A pari-mutuel prize that came in high last night says nothing about tonight. It means few people held that number, which is a fact about other players rather than about the draw.
The game at a glance
3 digits, 0–9 each
1,000 possible results, repeats allowed, order counts.
2 a day
Every day. Midday, entries close 1:00 p.m. PT · Evening, entries close 6:30 p.m. PT — 14 draws a week.
1 in 1,000
The same for every one of the possible results, including the one you picked.
Pari-mutuel
A share of each playstyle's pool, so the amount moves every draw. A share of the straight pool — recent straight prizes have landed near $500.
$1 a play
Operated by the California Lottery.
18+
Must be 18+ to buy a California Lottery ticket.
Daily 3, in brief
Daily 3 is the California Lottery's three-digit game, and it breaks the pattern every other game in this section follows. Three digits are drawn, each 0 to 9, for the usual 1,000 results, but California does not pay a fixed prize. Daily 3 is pari-mutuel: the money staked on each playstyle forms a pool, and the winners of that playstyle divide it.
The consequence is that the prize is different every draw. Two Daily 3 draws on the same day recently paid $541 and $507 for a straight. Both were the same 1-in-1,000 event on a $1 ticket. A quiet draw with few winners pays more; a draw where a popular number lands pays less.
The playstyle list is short by American standards. Straight, box and straight/box, at $1 a play, with two draws a day. There are no pair plays, no combo and no add-on number. Entries close at 1:00 p.m. for the midday draw and 6:30 p.m. for the evening one.
Every bet type, with the odds
| Bet type | Winning arrangements | Odds | Share of draws | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StraightThe three digits in the order drawn. One of the thousand results. | 1 | 1 in 1,000 | A share of the straight pool. Recent draws have paid roughly $500 on a $1 play | |
| Box (3 different digits)Any order, on a number whose digits are all different. Six of the thousand results are rearrangements of it. | 6 | 1 in 167 | A share of the box pool. Recent draws have paid in the $40–$90 range | |
| Box (2 like digits)Any order, on a number with one digit repeated. Three arrangements, so it wins half as often and the pool splits fewer ways. | 3 | 1 in 333 | A share of the box pool, larger than the six-arrangement box | |
| Straight/Box (3 different digits)The $1 stake split in half between the two playstyles. Exact order pays half the straight prize and half the box prize; any other order pays half the box prize. | 6 | 1 in 167 | Half the straight pool share plus half the box share in exact order (1 in 1,000); half the box share otherwise | |
| Straight/Box (2 like digits)The same half-and-half wager on a number with a repeated digit. | 3 | 1 in 333 | Half the straight pool share plus half the box share in exact order (1 in 1,000); half the box share otherwise |
Where Daily 3 came from
The state that did not copy the chart
Almost every US daily-number game pays set amounts, which is why the phrase "$500 for a dollar" is so familiar. California went the other way and made its daily games pari-mutuel, the same mechanism its jackpot games use. There is no prize chart to print, because the prize is not known until the draw is settled.
Why the odds still do not move
Pari-mutuel changes what you win, never how often. The 1,000 outcomes are the same 1,000 outcomes, so a straight is 1 in 1,000 in California exactly as it is in Georgia. Only the payout floats.
Half and half on a split ticket
California's straight/box works by halves rather than by a separate prize line. Your $1 is divided equally between the two playstyles, so an exact hit pays half the straight prize plus half the box prize, and any other order pays half the box prize alone. The California Lottery publishes that split explicitly.
An automated draw
California does not use ball machines for its daily numbers. Winning numbers come from an Automated Draw Machine, an air-gapped computer under a numbered security seal, with the machine and the drawing method both chosen at random for each draw.
Playing digits, honestly
Picking an unpopular number genuinely can raise the amount you would win in a pari-mutuel game, because you would split the pool fewer ways. It does not raise your chance of winning by any amount at all. That is the only honest edge in this whole section, and it is an edge on the size of a win, not its likelihood.
Because prizes float, no fixed payout percentage can be quoted per bet the way it can in Georgia or Florida. What is fixed is the share of sales California returns to the prize pool, and it is set in advance rather than earned by clever play.
The digits have no memory, automated draw machine or ball machine. Each draw re-runs all ten digits in all three positions.
Daily 3 — frequently asked
Because it is pari-mutuel. The stakes on each playstyle form a pool, and everyone who wins that playstyle divides it. Two draws on the same day recently paid $541 and $507 for a straight for exactly that reason: different numbers of winners, same 1-in-1,000 event.
Identical to every other three-digit game. A straight is 1 in 1,000, a box on three different digits is 1 in 167, and a box on a number with a repeated digit is 1 in 333. Pari-mutuel pricing changes the prize, not the count of outcomes.
Your $1 is split evenly between the two playstyles. Match in exact order and you collect half the straight prize plus half the box prize. Match in any other order and you collect half the box prize only. If the straight prize were $500 and the box $200, an exact hit would return $350.
Twice a day, seven days a week. Entries close at 1:00 p.m. for the midday draw and 6:30 p.m. for the evening draw, and each draw settles shortly afterwards.
Only box. California's playstyles are straight, box and straight/box, all at $1. There is no combo, no front or back pair, and no extra drawn digit. It is the shortest play list of any digit game covered here.