The odds of winning $1,000 or more on a scratch-off, from $1 tickets to $50
For a lot of players, $1,000 is the line between a nice surprise and a real win. The odds of crossing it depend heavily on what the ticket costs. Across 2,413 state lottery scratch-offs on sale with complete prize tables, the median $1 game gives about a 1 in 545,000 chance of a $1,000-or-more prize, and the median $50 game about 1 in 2,300, according to our data as of the second week of October 2026.
| Price | Median odds per ticket | Median odds per $100 spent | Games with no $1,000+ prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | 1 in 544,542 | 1 in 5,445 | 70 of 218 |
| $2 | 1 in 221,980 | 1 in 4,440 | 38 of 372 |
| $3 | 1 in 124,763 | 1 in 3,743 | 3 of 166 |
| $5 | 1 in 86,129 | 1 in 4,306 | 53 of 630 |
| $10 | 1 in 24,386 | 1 in 2,439 | 71 of 506 |
| $20 | 1 in 9,926 | 1 in 1,985 | 21 of 300 |
| $30 | 1 in 4,579 | 1 in 1,374 | 2 of 128 |
| $50 | 1 in 2,297 | 1 in 1,148 | 0 of 69 |
The per-ticket gap is expected, since a $50 ticket costs 50 times as much. The per-dollar column is the surprise. Spending $100 on $1 tickets buys 100 chances, but each is so long that the combined odds of a $1,000-plus prize are about 1 in 5,445. The same $100 on two $50 tickets comes out near 1 in 1,148, almost five times better. The $3 and $5 prices land close together, and the big improvements come at $10 and above.
Some games can't pay $1,000 at all. About 32% of $1 games and 14% of $10 games top out below it, many of them "$50 or $100" style tickets, and those games are left out of the medians above. Every $50 game we checked has at least one prize of $1,000 or more.
This is one slice of a game's value. Cheaper tickets tend to pay back less overall, and the pricier ones cost more per try, as our look at the cost of reaching any win shows. For mid-size prizes specifically, we compared the two most popular prices in our $10 versus $20 breakdown.
How we did this. For each active state lottery scratch-off in our database on October 7, 2026, we estimated tickets printed as overall odds times total prizes, then divided by the number of cash prizes of $1,000 or more. Per-$100 odds divide that by the number of tickets $100 buys. We excluded Missouri and Iowa, whose published prize tables are partial, and games whose tables imply fewer than 50,000 tickets, leaving 2,413 games in 37 lotteries. Medians leave out games with no $1,000 prize.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the odds of winning $1,000 on a scratch-off?
It depends on the price. The median odds of a $1,000-or-more prize are about 1 in 545,000 on a $1 ticket, 1 in 86,000 at $5, 1 in 24,000 at $10, 1 in 9,900 at $20, and 1 in 2,300 at $50.
Is it better to buy cheap or expensive tickets to win $1,000?
Expensive, even per dollar. Spending $100 on $50 tickets gives about a 1 in 1,150 chance of a $1,000-plus prize at the median, against about 1 in 5,400 for $100 spent on $1 tickets.
Do all scratch-offs have a $1,000 prize?
No. About 32% of $1 games and 14% of $10 games on sale have no prize of $1,000 or more, according to our data as of October 7, 2026. Every $50 game we checked has at least one.
Phil Nageotte is a writer covering scratch-off odds, expected value, prize data, and more. He joined ScratchCheck in 2026 after years of tracking lottery payouts in spreadsheets of his own.
