Scratch-offs with no top prize left by state (October 2026)
Of the 2,547 scratch-offs on sale in the US that report how many prizes remain, 286, or about 1 in 10, had no top prize left as of the third week of October 2026. Those games still pay smaller prizes, but the big number printed on the ticket is gone. How often that happens depends heavily on the state.
| State | Games tracked | No top prize left | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 78 | 31 | 39.7% |
| Wisconsin | 72 | 27 | 37.5% |
| Rhode Island | 75 | 26 | 34.7% |
| New York | 107 | 22 | 20.6% |
| Washington | 59 | 12 | 20.3% |
| Virginia | 81 | 16 | 19.8% |
| Missouri | 77 | 15 | 19.5% |
| Florida | 89 | 17 | 19.1% |
| Georgia | 199 | 37 | 18.6% |
| Kentucky | 49 | 9 | 18.4% |
| Ohio | 70 | 11 | 15.7% |
| Oregon | 50 | 7 | 14.0% |
| Oklahoma | 50 | 7 | 14.0% |
| Colorado | 84 | 10 | 11.9% |
| New Hampshire | 59 | 7 | 11.9% |
| Illinois | 54 | 6 | 11.1% |
| New Mexico | 58 | 5 | 8.6% |
| Massachusetts | 100 | 6 | 6.0% |
| Arkansas | 56 | 3 | 5.4% |
| Washington, D.C. | 20 | 1 | 5.0% |
| Michigan | 107 | 4 | 3.7% |
| North Carolina | 83 | 3 | 3.6% |
| New Jersey | 59 | 1 | 1.7% |
| Indiana | 61 | 1 | 1.6% |
| Texas | 76 | 1 | 1.3% |
| Maryland | 90 | 1 | 1.1% |
In 13 states, all the games on sale still had at least one top prize: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. At the other end, a player in Mississippi who picks a game at random has close to a 40% chance of choosing one whose top prize is already claimed.
The count of top prizes left is the quickest check. A game can have a high payout over its full print run and still be a poor buy late in its life if the big prizes are gone. Our top prizes remaining page lists every game still holding its biggest prizes, each game page shows how many are left, and the $2.8 billion in unclaimed grand prizes still sitting in games nationwide is broken down separately. Some lotteries also keep selling games long after the top prizes go, and most retired games end with a top prize never claimed.
Five lotteries, in Kansas, Maine, Montana, Tennessee, and Vermont, do not publish remaining prize counts in a form we can track, so they are left out.
How we did this. For each active scratch-off in our database as of the third week of October 2026, the top prize is the largest prize level, and a game counts as having no top prize left when the lottery reports zero remaining at that level. Remaining counts include prizes on unsold tickets and on sold tickets not yet claimed. Games that do not report a remaining count for their top level are excluded, which is why some states show fewer games tracked than they sell.
Frequently Asked Questions
What scratch-offs still have grand prizes available?
Most of them. Of 2,547 US scratch-offs on sale that report remaining prizes, 2,261 still had at least one top prize left as of the third week of October 2026. Each game's page lists how many of its top prizes remain.
Do lotteries keep selling scratch-offs after the top prize is gone?
Many do. 286 games on sale across 25 states and Washington, D.C., had no top prize left as of the third week of October 2026, led by Mississippi, where 31 of 78 games had none. Smaller prizes remain in those games.
Which states have no scratch-offs without a top prize?
In Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia, every game on sale still had at least one top prize as of the third week of October 2026.
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.
