Nebraska's Pick 4 is a fast-paced, heavily customizable lottery draw game where players can win up to $6,000 on a $1 play! In Pick 4, the player decides the conditions for how their numbers can win, so in essence, you can choose your own odds and prizes. Deciding which play to use is a fun and important part of Pick 4.
NE Pick 4 draws are held daily, at 9:00 PM CT, with results released before 10:00 PM each night. We publish the latest winning numbers on our Pick 4 Results page as soon as they're announced.
You can purchase Pick 4 tickets any time except for a two-hour pause between 3:00 AM and 05:00 AM, and a three-minute pause at 9:00 PM while the draw is taking place.
There are lots of different prizes up for grabs playing Pick 4, but remember, you can only win the prize associated with the play type you selected for your ticket. Use the table below to check all the different prize categories and the odds of winning for each.
| Play Type | Example | Prize | Odds of Winning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight Match in exact order | |||
| Straight | 123 | $600 | 1 in 10,000 |
| Box Match in any order | |||
| 4-Way | 1112 | $1,500 | 1 in 2,500 |
| 6-Way | 1122 | $1,000 | 1 in 1,667 |
| 12-Way | 1123 | $500 | 1 in 833 |
| 24-Way | 1234 | $250 | 1 in 417 |
| Straight/Box Match in exact OR any order | Exact Order Prize | Any Order Prize | |
| 4-Way | $3,750 | $750 | 1 in 10,000 / 1 in 2,500 |
| 6-Way | $3,500 | $500 | 1 in 10,000 / 1 in 1,667 |
| 12-Way | $3,250 | $250 | 1 in 10,000 / 1 in 833 |
| 4-Way | $3,125 | $125 | 1 in 10,000 / 1 in 417 |
| Pairs Match two in exact order. | |||
| Front Pair | 12xx | $60 | 1 in 100 |
| Middle Pair | x23x | $60 | 1 in 100 |
| Back Pair | xx34 | $60 | 1 in 100 |
To ensure that there is always enough money in the prize pool, the Nebraska Lottery may halt sales of certain popular number combinations. That way, if one of those combinations wins, all the winners can receive their prize in full. The current liability limit is $450,000 (the value of prizes that would need awarding if those numbers won), at which point the sales are cut off.
Playing Pick 4 works differently to your standard 'choose 5-6 numbers and wait for the next draw' type lottery. We've prepared a step-by-step guide to filling out the play slip, below:
First, pick four digits from 0 to 9. You can use as many duplicate digits as you like, and for some play types, this will actually affect the odds of winning and the prizes on offer (more on that later, in the Ways to Play section). The play slip has room for you to make five separate plays, if you like.
Next, pick the play type for your ticket. This will determine how your numbers can win. You can only use one type per play though, so choose carefully:
Using the Multi-Draw option on your playslip, it's possible to enter your chosen numbers and play type in up to 84 consecutive draws, equivalent to 12 weeks of continuous play. Of course, this is optional. Leave this section blank to play just the one draw.
For Box plays (including the Box part of the Straight/Box play), the numbers you choose will affect the odds of winning and the prizes on offer. This is because picking duplicate digits will reduce your odds compared to picking all-unique digits.
This is because Box plays are a bet on every possible combination of your numbers, but you can make more combinations from 6491 (24) compared to 8828 (4), for example. This is known as the number of Ways you play - you can play 4 Ways (0001), 6 Ways (0011), 12 Ways (0012), or 24 Ways (0123).
Playing more Ways gives better odds but the prize for winning is lower, while playing fewer ways is harder to win, but the prizes are bigger.
Straight - Match all four numbers in drawn-order to win.
Box - Match all four numbers to win, in any order.
Straight/Box - Match all four numbers in any order to win half of the regular Box prize. If you manage to match in drawn-order, you'll also win half of the regular Straight prize too.
Front/Middle/Back Pair - These three play types all work the same way. Depending on which one you pick, you win by matching the first two, second & third, or third & fourth numbers in drawn order.
In Nebraska, players must be 19 or older to purchase lottery tickets or redeem prizes.
The drawing takes place at 9:00 PM CT every day, and the NE Lottery aims to publish results within an hour of the draw.
You can purchase NE Pick 4 tickets at any time except between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM, and between 9:00 PM and 9:03 PM. The latter is while the drawing takes place.
NE Pick 4 tickets cost just $1 per play.
No - although Pick 4 is played in many states across the USA, each state holds its own draws, and there are usually subtle rule changes from one state to the next.
No - unlike many other states, Nebraska Pick 4 has no optional modifiers or add-ons that players can use.
Depending on how much you've won, prizes can be claimed at an NE Lottery retailer, at one of the NE Lottery's prize claim centers, or by mail. You can check the full guide to claiming NE Lottery prizes over on the main Nebraska Lottery page.
Pick 4 prizes, like all Nebraska Lottery winnings, must be claimed within 180 days of the draw you won. Once this limit has passed, the prize will expire and cannot be recovered.
