ScratchCheck Blog
Analysis, strategy, and stories from the editorial team.
Colorado's six holiday scratch-offs pay the same as every other ticket at their price, so the top prizes decide
Colorado's six holiday scratch-offs go on sale October 19. Every Colorado ticket at a given price pays back the same share, so the games differ only in top prizes and odds.
by Jessie JuradoLatest articles
Powerball reached $600 million in 29 drawings, its second-fastest climb since the $20 million reset began in 2020
Powerball took 29 drawings to climb from $20 million to $607 million. The typical run since 2020 took 34 drawings, and only one, in 2023, was faster.
by Jessie Jurado
Salisbury woman wins $100,000 on a $30 scratch-off and plans to open her own hair salon
Lori Latham of Salisbury won the $100,000 top prize on a $30 Cash Payday scratch-off from an Asheboro gas station and wants to open her own hair salon. Fifty-three top prizes remain.
by Jessie Jurado
Maryland lottery winners now face 9.5% state tax withholding
Maryland withholds 9.5% state tax from residents and 8.75% from nonresidents on lottery prizes over $5,000, on top of 24% federal. Smaller wins are still taxable.
by Jessie Jurado
Wisconsin's holiday scratch-offs include a $15 ticket, just one of three sold anywhere in the US
Wisconsin put six holiday scratch-offs on sale in October, including Reindeer Countdown, a $15 ticket, a price only one other state sells. Merry Money, at $20, has two $200,000 top prizes.
by Jessie Jurado
An Anaheim 7-Eleven sold the $64 million "SuperLotto Plus" ticket, the game's first jackpot since March
A ticket sold at an Anaheim 7-Eleven won the $64 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot on October 17, the first since March 28. Three more tickets matched five numbers for $13,920 each.
by Jessie Jurado
Not every scratch-off with "Life" in its name actually pays for life
21 scratch-offs in eight states pay a top prize for life, from $100 a week to $1 million a year. Several tickets called Set for Life actually pay for a fixed 20 to 30 years.
by Phil Nageotte
Maryland's new $20 scratch-off pays at least $100 on every win, but only 1 in 8.74 tickets wins
The Maryland Lottery put six holiday scratch-offs on sale October 16. The $20 Win $100, $200 or $500 never pays less than $100, but only 1 in 8.74 tickets wins anything.
by Jessie Jurado
A law firm's trust claims $1 million on a $2,000,000 Stacked ticket sold in Massachusetts
A trust from a Hingham law firm claimed a $1 million prize on the $20 $2,000,000 Stacked scratch ticket, sold at a Gilbertville Cumberland Farms, and took $650,000 in cash.
by Jessie Jurado
Which Michigan scratch-offs win the most?
Michigan's pricier scratch-offs pay back about three points more than the national average, led by the $50 $8,000,000 Payout at 81.0%, and only 4 of its 107 games are out of top prizes.
by Jessie Jurado
Ohio couple thought they won $600,000 on a $50 scratch-off, it was actually $15 million
A Kent couple won $600,000 a year for 25 years on Ohio's $50 50th Anniversary scratch-off, bought at a Ravenna Circle K. They took $7.5 million in cash.
by Jessie Jurado
Rock Hill, South Carolina man stops for a $10 scratch-off after work and claims the first $500,000 "Triple Red 777" prize
A Rock Hill man bought a $10 Triple Red 777 scratch-off at Scotts Food Store on Heckle Boulevard after work and won the game's first $500,000 top prize. Four remain.
by Jessie Jurado
Georgia Lottery Diggi games: 165 online instant games, from 10 cents to $30 a play
Diggi is what the Georgia Lottery calls its online instant games. There are 165 of them, most playable from 50 cents, with top prizes up to $1 million and instant payouts up to $600.
by Jessie Jurado
Best $1 to $5 scratch-offs for winning odds and payout, ranked
There are 1,633 state lottery scratch-offs priced from $1 to $5. Here are the ones with the best odds, the best payouts, and the 50 that manage both, as of October 15, 2026.
by Phil Nageotte
Ohio Lottery launches six new holiday scratch-offs with prizes up to $2 million
Ohio put six holiday scratch-offs on sale October 13. The $1 Holiday Cash returns 75.0% of sales, the most of any Ohio $1 ticket, and the $30 Merry Money Match has two $2 million annuity prizes.
by Jessie Jurado
Powerball and Mega Millions are both soaring, with $1 billion up for grabs
No one has won Powerball since August 12 or Mega Millions since July 28. Powerball now stands at $600 million and Mega Millions at $403 million, just over $1 billion combined.
