You buy the same Maryland CASH POP number for several drawings. On the first ticket, a prize appears beneath it. That amount belongs to that number on that ticket—not automatically to every later appearance of the same number in your purchase.
This is the small reading mistake that can make a stack of otherwise straightforward tickets confusing. Treat each sheet as a separate drawing record, with its own printed number-and-award pairs, before you start calculating winnings.
Read a POP and its circle together
Maryland lets you choose numbers from 1 through 15. The terminal assigns a potential prize beneath each selected POP. You win that displayed amount only if the selected POP is the winning number for the ticket’s drawing.
Imagine a $2-per-POP ticket on numbers 4 and 11. In this hypothetical example, the printed circles show $14 beneath 4 and $40 beneath 11. A result of 11 wins $40. It does not win $54, because the unselected result of 4 did not occur too.
A result of 6 wins nothing on this ticket, regardless of how attractive its printed awards look. The circles describe conditional awards, not instant winnings paid when the ticket is issued.
Do not carry one ticket’s award forward
Now imagine you also bought those same two POPS for the following drawing. Maryland issues a separate ticket for each purchased drawing. Read the next sheet rather than using the first sheet as a master prize list.
Suppose that second ticket actually prints $10 beneath 4 and $20 beneath 11. If 11 wins its drawing, that ticket’s award is $20, not the $40 printed on the earlier sheet. Both hypothetical awards are valid entries in Maryland’s $2 prize schedule, but they are not interchangeable.
The safest note-taking format is one line per draw: date, time, selected POPS, and the corresponding printed awards. A single note saying “11 pays forty” loses the information that makes the statement meaningful.
Reconcile the price before studying the potential prizes
The available amounts are $1, $2, $5 or $10 per POP per drawing. Multiply the selected number count by the amount per number and by the drawing count. The circles do not set the purchase price.
Our two POPS at $2 each cost $4 per drawing. Three drawings therefore cost $12 and should produce three separate draw tickets. If all three had 11 as their winning POP, you would still read the award on each corresponding ticket before adding anything.
For example, hypothetical awards of $40, $20 and $14 would total $74 gross. Compared with that $12 purchase, the arithmetic difference is $62 before any applicable deductions. This is a ticket-accounting illustration, not a forecast or a reason to increase a budget after losing.
Follow the next events across midnight
Maryland holds CASH POP drawings at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. You may purchase up to ten consecutive drawings. Consecutive means events in the schedule, not the same clock time on ten separate days.
If the first printed event in a three-draw example is 6 p.m. on a particular date, the next events are 11 p.m. that date and 9 a.m. the next morning. Verify those actual dates on the separate tickets rather than assuming every sheet belongs to the purchase day.
Keep unresolved tickets apart from ones already checked. Seeing the same POP on several sheets is not evidence that they were duplicates printed for the same drawing. The draw date and time distinguish the records.
Separate a larger stake from a better number chance
Each individual POP has a 1-in-15 chance of being drawn. Raising the stake changes the available awards; it does not make that one number occupy additional positions in the drawing.
Playing two distinct POPS covers two possible results out of fifteen for one event. It also costs twice as much as playing one at the same stake. Neither calculation says that a particular printed award is likely to recur on a later purchase.
Maryland’s prize chart separately describes how often award amounts appear. Do not confuse an amount appearing beneath a number with that number subsequently winning. Once a ticket exists, its printed award is known, while the drawing outcome is still unresolved.
Protect the original sheet for each claim
Maryland CASH POP tickets cannot be cancelled. Set the intended spend and review the selection instructions before purchase; then immediately inspect the printed draw details and awards. A playslip is not proof that the terminal bought what you meant.
Sign and safeguard the originals. Claims are due within 182 days of the relevant draw, so separate draw dates can mean separate deadlines. Scan each ticket through the operator’s checker or use retailer validation, and consult current claim guidance for the validated amount.
The Maryland lottery directory covers other available games. For this one, keep the number, circle and draw together. None of the three is a reliable substitute for the other two.
Official sources
Rules checked 2026-10-20. Use the operator for current prizes, deadlines and ticket validation.