The Best and Worst Scratch-Off Odds in the Country Right Now

Scratch-off odds vary more than most players realize, and not just between price points. The state you're in makes a significant difference. A $10 ticket in Georgia can have better odds than a $20 ticket in New York. A $5 ticket in Illinois can have odds nearly as bad as a pull-tab game. The spread across the country right now is wide enough that it's worth knowing where you stand.

All data below is pulled from current active game listings across major states via ScratchCheck's national odds rankings, sorted by overall odds. These are official figures from state lottery sources.

The Best Scratch-Off Odds in the Country Right Now

Arizona's SET FOR LIFE is currently the best-odds scratch-off ticket available anywhere in the country, at 1 in 2.18 overall. That means nearly 1 in every 2 tickets returns some prize. It's a $50 ticket with an 83.4% payout rate and 3 top prizes still remaining. Arizona is consistently one of the better-structured states for scratch-off odds, and this game is the peak of that right now.

Georgia punches above its weight at the $10 price point. JUMBO JUMBO BUCKS is a $10 ticket with odds of 1 in 2.47 and 8 top prizes still unclaimed. That's an unusually good combination for a $10 game: tight odds and an intact prize pool. Most states don't offer 1 in 2.47 odds at any price, let alone $10. Georgia's full scratch-off rankings show this is part of a broader pattern where the state runs better-than-average odds across the board.

California's Royal Jackpot ($40) comes in at 1 in 2.43 with an 80.8% payout rate and 3 top prizes remaining. California isn't typically known for lottery value, but this specific game stands out at the premium price tier.

Other top-odds games worth noting right now: Colorado's $3,000,000 Millionaire Maker ($50) at 1 in 2.56, Georgia's 200X THE MONEY ($25) at 1 in 2.48 with 6 top prizes left, and Massachusetts' cluster of $30 games running between 1 in 2.76 and 1 in 2.78 with payout rates of 84-84.3%. Massachusetts actually leads the country on payout rate at the $30 tier, even if its odds don't quite match Arizona at the top end.

The Best $10 Ticket in the Country

Georgia's JUMBO JUMBO BUCKS at 1 in 2.47 is the standout at $10 nationally by a significant margin. For comparison, the best $10 odds in Massachusetts right now are around 1 in 3.47, in Virginia around 1 in 3.65, and in New York the best $10 game is over 1 in 3.5. If you happen to be in Georgia and you're buying a $10 ticket, JUMBO JUMBO BUCKS is the one to reach for. The Georgia scratch-off page shows current prize pool status for this game and everything else active in the state.

The Worst Scratch-Off Odds in the Country Right Now

Minnesota has two active games that stand out as genuine outliers on the bad end: Minnesota Cash Blowout ($10) at 1 in 9.9, and Win $100, $200, or $500 ($20) at 1 in 9.48. These aren't misreads. A 1-in-9.9 odds figure on a $10 scratch-off means you're winning anything at all on roughly 1 in 10 tickets. For context, most states' worst-performing games hover around 1 in 4 to 1 in 5. Minnesota's outliers are almost double that.

The structure of these games explains the poor overall odds. When the top prizes are capped at $500 or $600, the prize pool can't be spread as broadly as a game with a $1 million or $5 million top tier. The lottery is essentially offering a different kind of game, one with more frequent smaller wins and no significant upside. If you're expecting the payout pattern of a normal scratch-off, these games will feel like a bad deal because by conventional scratch-off metrics they are.

Illinois also has a notable case: "In the Money" is a $5 ticket with odds of 1 in 4.99. That's the worst odds of any $5 game in a major state surveyed here. For reference, Massachusetts $5 games run around 1 in 4.02 at the bottom of their range, and Georgia's worst $5 game is 1 in 3.27. Illinois players buying $5 tickets should check the current rankings before picking off the shelf.

New Jersey: The Weakest Major State Overall

New Jersey's best-odds game right now is Colossal Crossword at 1 in 3.4 for a $30 ticket. That's the best New Jersey offers. Arizona's best is 1 in 2.18. Georgia's best $10 ticket beats New Jersey's best $30 ticket by over a full odds unit. New Jersey's payout rates cluster in the 68-72% range, which is toward the bottom nationally. If you're in the New York metro area and near the New Jersey border, New York's scratch-off rankings are worth comparing since NY tends to outperform NJ on this metric despite being neighbors.

The Pattern That Holds Everywhere

The single most consistent finding across every state surveyed: expensive tickets have better odds than cheap ones, and the gap is larger than most players expect. The best $5 tickets nationally run around 1 in 3.0 to 1 in 3.5. The best $30 and $50 tickets run 1 in 2.18 to 1 in 2.8. That's not a small difference over repeated play.

The reasons are structural. Premium tickets have larger prize pools that can be distributed more broadly. They also tend to have more mid-tier prizes that make overall odds tighter. A $5 ticket simply can't offer 1 in 2.18 odds without the math failing to support the prize structure at that price point.

None of this means a $50 ticket is a good financial decision. It means that if you're going to spend $50 on scratch-offs, buying one $50 ticket in Arizona is structurally better than buying ten $5 tickets in Illinois. The underlying value math favors concentration at higher price tiers in every state.

Check Your State Before You Buy

The games listed above are current as of today but prize pools shift as tickets are claimed. A game with 8 top prizes remaining has more runway than one with 1 remaining, which changes the effective value even when base odds are identical. The state-by-state rankings on ScratchCheck update from official lottery sources and show remaining prize counts alongside odds and payout rates for active games in your state.

Popular state pages: Arizona, Georgia, California, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Illinois, New Jersey.