by Jessie Jurado
The best $20 scratch-off in every state right now
Every state lottery that sells scratch-offs has a $20 game. Here is the top-rated one in each of 44 lotteries, led by South Carolina's Magnificent Jumbo Bucks.
by Phil Nageotte
A Pennsylvania player left $500 in winnings on a lottery machine, and a stranger spent it, police say
A Lock Haven man left $500 in lottery winnings on a machine in Clinton County, and state police say an unknown older man spent it. Troopers are still looking for him.
by Jessie Jurado
South Carolina Circle K worker accused of cashing lottery tickets he never paid for
SLED charged a 19-year-old Spartanburg County man with lottery fraud. A warrant says surveillance footage shows him redeeming scratch-offs he never paid for at the Duncan Circle K where he worked.
by Jessie Jurado
Two "Neon Jackpot" players win $1 million, one in San Fernando and one in Novato
David Sandoval Quezada of San Fernando and Cinthia Hernandez, whose ticket came from Novato, each won $1 million on California's $10 Neon Jackpot Scratchers game, the California Lottery said.
by Jessie Jurado
What each scratch-off price point pays, from $1 to $50
Across 2,829 active US scratch-offs, the share of sales paid back as prizes rises at almost every step from $1 to $50. The cheapest tickets return the least.
by Phil Nageotte
North Carolina woman shares emotional moment with mom after $1 million lottery win
Monica Glover of Saint Pauls won $1 million on a $10 Bonus Match ticket from Minuteman Food Mart while her mother watched. She took home $432,063, and one top prize is left.
by Jessie Jurado
Louisiana's four new scratch-offs hand out a free ticket on about 1 in 10 plays
The Louisiana Lottery launched four scratch-offs on October 12, from a $1 Neon 9s to a $5 Color Blast Crossword. Each one gives away a free ticket on roughly 1 in 10 plays.
by Jessie Jurado
A third UK Powerball player wins the £1 million Match 5 prize
A UK ticket matched all five white balls in the October 12 Powerball drawing, the third British £1 million winner since the game launched there in July and the only Match 5 ticket of the night.
by Jessie Jurado
Scratch-offs with fewer prize levels tend to have worse odds of winning
The median scratch-off has 10 or 11 prize levels. Adding more levels doesn't raise the payout, but games with very few levels win noticeably less often.
by Phil Nageotte
How Powerball and Mega Millions balls are made, tested, and drawn
Powerball draws from foam balls in two Halogen II machines kept in a Florida vault that takes three people to open. Here is how the balls and machines for Powerball and Mega Millions are tested and chosen.
by Jessie Jurado
Minnesota's new $20 Mystery Prize Crossword wins 1 in 2.76 times and launches as the state's top-rated game
The Minnesota Lottery's new $20 Mystery Prize Crossword has three $300,000 top prizes, overall odds of 1 in 2.76, and a 72.5% payout, enough to make it the state's top-rated game at launch.
by Jessie Jurado
$1 million Ohio Lottery scratch-off prize claimed by trust
The Sunshine Holdings II Trust claimed the $1 million top prize on Ohio's $20 $1,000,000 Cashword, bought at S & G #88 in Toledo. It took the $500,000 cash option and will receive $366,250.
by Jessie Jurado
One in nine scratch-offs has a top prize below $1,000
Of 2,852 scratch-offs on sale, 307 have a top prize under $1,000. They pay back as much as other games at the same price, but the pricier ones win far less often.
by Phil Nageotte
A $1 scratch-off's top prize is usually 2,000 times the ticket price, at $50 it is 60,000 times
The median $1 scratch-off tops out at $2,000, 2,000 times its price. The median $50 game tops out at $3 million, 60,000 times its price. Top prizes grow faster than ticket prices.
by Phil Nageotte
A Powerball ticket worth $2.26 million was sold in Lakeside, California, as the jackpot climbs to $538 million
A Powerball ticket sold at Americo in Lakeside, California, matched five numbers in the October 10 drawing and is worth $2,259,918. No one hit the jackpot, which rises to an estimated $538 million for Monday.
by Jessie Jurado
Does a scratch-off's name tell you anything?
