Lottery Launches Afternoon Pick 3 Game

Drawings will now be held at 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, in addition to the existing 11:22 p.m. nightly drawing.

The initial winning number for the afternoon drawing was 672.

“Players have been asking us to add another drawing, so we expect it to be good for sales,” lottery director Tom Shaheen said in a statement. “Increased sales should mean more money for education, and that is our ultimate goal.”

“Carolina Pick 3” is a three-digit numbers game where the player chooses a number between 000 and 999. The top prize is $500 for all players who match all three numbers in exact order drawn.

Unlike the nightly drawings, the afternoon Pick 3 won't be televised.

Players will be able to get the results shortly after the drawing via nc-educationlottery.org, WRAL.com, WITNTV.com, WCNC.com or WILM-TV.com. Each of the television stations also will broadcast the numbers after 3:30 p.m.

Players also can call a toll-free lottery hotline at 877-962-7529, visit any lottery retailer or sign up for e-mail or text message updates of winning numbers.