Carolina Cash 5 Number Generator

Carolina Cash 5 is the daily jackpot game of the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL). Its rules say its purpose is to raise money for "specified education programs in North Carolina", and the lottery states that 100% of its profits go to education: school construction, school support staff, NC Pre-K and college scholarships such as the Next NC Scholarship. Tickets are sold at licensed NC Lottery retailers, at self-service lottery terminals and through the NCEL's Online Play service.

Cash 5 went on sale on October 27, 2006, and the first jackpot was won two days later. The number field has grown twice since then. On May 15, 2016 it went from 1-39 to 1-41, which took the jackpot odds from 1 in 575,757 to 1 in 749,398. In November 2018 it moved to the current 1-43. With that change the starting jackpot doubled from $50,000 to $100,000 and match 4 became a set $250 prize. EZ Match arrived on March 30, 2014, and Double Play followed in April 2021.

Every night the lottery draws five winning numbers between 1 and 43. You win with two or more of them on one play, and the order does not matter. The NCEL rules allow two drawing methods: a machine that draws numbered balls, or a random number generator certified by an independent third party. Double Play numbers come from a separate draw. The lottery has said it runs that draw on a different machine with different balls, as a security measure.

The drawing is held seven days a week at 11:22 p.m. ET. Store sales stop at 10:59 p.m. and Online Play sales at 10:58 p.m., and both reopen once the numbers are drawn. The draw is televised on WRAL Raleigh, WITN Greenville, WAXN Charlotte, WGHP in the Triad and WLOS Asheville, and you can also watch it online.

Checked: 2026-11-04, source: NC Education Lottery.

A Cash 5 play costs $1. One play slip holds up to five sets of numbers, and Multidraw repeats them for up to 28 consecutive drawings. Repeat Play lets a retailer scan an old ticket within 30 days to buy the same numbers again. Once printed, a Cash 5 ticket cannot be canceled.

Double Play (+$1 per play) puts the same numbers into a second nightly drawing with its own prize table. That table pays more than the base game for 2, 3 or 4 matches and has a $50,000 top prize. You can only buy Double Play on top of a Cash 5 play. EZ Match (+$1 per play) is an instant game. The terminal prints five EZ Match numbers, each with a prize amount, and you win that amount for every EZ Match number that also appears in your Cash 5 numbers, up to $500. A winning EZ Match ticket can be cashed right away, and the retailer prints an exchange ticket so you keep your Cash 5 draws.

Online Play sells the base game only. Double Play and EZ Match are sold only at retailers and self-service terminals. To buy online you must be 18 or older and physically in North Carolina.

Checked: 2026-11-04, source: NCEL Carolina Cash 5 game rules.

There are 962,598 ways to choose 5 numbers out of 43. For any single play, 1 combination hits the jackpot, 190 match four, 7,030 match three and 84,360 match two. That makes 91,581 winning combinations, which gives the official 1 in 10.51 overall. Double Play uses the same 1-43 field, so its odds are the same. You can rerun the numbers in the odds calculator.

Jackpot rules: the jackpot starts at $100,000. Each drawing it is not won, it grows by an amount based on estimated sales. When more than one play matches all five, the jackpot pool is split equally between them. Jackpot amounts above $100,000 are estimates, and the NCEL normally pays from the money actually in the pool. The rules set the base game's $250 match-4 prize, but if match-4 claims in a drawing exceed that tier's share of sales, the prize can be paid pari-mutuel, and never above $250. The $50,000 Double Play prize becomes pari-mutuel if more than five plays match all five in the same drawing.

Checked: 2026-11-04, source: NC Education Lottery.

EZ Match is drawn from a series of prize grids that pay out at least 60%. A grid is replaced once its top prizes are won. The prizes the lottery currently lists, with approximate odds per play, are $500 and $250 (1 in 84,000 each), $100 (1 in 12,000), $50 (1 in 3,360), $20 (1 in 1,120), $10 (1 in 131.3), $5 (1 in 168), $4 (1 in 78.5), $3 (1 in 14) and $2 (1 in 9.4). The overall chance of an EZ Match prize is 1 in 4.7. These numbers are separate from the nightly Cash 5 draw and can change when a new grid starts.

Cash 5 and Double Play prizes expire 180 days after the drawing. EZ Match prizes expire 180 days after the purchase date. The ticket must reach the lottery by the end of business on day 180, and postmarks do not count. Sign the back right away, because until you do the ticket belongs to whoever holds it.

Prizes under $600 can be cashed at any NC Lottery retailer, at a regional claim center or by mail. Prizes from $600 to $99,999 are paid at the Raleigh headquarters, at the claim centers in Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Greenville and Wilmington, or by mail to P.O. Box 41606, Raleigh, NC 27629-1606. For these you also need a claim form, a photo ID and your Social Security card. Prizes of $100,000 or more, which includes every Cash 5 jackpot, must be claimed in person at headquarters. Online Play prizes under $600 go straight into your account, and bigger ones are claimed online first. The lottery says it withholds the minimum required: 3.99% North Carolina tax and 24% federal tax.

At a store you can mark your generated numbers on a Cash 5 play slip, read them to the clerk, or enter them at a self-service terminal. Online Play accepts the same five numbers. To have the lottery choose for you instead, mark QP on the slip. Store purchases must be made by 10:59 p.m. and online purchases by 10:58 p.m. for that night's draw. More detail is in our quick pick guide.

You must be 18 to play the NC Lottery. If playing has stopped being a game, North Carolina's help line is 877-718-5543, or text "morethanagamenc" to 53342. Random numbers cannot raise your odds, as our prediction explainer shows. See also playing responsibly.