Illinois joins 17 other states in fast-paced draw game
By Kate Northrop
On Friday, the Illinois Lottery launched its own iteration of Cash Pop, giving in-state players a shot at one of the fastest draw games to spread across state lines over the past few years.
Illinois is the latest state to adopt its own iteration of Cash Pop, becoming the 18th U.S. jurisdiction to join the Cash Pop club.
Tickets for the game are now available both online and at nearly 7,000 Illinois Lottery retailers across the state at varying price points.
"Cash Pop brings another exciting game to Illinois, giving players a new, fun way to play," Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays said in a press release. "As we continue to evolve the Lottery experience, we're focused on offering games that are engaging, easy to play and available across both retail and digital platforms."
Illinois' version of the game will operate similarly to other states' variations of Cash Pop in that it offers several wager amounts for different possible prize levels. Players pick between one and 15 "POPs," or numbers from 1 to 15, choose a wager of $1, $2, $5, or $10 per POP, and decide how many drawings to play.
Players win by matching their selected POPs to the drawn POP, taking home the prize amount printed on their ticket. Prize amounts are randomly assigned at the time of purchase based on the selected wager amount, meaning the ticket's cash prize is printed on the slip instantly rather than being announced at the drawing.
A $1 wager can win a prize ranging from 5X to 250X the wager, up to $250, while a $10 wager can win up to $2,500. Selecting more POPs improves the odds of winning, while higher wagers offer the potential for larger prizes.
Cash Pop joins HotWins, which launched in November 2025, as part of the Illinois Lottery's growing portfolio of high-frequency draw games. Both games hold drawings every hour from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
I haven't played this game in my state of Washington. There is only one option for us and it's $5 a pop with a maximum prize of $500 with the odds of 1 in 7.5 thousand.
They have more options, but just to compare the $5 bet with the $500 prize, their odds are 1 in 3,488.
Man when are Lottery players going to realize this game is such a ripoff and refuse to play it? When you look at the cost and the odds and what you get it's just not worth it. And these state lotteries know it. When I live in Washington I spent $5 for my prize which would have been $50. Five bucks for that low of amount? Ridiculous
They are greedy and desperate which is gonna cause the entire thing to implode....
Funny, I see a guy spending $200+ on this at my local corner store in Washington. I tried it a few times for max $15.00. I am so happy I haven't gotten sucked into this one, such a rip-off. Now, I wish I could let go of Pick 3, but it has a hold on me lol. Washington keeps skirting around all of my numbers!
Every hour. Sounds almost like Michigan's Cash Pop, but ours is on steroids! Every 15 minutes from 5am-3am. The only benefit Cash Pop added is the cutoff time is at 3am instead of 2am
Cash pop started here in Michigan a couple 3 years ago. It's never really been popular. I think it sucks personally. As a matter of fact I run a lottery machine at night and I can't remember the last time I played it for someone.