What Is a Second-Chance Lottery Drawing?

Most scratch-off players throw away their losing tickets without a second thought. In many states, that's leaving real money on the table. Second-chance drawings give non-winning tickets another shot at a prize, and the odds are significantly better than the original game because most players never bother entering. It's one of the least-used features in state lottery programs, and one of the most straightforward ways to get additional value from tickets you've already bought and lost on.

Here's how second-chance drawings actually work, what the different formats look like across states, and what you need to do to enter.

The Basic Concept

A second-chance drawing is a separate promotion attached to a scratch-off game that lets players submit non-winning tickets for entry into an additional drawing. Instead of a losing ticket being worthless the moment you scratch it, you can register it for a chance to win cash or prizes that aren't part of the original game's prize structure.

The programs exist because state lotteries have a structural problem: by law, they can't keep selling tickets for a game once all top prizes have been claimed. A second-chance drawing lets them reserve one top prize for a final promotional drawing, which legally allows continued ticket sales until the entry deadline closes. It's a win for the lottery because it extends a game's revenue window, and it's a win for players because it creates an additional prize opportunity most of them aren't aware of.

The low awareness is the key factor in why second-chance odds are better than the original game. A scratch-off game might sell millions of tickets. The second-chance drawing for that same game might receive a fraction of eligible entries because most players threw their tickets away. Fewer entries means better odds for everyone who does enter.

The Three Main Formats

Not all second-chance programs work the same way. There are three distinct structures across state programs, and knowing which one your state uses changes how you should think about entering.

The reserved top prize drawing. In this format, the lottery holds back one top prize from the original game's prize pool and awards it through a final second-chance drawing when the game closes. Oregon runs this model. When a Scratch-it game ends in Oregon, the lottery draws one winner from all submitted non-winning entries, and that winner receives the game's full top prize. There's only one prize and one winner per game. The entire pool of entries competes for that single prize. Oregon's app makes it easy: when you scan a non-winning ticket's barcode, it automatically asks if you want to enter the second-chance drawing right there.

The recurring sweepstakes pool. California uses this format, and it's the most generous structure of the three. California runs ongoing weekly second-chance drawings for multiple games simultaneously. Every $1 spent on eligible Scratchers earns one entry, so a $5 ticket gives you 5 entries. Weekly drawings offer prizes up to $25,000 for Scratchers and up to $15,000 for SuperLotto Plus non-winners. You can submit up to 500 codes per month. The drawings happen every Saturday night at 11:59 PM for that week's submissions. Texas runs a similar model through its Luck Zone portal, with game-specific promotional drawings for eligible non-winning scratch-offs.

The points and rewards system. Some states run hybrid programs where submitted tickets earn points that can be redeemed for prizes from a catalog rather than entered into discrete drawings. This works more like a loyalty program than a traditional sweepstakes. The prizes tend to be lower-value merchandise, event tickets, and gift cards rather than cash. It's a better fit for players who play regularly and want consistent smaller rewards rather than a shot at one large prize.

How to Enter in Your State

Every state that runs a second-chance program requires you to register for an account on the state lottery's website or app. You can't enter anonymously. The lottery needs your contact information to notify you if you win, and most states require age verification (18+, or 21+ in Mississippi) before activating your account.

Entry methods vary by state. Most states let you enter online by typing in the ticket's serial number or a separate second-chance code printed on the ticket. Many states also allow barcode scanning through their official lottery app, which is faster and less error-prone than manual entry. Oregon's app is the smoothest implementation: it detects non-winning tickets automatically during the validation scan and prompts immediate second-chance entry without any extra steps.

Pennsylvania accepts both winning and non-winning tickets for certain promotional drawings, which is unusual. Most states only take non-winners. Pennsylvania has also run drawings where online play entries earn separate eligibility from physical ticket entries, so if you play both ways in PA, both pools apply.

Connecticut has one of the stricter requirements: you must retain the original physical ticket and present it to claim any second-chance prize. Digital entry alone isn't sufficient proof for Connecticut claims. Keep the ticket after submitting it, not just the confirmation number.