"Cash" is in 348 scratch-off names and "Money" in 194, but once price and state are taken into account, no common word in a game's name moves its payout by more than about a point.
by Phil Nageotte
Rhode Island's four new holiday scratch tickets all pay back 70.1%, even the $1 one
The Rhode Island Lottery's four holiday scratch tickets, from a $1 Holiday Cash to a $10 Holiday Gold, all return 70.1% of sales as prizes, with small top prizes from $250 to $2,000.
by Jessie Jurado
Which Connecticut scratch-offs win the most, and how long you have to cash one
Best Chance To Be A Millionaire returns the largest share of sales in Connecticut, 81.1%, while the new $10 X The Money rates highest overall. Scratch tickets there expire 180 days after a game ends.
by Phil Nageotte
The odds of winning $1,000 or more on a scratch-off, from $1 tickets to $50
A $1 scratch-off has about a 1 in 545,000 chance of paying $1,000 or more. A $50 ticket has about a 1 in 2,300 chance. Even per $100 spent, the pricier tickets are far more likely to pay four figures.
by Phil Nageotte
A Macomb County woman checked the prizes remaining page, then won $1 million on 50X
A 67-year-old Macomb County woman checked the Michigan Lottery's prizes remaining page, saw two $1 million prizes left on 50X, and then scratched one of them on a ticket from a Clinton Township party store.
by Jessie Jurado
Virginia Lottery launches five new scratch-offs with top prizes up to $3 million
The Virginia Lottery launched five scratch-offs this week. The $20 50X The Money now rates first in the state, and the $50 Premier Play never pays less than $100.
by Jessie Jurado
Is the $5 Millionaire for Life a better deal than the old $2 Cash4Life?
Millionaire for Life costs $5 against Cash4Life's $2, but at cash value both return about 52 to 53 cents per dollar. The new game trades frequent small wins and per-dollar odds for a much bigger top prize.
by Phil Nageotte
$100,000 is the most common scratch-off top prize in America
Of 2,852 scratch-offs on sale, 302 top out at exactly $100,000, more than any other amount. $1 million is second at 252, and $500 is the top prize on 136 games.
by Phil Nageotte
West Virginia's two new keno scratch-offs both pay above the state average for their price
The West Virginia Lottery launched two keno-style scratch-offs on September 29, a $10 game with three $75,000 top prizes and a $2 game topping out at $20,000. Both pay back more than the state average for their price.
by Jessie Jurado
A $6.14 million Lotto America jackpot ticket was sold at a Des Moines QuikTrip
A Lotto America ticket worth $6.14 million, or about $2.53 million in cash, was sold at a QuikTrip in Des Moines for the October 3 drawing. The winner has until April 1, 2027, to claim it.
by Jessie Jurado
Lottery wins made men likelier to get married, and women likelier to get a divorce, a study finds
A study of 76,859 Swedish lottery players found that a windfall made single men likelier to marry and have children, while married women who won were briefly likelier to divorce.
by Jessie Jurado
Augusta's $1 million 50X The Money ticket is the game's second top prize in a week
A $10 50X The Money scratcher sold at Aggies on Meadowbrook Drive in Augusta paid a $1 million top prize, a week after another one sold in Flowery Branch. An Augusta player also won $378,035 in Fantasy 5.
by Jessie Jurado
Most scratch-offs print just a handful of top prizes
Across 2,572 scratch-offs on sale, the median game was printed with four top prizes, and most million-dollar games have three. Only seven have just one.
by Phil Nageotte
D.C. Lottery launches three new Scratchers, including $30 VIP Club
The DC Lottery launched three scratchers on October 7, led by a $30 VIP Club with two $1 million top prizes and no prize smaller than $40, plus a $10 Wild Cherry and a $2 Emerald 8s.
by Jessie Jurado
California Lottery reveals two $5 million winners and a $10 million winner all on scratch-offs
Jose Ponce Flores of Stockton won $5 million on the $20 $5,000,000 Superstar Scratchers game, which now has no top prizes left. Two more California players won $5 million and $10 million.
by Jessie Jurado
Wayne County man wins $2 million on "Big Money Pay Day" from a Detroit, Michigan market
A 37-year-old Wayne County man won $2 million on Michigan's $20 Big Money Pay Day with a ticket from Safeway Market in Detroit, and took a lump sum of about $1.3 million.
by Jessie Jurado
A typical $1 scratch-off run is worth $2.9 million. At $50, it is worth $232.7 million
Scratch-off print runs cluster around 3 million tickets regardless of price. What changes with price is the money involved, from a $2.9 million run at $1 to a $565 million run at $100.
by Phil Nageotte
Tampa woman wins $5 million on "200X The Cash"
Mercedes Nunez of Tampa claimed a $5 million top prize on Florida's $20 200X The Cash with a ticket from a Panama City Murphy USA, and took a $2,779,400 lump sum.
by Jessie Jurado