$5 million prize claimed from an old Massachusetts scratch-off

The Massachusetts State Lottery revealed a $5 million prize on a scratch ticket sold at Dairy Fine in Norwood, dated Tuesday, September 22. The winner has not been identified.

The prize came from $5,000,000 100X Cashword, a $20 crossword-style game, but not from the version on shelves today. This ticket belonged to game 438, a 2024 printing the lottery has recently stopped selling. Its winning tickets can still be cashed until May 7, 2027.

Massachusetts has printed this game at least three times. A 2023 run, game 382, is off the market. Game 438 followed in June 2024, and the lottery launched a third run, game 523, in December 2025. They share the same name and a $20 price, so the game number is the only way to tell them apart.

Norwood's ticket closed out game 438 at the top. Both of its $5 million prizes and all ten $1 million prizes are now claimed, leaving 24 of its 700 prizes of $10,000 still unclaimed for anyone holding an old ticket.

Game 523 is a different picture. About 35% of it has sold, and it holds one $5 million prize, eight $1 million prizes, and 467 of its 700 $10,000 prizes. It returns 83.9% of sales as prizes, and the odds of a $5 million hit are 1 in 5,040,000, the same as the older run. It rates 80.2 on our ValueScore™, third of the nine $20 games Massachusetts is selling now.

We have counted how often a retired scratch-off ends with a top prize still out there. Reused names are a similar trap, and we traced how one game called 100X pays 12 different ways from state to state.

Sources

The Patriot Ledger: $5 million lottery ticket sold in Norwood

Massachusetts State Lottery: Instant tickets and prizes remaining