🏆 When the top prize is already gone
A scratch-off game does not end when its last top prize is claimed. It keeps printing, keeps shipping and keeps selling, with the same odds on the back and nothing left at the top.
Nothing obliges the game to stop
Lotteries close a game on their own schedule, usually when sales fall off rather than when the prizes run dry. A ticket whose jackpot went months ago can sit in the dispenser beside a brand new one at the same price, looking identical. The odds printed on the back are still accurate. The poster advertising the million is often still in the window.
Most states publish how many of each prize remain, which is what makes this checkable at all. Some publish only the top tiers. Several countries publish nothing about what is left, and on those pages this site says so rather than guessing.
What is left when the top prize is gone
The small prizes, mostly. Those are the bulk of any prize pool by count and a modest share of it by value, and they are the last thing to be claimed. So a picked-over game still pays out — it just pays out the part nobody buys the ticket for.
It also means the game's real payout has quietly dropped. The printed prize payout assumed the whole ladder was available. Once the top of it is claimed, what remains in the dispenser is worth less than the number on the poster, even though the ticket costs the same.
How to check before you buy
Every state and country page here lists what its lottery publishes about prizes remaining, and every game page links back to that lottery's own page for the same game. Two minutes on your phone at the counter is enough:
- Find the game by name or number — the number is printed on the ticket.
- Look at the top prize row. If it reads none left, the thing being advertised cannot be won.
- Check the date on the figures. Most lotteries publish once a day; some once a week.
What this does not tell you
That a game with prizes left is a good buy. It is not: every scratch game returns less than it takes in, and a full prize ladder does not change the arithmetic. Knowing what is gone stops you buying the worst ticket on the shelf. It does not produce a good one, and this site never claims it does.
How overall odds actually work · Where these figures come from
Scratch Better is not affiliated with any state lottery and does not sell tickets. Rankings are relative, not a guaranteed edge.