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 EV divided by the ticket price. A $10 ticket with a $12.00 EV has a 120% return. Anything above 100% means the unclaimed prize pool is worth more than what it would cost to buy every remaining ticket. At launch, every state game starts under 100% (that's how the lottery makes its margin). Return % only crosses 100% after enough small prizes have been claimed and enough large prizes are still sitting in the print — which is the entire reason this site exists.

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.

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.