Which Scratch-Off Price Pays Back Most?
Larry Nguyen
Founder of Scratch IQ
Written
Quick answer
Higher-priced scratch-offs return a larger share of the ticket price. Across active games the median $1 game returns about 58 cents per dollar and the median $30 game about 78 cents. Every price point still returns less than a dollar per dollar spent.
A dollar ticket feels like the careful choice. It is the worst rate in the store. Cheap scratch-offs hand back about 58 cents on the dollar and the priciest hand back about 79 cents. Every one of them keeps a slice, and not one hands back a full dollar.
Where your dollar actually goes
Printing a ticket costs about the same whether it says $1 or $30 on the front. So does shipping it, and so does the store’s cut for selling it. Those costs come out of the ticket price first. Whatever survives becomes prize money.
On a $1 ticket there is very little left to survive. On a $30 ticket there is plenty. That one fact drives the whole answer, and it shows up in the data with unusual consistency: every step up in price is a step up in the share that comes back.
What the numbers look like
Here is the middle game at each of the eight common price points, as of September 13, 2026. It covers 2,644 of the 2,665 active games with a published return in 41 states plus Washington, D.C. The other 21 sell at odd prices like $4, $15, $25, $40 and $100, in too few states to compare. The return figure is EV/Dollar: the average amount that comes back per dollar spent, based on prizes still unclaimed.
| Ticket price | Games | Comes back per $1 |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | 240 | 58 cents |
| $2 | 379 | 62 cents |
| $3 | 191 | 64 cents |
| $5 | 683 | 68 cents |
| $10 | 575 | 72 cents |
| $20 | 344 | 75 cents |
| $30 | 153 | 78 cents |
| $50 | 79 | 79 cents |
The gap between the cheapest and the priciest tickets is about 21 cents on the dollar. On $100 of spending, that is a $21 difference in what comes back on average.
The gap is wider than it looks
Twenty-one cents on the dollar does not sound like much. Spread it over real spending and it is. Put $100 into $1 tickets and about $58 comes back on average. Put the same $100 into $30 tickets and about $79 does.
So is the lottery being generous at the top of the rack? No. The state keeps its cut at every price. There is simply more room left over on a bigger ticket once the fixed costs are paid, and that room goes into prizes.
What this does not mean
A higher share coming back is not the same as a better outcome for you, and it is worth being clear about that.
Every price point returns less than a dollar per dollar. 79 cents is better than 58 cents and it is still under a dollar. A $30 ticket also puts thirty dollars at risk instead of one. If you spend $30 on one ticket instead of $1, you have not improved your position just because the percentage looks better. You have risked thirty times as much on a single random outcome.
The percentage tells you which game gives back more of what goes in. It does not tell you how much to spend, and it says nothing about the ticket in your hand. Any individual ticket is random.
Price is not the only thing that moves it
Within a single price point, games differ a lot. Two $10 games on the same rack, printed by the same lottery, can sit far apart. One has already paid out most of its top prizes; the other has not. Nothing on either ticket says which is which. So how would you tell them apart standing at the counter? You would not. That is the whole problem.
That part changes daily. Scratch IQ recomputes the return for every active game every day from the remaining-prize counts each state lottery publishes. Every game at a single price sits on one page: Florida’s $10 games are on the $10 scratch-off page, and every other state is on the state list.
The bottom line
Higher-priced scratch-offs return a larger share of the money put into them, moving from about 58 cents per dollar at $1 up to about 79 cents at $50. Every price point still returns less than a dollar, and spending more per ticket means risking more per ticket.
Related questions
- Do $30 scratch-offs really have better odds than $1 ones?
- They return a larger share of the ticket price. Across active games, the median $1 game returns about 58 cents per dollar and the median $30 game returns about 78 cents per dollar. Every price point still returns less than a dollar per dollar spent.
- Which scratch-off ticket price pays the most?
- Measured as a share of the ticket price, the highest price points pay back the most. $50 games return about 79 cents per dollar and $30 games about 78 cents, compared with about 58 cents for $1 games.
- Is it better to buy one $20 ticket or twenty $1 tickets?
- The $20 ticket returns a larger share on average, about 75 cents per dollar versus about 58 cents. But it concentrates the whole amount into one random outcome instead of twenty. Neither option returns more than a dollar per dollar on average.
- Do crossword and bingo scratch-offs pay better than regular ones?
No. Once you compare games at the same ticket price, crossword and bingo games return about the same as any other game. They can look worse overall only because they are usually sold at cheaper price points. See the full comparison.
Scratch IQ is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any state lottery commission. This article is informational only — not gambling, financial, or investment advice. Every scratch-off ticket is random; past rankings do not predict individual outcomes.
You must be 18 or older (or your state’s minimum lottery age, whichever is higher) to play. Play responsibly.