Jersey Cash 5 winners do best after a statewide losing streak
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TRENTON – It takes a lucky ticket to win a New Jersey Lottery jackpot — but some tickets are luckier than others.
That twist of fate was clear Monday when Lottery officials announced a player in Camden County had purchased a Jersey Cash 5 ticket worth $218,791.
The ticket for the July 15 drawing was the game’s eighth winner this month ... and the most lucrative.
The Lottery previously awarded Cash 5 jackpots for tickets sold in South Jersey that were worth $127,447 in the July 10 drawing; $100,000 in the July 8 drawing; and $204,000 in a July 3 drawing.
Big winners ... and bigger winners
And jackpot winners likely were even happier in June, when a ticket sold in Passaic County won $1.3 million in a June 24 drawing.
The reason behind those fluctuating figures: The jackpot grows each time no one picks the five winning numbers — out of 45 possibilities — in a daily drawing.
"All prize money will be added to the prize pool for the succeeding drawing(s) until there is a winner," according to the game's rules at the Lottery's website.
The $1.3 million prize in June, for instance, came 10 days after the most recent Jersey Cash 5 jackpot of about $550,000.
And each drawing's prize fund is based on a percentage of gross sales receipts; so, more players can mean a bigger winner.
Lottery players face daunting odds
But the rules also note steep odds against winning the $1 game — 1:1,221,759.
The winning numbers in the July 15 drawing were 5, 14, 36, 37 and 38. The XTRA number was 5.
The winning ticket, the first since a July 12 drawing, was sold at Super Deals Food Market on Marlton Pike in Pennsauken.
July’s previous winning tickets from South Jersey were sold at SRI One Liquors on White Horse Pike in Chesilhurst; an Xpress Mart on Wheat Road in Vineland; and a Quick Stop on Harmony Road in Gibbstown.
Each of the retailers received a $2,000 payment.
And for mixed luck, consider the person who bought a winning ticket in Willingboro for the June 2 drawing.
That jackpot was a lofty $703,886 — but two other players, in Cape May and Passaic counties, also held winning tickets.
The three players ended up sharing the prize, getting $234,629 apiece.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email him at jwalsh@cpsj.com.
