-3 and both Pick-4 drawings.

The New Jersey Lottery stated the secondary machine will continue to be used as the primary machine is checked to ensure functionality. The lottery always keeps a secondary machine on hand for such circumstances.

Pick-4 — how does it work?

Pick-4 is a daily draw game for the New Jersey Lottery. The drawings are held every day at 12:59 p.m. and 10:57 p.m. ET.

Players wanting to purchase a ticket will need to pick four numbers between 0 and 9 or select Quick Pick for the lottery computer to randomly pick numbers for them.

From there, you will need to select a bet type. There are five different ways to play Pick-4 with Fireball. You then will select the amount you'd like to wager, which ranges from $0.50 to $5. Now select which drawing you'd like to play, either midday, evening, or both. You can select up to seven drawings to play the same numbers for up to seven days with the multi-draw option.

You can also add the Fireball option, which doubles the cost of your plays. By selecting the Fireball option, you can replace one of the lottery-drawn Pick-4 winning numbers with the Fireball number for more ways to win.

Another option you can choose from is Instant Match, which is $1 extra per play. This gives players a chance to win up to $500 instantly.

Once you have your play slip completely filled out, give it to your lottery retailer or insert it into a lottery self-service machine, and best of luck when the drawing occurs!

Enjoy playing the New Jersey Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Related articles

Publix, located at 3900 East Bay Drive in Holmes Beach.
Nearly $30 million in weekend jackpots were won in Florida and New Jersey

A $6.25M Florida Lotto win and a $22M Pick-6 jackpot made this weekend one to remember.

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

The Jersey Cash 5, Cash 5 with Quick Cash, and Fantasy 5 logos over a colorful background.
Three states, three wins: Pick 5 games hit big again

Big payouts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan handed out almost $1M in winnings.

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

7-Eleven, located at 1128 Pinebrook Road in Tinton Falls.
Jersey Cash 5's biggest jackpot ever has two winning tickets

Each winner walks away with a cool $1.91 million — were you one of them?

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

The Jersey Cash 5 logo over a green background with dollar signs.
Jersey Cash 5 jackpot reaches historic $3.9 million mark

Players are lining up for a shot at history — will tonight's draw finally end the roll?

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

Recent articles

View All
A billboard displaying an $843 million Mega Millions jackpot.
Mega Millions hits historic streak as jackpot climbs to $843 million

With Powerball added in, more than $1.3 billion in prizes await weekend players.

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

Pike Food Center, located at 465 East Oike Street in Pontiac.
Clock's ticking for $131K Michigan Fantasy 5 winner to claim prize

The $131K prize must be claimed by December 3, while other states are warning about more unclaimed prizes.

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold

The Michigan Lottery Super Raffle logo over a black background with dollar bills.
Michigan's Super Raffle offers the highest prizes and best odds ever

Michigan Super Raffle is giving away $6 million, $1 million, $100,000 prizes, and more.

Halley Bondy profile pic

Halley Bondy

A screen capture of the Illinois Lottery Pick 3 midday draw for November 4, 2025.
Illinois Pick 3 players score big with all-zero draw

More than 7,200 lucky players turned the 0-0-0 combo and a Fireball of 0 into nearly $1.8 million in prizes.

Todd Betzold profile pic

Todd Betzold