New Jersey Lottery revenues are up this year, and now officials are betting on a group of Garden State dogs to help further pad the multibillion-dollar enterprise’s bottom line.
This week, Lottery officials began selling scratch-off tickets that feature the names, photos and hometowns of 18 goodest boys and bestest girls from throughout the state.
This is the first time the Lottery has featured New Jersey pets on tickets. Jersey Dog game players have a chance to win cash prizes of as much as $200,000, the officials said.
The dogs were selected from thousands of entries in a statewide contest, the officials said. They include Cash from Wanaque, Huck from Piscataway and Trapper from Egg Harbor City.
“We’re excited to celebrate community pride, a shared pet connection and our ‘Top Dogs’ with players statewide,” said Jim Carey, executive director of the Lottery.
Those selected “best represent dogs of various breeds, sizes and temperaments that embody Jersey’s attitude, spirit and irresistible charm,” officials said.
Founded in 1970, the state Lottery offers a number of games for players 18 and older, ranging from scratch-offs to the big multijurisdictional pools, including Mega Millions and Powerball.
During the 2025 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the Lottery recorded $3.3 billion in sales, according to unaudited revenue figures released last year. About $2 billion in prizes were paid, Lottery officials said.
Another roughly $1 billion in proceeds were added to the state pension fund for teachers, police officers and other government retirees. New Jersey began dedicating a portion of the Lottery system’s annual revenues to the fund under a policy change enacted in 2017 by then-Gov. Chris Christie.
More than 6,500 retail businesses throughout the state earned a combined nearly $196 million in commissions during the last fiscal year, plus another $2.1 million in bonuses linked to sales of winning top-tier tickets, Lottery officials said.
During the current fiscal year, the Lottery generated more than $785 million in revenue through March, according to figures collected by the state Department of the Treasury and included in a recent report.
In all, Lottery receipts were up about 4% year over year through the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the Treasury report states.
Lottery officials launched the Top Dogs contest last year and a statewide vote helped narrow the field of thousands to 50 finalists, officials said. From that group, the 18 dogs on the scratch-offs tickets were selected.
The Top Dog contest’s other big vote-fetchers are also being featured on the Jersey Dog scratch-off tickets. Their names and photos are appearing on an image-match section of tickets, officials said.
This story is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
