We analyzed 41 states — 17% of scratch-offs on sale right now have zero top prizes leftPrev TopicNext Topic

• ScratchSmarter

  

  Skippack, PA
  United States
  Member #139,383
  February 21, 2013
  141 Posts
  Offline
  Apr 1, 2026, 8:34 pm

  ▲▼

    Been running ScratchSmarter for 15 years, pulling daily prize data from official lottery sites across 41 states. We

    just published a full analysis on something we're calling the "Dead Zone" — games where every top prize has been

    claimed but the lottery keeps selling them at full price.

   

    The national number: 579 of 3,348 active games (17.3%) are in the Dead Zone right now.

   

    Worst states:

    - Wisconsin: 54.5% (55 of 101 games)

    - Oregon: 53.1% (51 of 96 games)

    - Vermont: 42.2%

    - Kentucky: 37.3%

    - Louisiana: 32.7%

   

    Cleanest states with zero Dead Zone games: Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska.

   

    Most egregious example: Massachusetts is still selling a $50 "Billion Dollar Extravaganza" ticket even though the $25

    million top prize is gone. Florida has a $30 Gold Rush Multiplier with a $15M top prize — also gone.

   

    Full breakdown with all 41 states here: https://scratchsmarter.com/scratch-off-dead-zone-study/

   

    Happy to pull the data for any specific state if anyone's curious.

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