With the expansion to twelve teams in 2012, the lottery procedure was altered starting with the 2013 season. The number of chances was reduced from 55 to 36, with the second-worst team having an 8-in-36 chance to win the top pick (rising from 18.2 percent to 22.2 percent), the worst team having only a 1-in-36 chance, and the four playoff teams from the prior year being ineligible for the lottery.

For the 2012 season, the two expansion teams - Denver and Washington - both had 11 chances to win the lottery, with Pittsburgh, the team with the second-worst record in the 2011 season, having 10 chances, all the way down to Green Bay, the worst team in 2011, having but three chances, and the Fantasy Bowl teams from that season - Cincinnati and Chicago - had two and one chances respectively, making a grand total of 75 chances to win the 2012 draft lottery. With San Francisco winning the lottery with 8-in-75 odds that year, the expansion teams took part in a coin toss to determine the second pick since neither won the lottery (Denver won the toss, with Washington getting the third pick). Pittsburgh, otherwise having the best odds to win if not for the expansion, thus fell all the way to the fourth pick, while the worst team in 2011, Green Bay, ended up with the tenth pick.

The below table lists the teams with the best chances to win the lottery (10-in-55 from 2005-2011, 11-in-75 in 2012 only, 8-in-36 from 2013 onward except as stated in Note 2) as compared with the odds of the team that actually won the lottery (if said team did not have the best odds).