North Carolina's Record Pick 3 Payout

As written in its Carolina Pick 3 Record Payout press release, the NC Lottery paid out a record $2,880,000 to 11,520 Pick 3 players who correctly matched the evening number 2 - 2  - 2 on Monday September 6th.

This broke the previous record payout of $2,283,000 for the December 25 2009 evening number 5 - 5 - 5 to 9,132 winners.

By comparison the number 3 - 3 - 3 was later drawn in the Wednesday September 8th daytime drawing, but only 4,947 winners collected $1,236,750 in prizes.

Looking at two other dates when triples were drawn, we find that the number:

• 5 - 5 - 5 on Jan 27 2010 evening drawing paid 3,555 winners $888,570
• 6 - 6 - 6 on Jul 31 2010 daytime drawing paid  2,729 winners $682,250

Looking at these statistics, it doesn't appear that players consistently choose triple numbers in every drawing.

However, playing triples in the North Carolina Pick 3 can definitely benefit those players because the State pays out a fixed $250 per winning ticket.