A $1 scratch-off's top prize is usually 2,000 times the ticket price, at $50 it is 60,000 times
A pricier scratch-off doesn't just have a bigger top prize. It has a bigger top prize per dollar. The median $1 game on sale tops out at $2,000, or 2,000 times its price. The median $50 game tops out at $3 million, 60,000 times its price. Figures cover 2,852 state lottery games in our data as of October 7, 2026.
| Price | Games | Median top prize | Top prize as a multiple of price |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | 266 | $2,000 | 2,000x |
| $2 | 431 | $20,000 | 10,000x |
| $3 | 212 | $30,000 | 10,000x |
| $5 | 739 | $100,000 | 20,000x |
| $10 | 596 | $200,000 | 20,000x |
| $20 | 354 | about $764,000 | about 38,000x |
| $30 | 149 | $1,000,000 | about 33,000x |
| $50 | 79 | $3,000,000 | 60,000x |
The jump from $1 to $2 is the steepest. Doubling the price multiplies the typical top prize by ten, from $2,000 to $20,000. From $5 to $10 the price doubles again but the multiple stays at 20,000. At $20 the median sits between $500,000 and $1 million, and $1 million is the most common top prize at $20, $30, and $50.
The medians hide a wide range. A handful of $1 tickets carry a million-dollar top prize (we looked at those separately), while some $10 and $20 games top out at just 10 times the price because they only pay $100 or $200. Big advertised top prizes are also sometimes paid over decades, so the cash value can be far smaller.
None of this says a pricier ticket is the better buy. The top prize is a tiny slice of most games' prize money, and payout and odds matter more for what players actually get back. It does explain why every $25 million top prize on sale is on a $50 ticket.
How we did this. We took the highest cash prize tier of each active state lottery scratch-off in our database on October 7, 2026, skipping free tickets, and divided it by the ticket price. Medians are by price point. A few lotteries list some annuity top prizes at their cash value, so those games are slightly understated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the typical top prize on a $1 scratch-off?
$2,000 at the median, or 2,000 times the price, across 266 $1 games on sale in our data as of October 7, 2026. A few $1 tickets top out at $1 million or more, but most stay in the low thousands.
What is the typical top prize on a $20 scratch-off?
Between $500,000 and $1 million, with a median of about $764,000, or roughly 38,000 times the price. $1 million is the single most common top prize at $20, and also at $30 and $50.
Do more expensive scratch-offs have bigger top prizes relative to the price?
Yes. The median top prize is 2,000 times the price at $1, 10,000 times at $2, 20,000 times at $5 and $10, about 38,000 times at $20, and 60,000 times at $50.
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.
