Frequently Asked Questions

How does ScratchFrenzy calculate EV?

EV (expected value) is the average payout per ticket if you bought every ticket left in the print run. The math is straightforward: for each prize tier still on the board, multiply the number of unclaimed prizes by the prize amount, then sum across all tiers. That total is the remaining prize pool. Divide it by the number of tickets still in the run, and you get the expected payout per ticket. So if a game has $4.2M in unclaimed prizes spread across 350,000 remaining tickets, the EV is $12.00 per ticket — that's what the math says you'd average if you swept the rest of the print.

What is Return %?

Return % is the single most important number on this site — it's the headline indicator that drives every ranking, filter, and recommendation. The formula is simple: EV divided by ticket price. A $10 ticket with a $12.00 EV has a 120% return. A $30 ticket with a $36.00 EV also has a 120% return. That's the whole point of the metric — it normalizes across price points so a $1 game and a $50 game can be compared on the same axis.

Read it like this: a 100% return means the remaining prize pool exactly equals what it would cost to buy every remaining ticket — the lottery's break-even line. Below 100%, the state is keeping a margin; above 100%, the math has flipped and the unclaimed pool is worth more than the cost of clearing the print. Every game launches under 100% (that's how the lottery makes money). Return % only crosses 100% after enough small prizes have been claimed off the top while large prizes remain unclaimed — and surfacing exactly that moment is the entire reason this site exists.

How to use it: sort by Return % to find the best games in any state, at any price point. It's the only column that lets you compare a $2 ticket in Texas against a $30 ticket in Massachusetts on equal footing. EV tells you the dollar payout per ticket; Return % tells you the efficiency of your dollar — and efficiency is what compounds when you play volume. If you only look at one number on this site, look at this one.

If high-EV games are positive on paper, why is this the highest-risk strategy?

EV is a long-run average. It only converges when you play a large number of tickets — and any single ticket, or any handful, is dominated by variance. Most individual tickets in a 120% return game are still losers; the return shows up because a few of them are big winners that more than make up for the rest. The only way to fully realize a positive-EV edge is to buy a meaningful fraction of the remaining print, which is capital-intensive and rarely practical. Chasing positive-EV games is the only scratch strategy with a mathematically positive expected return, but the path to that return runs through real losing streaks. We surface the math; how you size your play is on you.

So will I actually make money using ScratchFrenzy?

Probably not — and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Scratch tickets are top-heavy by design: a small number of large prizes carry most of the value, and the vast majority of tickets are losers or token wins. That doesn't change just because Return % is above 100%.

Here's the honest version. Return % is what you'd average if you bought every remaining ticket in a game's print run. Nobody actually does that — it would cost millions and is logistically near impossible. What you can do is sit down at the table with better cards than the next player: skip the games where the state has already pulled the big winners, and concentrate your play on games where the unclaimed pool still has real upside. That tilts the odds in your favor. It does not guarantee a win on your next ticket, your next book, or your next month of play.

What ScratchFrenzy actually does: we surface the games where the math is least bad and occasionally genuinely good, so the money you were going to spend anyway has the best possible shot at hitting something meaningful. More plays means more chances — and playing the right games means each of those chances is worth more than it would be otherwise. We stand by the math. We just won't lie about what the math actually promises: a better edge, not a guaranteed score.

What is "The Chase"?

"The Chase" is the hunt for scratch games where most of the tickets have been sold but the top prize hasn't been claimed yet. When that happens, every remaining ticket carries a bigger share of the prize pool behind it — the expected return per dollar can be two, three, sometimes ten times what it was at launch. The catch: these books are hard to find. Cashiers will tell you stories about the guy who walked in last week and bought six full books ($6,000 worth) of the exact ticket you're hunting. That's why our retailer inventory data exists — to point you at stores that still have stock before someone else clears them out.

Why don't some states have EV data?

Every state lottery is required by law to publish prize odds, but not every lottery makes that data accessible to scrape. Some sites publish only top-prize counts, others sit behind bot challenges, and a few states (ND, WY, AK, HI) don't sell scratch tickets at all.

What's the difference between full and estimated EV?

Full EV uses published per-tier prize counts — both total printed and unclaimed — for every prize level in the game. Estimated EV applies when a state only publishes high-tier counts (e.g. $100+ winners only); we extrapolate small-tier depletion from the top tier's sell-through rate and flag those games with an "Estimated EV" banner.

How often is data updated?

Game odds and prizes-remaining counts are refreshed every hour directly from each state lottery's official website. The timestamp shown on each game reflects when that state's data was last pulled. Retailer location data is updated monthly.

Is the data official?

Yes. All prize odds and remaining-prize counts are sourced directly from each state lottery's official website. ScratchFrenzy does not generate or alter prize data — we read what the state publishes and run the math. We are not affiliated with any state lottery commission.