Jessie Jurado covers consumer lottery topics with a focus on odds, value, and the math most players never see. She believes nobody should buy a scratch ticket without knowing what they're actually getting for their money.
A Dundalk, Maryland couple won $500,000 on Gifts of Green after the husband checked which scratch-offs still had top prizes, exactly what ScratchCheck tracks.
July 18, 2026
You must be 18 to buy any lottery ticket in Georgia. How the rule is enforced, whether you can gift a ticket to a minor, and what happens when a minor's ticket wins.
July 18, 2026
SLED charged two former convenience store employees in an alleged scheme to steal and cash South Carolina Education Lottery scratch-off tickets. Both are presumed innocent.
July 17, 2026
Governor Brian P. Kemp announced the Georgia Lottery raised a record $1.54 billion for education in fiscal 2026, its 11th straight year over $1 billion, all for HOPE and Pre-K.
July 17, 2026
An Upstate South Carolina man said a vision told him to buy a lottery ticket, so he bought two $10 scratch-offs at a Greenville store. One was a $500,000 Gold Vault Extra Play winner.
July 17, 2026
You must be 18 to buy any lottery ticket in Florida. How the rule is enforced, whether you can gift a ticket to a minor, and what happens when a minor's ticket wins.
July 16, 2026
Christiane Butcher of Brooklyn claimed a $3 million top prize on the New York Lottery's 100Xtra scratch-off, bought at a Brooklyn newsstand. Three top prizes still remain.
July 16, 2026
Mega Millions ($672M) and Powerball ($526M) are both over $500 million at the same time, more than $1.2 billion combined. The odds, the cash option, and what a winner actually keeps.
July 16, 2026
SLED charged a woman accused of stealing scratch-off tickets from the South Carolina store where she worked and trying to cash them at other gas stations.
July 15, 2026
A New Braunfels H-E-B customer claimed the fourth and final $20 million top prize in the Texas Lottery's $20 Million Supreme scratch-off, the last big prize the game had.
July 15, 2026
Oregon launched three new scratch-offs on July 14: Fast Cash Poker ($10), 20X Blitz ($5), and Potion Payout ($2). Prices, top prizes, and each game's ValueScore.
July 15, 2026
You must be 18 to buy any lottery ticket in Texas. How the rule is enforced, whether you can gift a ticket to a minor, and what happens when a minor's ticket wins.
July 15, 2026