The big difference in payouts between the cheapest and most expensive scratch-off tickets
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Buy a $1 scratch-off and the game is built to hand back about 62 cents of every dollar players spend on it. Buy a $50 ticket and that figure is more like 80 cents. We ran the numbers across 2,413 active games in the United States.
| Ticket price | Games | Average payout | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | 228 | 61.9% | 52.4% to 71.6% |
| $2 | 378 | 65.6% | 52.9% to 78.8% |
| $3 | 175 | 65.3% | 54.7% to 73.1% |
| $5 | 628 | 69.3% | 54.6% to 79.5% |
| $10 | 500 | 73.2% | 40.1% to 87.5% |
| $20 | 291 | 75.2% | 56.5% to 86.7% |
| $25 | 14 | 76.5% | 71.1% to 80.1% |
| $30 | 129 | 77.3% | 43.6% to 85.1% |
| $50 | 62 | 79.7% | 71.4% to 87.2% |
| $100 | 6 | 80.2% | 80.0% to 81.0% |
The gap is 18 points, and it is worth real money
Spend $100 on $1 tickets and the prize structure gives back about $62 on average. Spend the same $100 on two $50 tickets and it gives back about $80. That difference of $18 per $100 is the single largest lever a scratch-off player controls.
The only wobble in the ladder is $3, which averages 65.3% and sits a hair under the $2 average of 65.6%. Everywhere else each step up in price buys a better return.
Why the cheap tickets pay less
The first is fixed cost: printing, distribution, and retailer commission cost roughly the same per ticket whether it sells for $1 or $50, so on a $1 ticket those costs eat a much larger share of the money before any of it reaches the prize pool.
The second shows up in the prize table itself. On $1 games, 49% of all printed prizes are exactly the free ticket price, so half the winning tickets hand back the dollar you already paid. On $50 games that figure is 9%. Cheap tickets spend most of their prize budget keeping players in the game rather than paying them.
Every top-rated game in the country costs $20 or more
The price effect shows up starkly at the top of our rankings. All ten of the highest-rated active scratch-offs in the United States are priced at $20 or above: four at $20, two at $30, one at $50, and Oklahoma's $5 Million Jackpot at $100, which returns 81% with odds of 1 in 2.37. Not one $1, $2, or $5 game makes the list.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do more expensive scratch-offs pay back more?
Yes, consistently. Across 2,413 active US games we score, $1 tickets return an average of 61.9% of sales as prizes, $5 tickets 69.3%, $10 tickets 73.2%, $20 tickets 75.2%, $30 tickets 77.3%, and $50 tickets 79.7%. The pattern holds at every step of the ladder.
Which scratch-off price has the best payout?
$100 tickets, at an average of 80.2%, though only six are on sale nationally. $50 tickets are the best widely available price at 79.7% across 62 games. The practical sweet spot for most players is $10 to $30, where payouts run 73% to 77% and there are more than 900 games to choose from.
Does a higher payout percentage mean I will win money?
No. Every price point returns less than 100%, so the average player loses at every level. A higher payout percentage means you lose more slowly. On $100 spent, a $1 ticket gives back about $62 on average and a $50 ticket about $80.
Jessie Jurado is a news writer who covers new scratch-off launches, state lottery guides, taxes on winnings, news, and much more. She joined ScratchCheck in 2026 and writes the site's state-by-state coverage.