What You Can Win

The prize range across second-chance programs is wider than most players expect. At the low end, some promotional drawings offer merchandise, event tickets, or prizes in the $100-$500 range. At the high end, second-chance prizes can match or come close to the original game's top prize.

Mississippi's second-chance model is tied directly to unclaimed top prizes. When games like $10 Win It All ($200,000 top prize) or $10 Hamilton ($200,000 top prize) close, the 2nd Chance drawing awards a $200,000 prize to one winner drawn from all entered non-winning tickets. That's a six-figure prize available to anyone in Mississippi who held onto their non-winning tickets and entered them before the deadline.

California's weekly drawings are smaller per prize but more frequent. Up to $25,000 per weekly draw, with multiple winners per cycle depending on the promotion. Over a year of consistent entries, a regular California Scratchers player can accumulate hundreds of second-chance entries across multiple games.

Beyond cash, second-chance programs have offered cars, Super Bowl trip packages (Pennsylvania ran this for a February 2026 game), concert tickets, and major appliances. The non-cash prizes are often the highest-value items in the promotional pool in absolute terms, though cash equivalents can be harder to assess.

Deadlines Are the Catch

The most common way players miss second-chance opportunities is letting the entry deadline pass. Second-chance entry deadlines are separate from the ticket's regular prize claim deadline, and they're often shorter.

In Oregon, entries for a game must be submitted before the second-chance drawing date, which happens after the game closes. After the drawing, the lottery does not retain entries and you cannot submit tickets for a game that has already held its drawing. The 60-day window to claim a second-chance prize begins from the date you're notified by email, not from the ticket purchase date.

Mississippi announced that players had until October 6, 2025 to enter tickets from eight games that closed in July 2025. That's a roughly 90-day window from game close to entry deadline. Tickets purchased in late June for those games had about three months before the entry deadline closed. Players who put those tickets in a drawer and forgot about them missed it entirely.

The practical rule: submit tickets to second-chance drawings as soon as you scratch them, not at some future point you'll remember to get around to. If your state has an app that allows scanning at the point of play, use it. The barrier to entry is low enough that there's no reason to let non-winning tickets pile up unsubmitted.

Which States Offer Second-Chance Drawings

Most states with active scratch-off programs run some form of second-chance promotion, but the programs vary significantly in scope and consistency. California, Texas, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Mississippi all run active programs. Florida, Georgia, New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia run periodic promotional drawings that function similarly, though they're not always labeled as "second chance" and may be attached to specific games rather than running continuously.

The best way to find out what's active in your state is to search your state lottery's website for "second chance" or "promotions." Availability changes as games launch and close, and new promotional drawings are announced on a rolling basis. The ending soon page on ScratchCheck shows games approaching their close dates across states that publish this data, which is useful context for timing second-chance entries since drawings typically happen shortly after games close.

The Odds Advantage Is Real

Participation rates in second-chance programs are low enough that the odds are meaningfully better than the original game for most active promotions. A scratch-off game with 10 million tickets in circulation doesn't have 10 million second-chance entries. It might have 100,000. Or 50,000. The players who enter are competing against a fraction of the eligible ticket pool, not the full print run.

The flip side is that you can't control how many other people enter, and for well-publicized drawings or high-value prizes, participation can spike significantly. California's weekly drawings attract high entry volumes because the program is well-known and the app makes entry frictionless. Oregon's game-specific drawings tend to have lower participation because each drawing is tied to a closing game that most players have stopped thinking about.

The consistent finding across second-chance programs: entering is free, it takes under a minute, and the prize pool is real. There is no downside to entering every eligible non-winning ticket you have. The players who don't enter are the ones making these odds better for the players who do.

For current scratch-off rankings in your state, including which games are active and how their odds and prize pools compare, the state-by-state rankings on ScratchCheck cover active games across all states that publish data. Keeping track of which games you've played and entered for second chance is easier when you know which games are still in their active window.