California launched 3 new scratch-offs, but only one stands out

The California Lottery launched three new scratch-offs on sale August 24, 2026, at $20, $5 and $2. One is a strong ticket, and the other two show what happens when a good idea is executed without the numbers to support it. ValueScore™ figures, our 0 to 100 rating, are current as of launch time.

$5,000,000 Extreme Cash ($20)

$5,000,000 Extreme Cash rates 86.0, fourth among the 52 active California games we score. It returns 77.4% of sales as prizes, its overall odds are exactly 1 in 3.00, and all four $5 million top prizes are unclaimed on a print run that has barely started selling.

It scores a near-perfect 25 of 25 on prize quality and 17.6 of 20 on win frequency, giving up ground only on expected value, which is what a 77.4% payout looks like against the very best $20 tickets. Only 200X at 96.8, Golden State Riches at 88.7 and Royal Jackpot at 87.0 rank above it in the state.

Full of 500’s ($5)

Full of 500’s rates 61.0 and it is the interesting failure of the launch. The concept is sound: forget the seven-figure headline and print an enormous number of modest top prizes, in this case 26,250 prizes of $500. A 71% payout on a $5 ticket is above the 69.3% national average for that price.

The execution undercuts it. Overall odds of 1 in 4.43 are poor for a game built on frequency, and the win-frequency component scores just 3.5 out of 20. Compare it with Georgia’s $600 Cash In Hand, a $10 ticket running the same high-volume, low-ceiling design at 1 in 3.26 odds and rating 86.0. Same idea, and the odds line is where California's version loses it.

Planetary Payout ($2)

Planetary Payout rates 55.4 with a 65.8% payout percentage, odds of 1 in 4.09 and a $20,000 top prize with 20 remaining. For a $2 ticket that payout is right at the national average of 65.6%, so it is neither a bargain nor a trap, which is about as much as the price point usually allows.

One caution on the $2 ticket, and on the price point generally. Dollar and two-dollar games are where the payout ladder bottoms out nationally, at 61.9% and 65.6%, against 75.2% for $20 tickets. Spending $20 on ten Planetary Payouts hands back about $13 on average where a single Extreme Cash hands back about $15, and the cheap route buys ten chances at $20,000 instead of one at $5 million. Neither is a plan for making money, and the gap is the largest single lever anyone at that counter controls.

The California tax quirk worth knowing

Anyone winning on these keeps more than they would almost anywhere else. California taxes income at up to 13.3% but exempts California Lottery winnings from state tax entirely, under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17045. A $5 million top prize on Extreme Cash owes no taxes at the California level, where the same prize in New York would give up 10.9%.

The exemption is specific. It covers California Lottery prizes only, so a California resident who wins an out-of-state lottery is taxed on it as ordinary income. Federal tax applies either way, and our lottery tax calculator shows what any prize leaves in any state.

Current scores for every California game are on our California ValueScore™ rankings, and the national rankings cover the rest of the country.

Sources

California Lottery: Scratchers games and prize data