New Jersey lottery delivers record year with over 60 million-dollar winners and prizes found in drawers dumpsters and traffic jams
TRENTON, NJ – A $100 bill left on a counter, a forgotten ticket in a drawer, and a bar owner digging through a dumpster were among the extraordinary moments behind nearly 900 New Jersey Lottery wins of $10,000 or more last year, including over 60 million-dollar-plus prizes spread across the state.
Every one of New Jersey’s 21 counties reported at least seven big wins, with Bergen County leading the list with 118. Middlesex followed with 98, Monmouth with 90, Essex with 78, and Ocean with 70. Based on population, Warren County delivered the best odds, producing one winner per every 6,800 residents. Statewide, the average ratio was about one major prizewinner per 10,000 people.
But the statistics only reveal part of the story. Behind the numbers were everyday moments that unexpectedly turned into life-changing events. In April, a Warren County man visited a Phillipsburg convenience store with plans to buy Scratch-Offs. Before doing so, he noticed a $100 bill on the counter. Choosing to hand it to the clerk instead of keeping it, he then purchased three Power 20X tickets. One of them carried a $1 million prize.
In May, a Mercer County couple found a set of Mega Millions tickets purchased on New Year’s Eve that had been forgotten in a drawer. Upon checking them five months later, they discovered they had matched five white balls for a $1 million win.
In Essex County, a June traffic delay led to an unplanned stop at a 7-Eleven where a Colossal Crossword Scratch-Off produced a $600,000 payout. In West Deptford, a Quick Draw ticket worth $590,000 was tossed into the trash and later recovered thanks to a bar owner reviewing security footage and retrieving the discarded ticket from the dumpster.
Ocean County produced an exceptionally rare case in November. A couple won $3 million on the Jersey Jackpot Scratch-Off just six months after claiming a $1 million top prize on a different game. It marked one of the largest combined lottery earnings by a single household in state history.
Major jackpots also grabbed attention. December brought a $90 million Mega Millions win to a Hudson County player, marking the tenth time since 2018 that a New Jersey player hit a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot. The Pick-6 game had four jackpots in 2025, including $32 million in Ocean County, $22 million in Hudson, $5.9 million in Essex, and $5.5 million in Union.
Jersey Cash 5 recorded 65 jackpot wins across the state, with 13 of them topping $1 million. October delivered a record-setting $3.8 million jackpot split between Camden and Monmouth counties. Another major win occurred in December when a Monmouth County player claimed $2.8 million.
Cash4Life delivered large payouts as well. A Union County player took the $7 million cash option on the top prize, and six others around the state earned $1 million in secondary prizes. Scratch-Offs continued to be a strong performer, with a $5 million prize awarded in June in Union County and a $4 million prize in January in Bergen County.
Multi-state games also added to the prize pool. In total, 199 Powerball players won at least $50,000 in 2025. Mega Millions saw 61 wins of $10,000 or more, with 16 non-jackpot wins reaching at least $1 million. Following rule changes in April, several players benefited from the game’s new multipliers, including a Bergen County player who saw a $1 million prize grow to $4 million and an Ocean County winner who went from $1 million to $3 million.
Since 1970, the New Jersey Lottery has contributed nearly $34.7 billion to state programs. Under a 2017 law, current profits support the public employee pension system under a 30-year funding agreement.
New Jersey’s 2025 lottery season proved that major wins can be triggered by a random stop, a lost bill, or even forgotten paper in a drawer.
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Key Points
- More than 60 players won $1 million or more in New Jersey Lottery prizes in 2025
- Unique stories included wins from lost tickets, good deeds, and unexpected stops
- Mega Millions, Pick-6, Jersey Cash 5, and Scratch-Offs drove record payouts across all 21 counties