Instant Prize Crossword#1739
California· Launched Jul 2026· 91 days on shelf· scanned today
EV / Dollar
0.80
USA percentile
93th
of 2,159 games
Top prizes left
12
$2,000,000 tier
% sold-through
—
2026-10-26
Forecast sellout
—
18+ only. For entertainment purposes — not financial advice. Scratch-offs have a negative expected return on average. 1-800-GAMBLER if you need help.
Instant Prize Crossword is a $20 scratch-off game from the California lottery (game #1739). It launched in July 2026. As of the most recent daily scan, 12 top prizes of $2M remain unclaimed, as published by the California lottery. Overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.10. Our models put its expected value at 0.80 per dollar, returning about $0.80 per dollar on average at current prize levels, number 6 of 13 $20 games on sale in California.
THE THESIS
At 0.80 EV/$, this game ranks 6 of 13 same-price games on sale in California (median 0.79).
- 1.80% of $2.0M prizes still unclaimed at ??% sell-through — the top tier has not burned out.
- 2.Ranks in the 93rd percentile of all active US scratch-off games by expected value per dollar.
Prize ladder
13 tiers · % remainingTotal unclaimed prize value: $201.57M — weighted to top-tier prizes as of latest data feed.
EV percentile · USA + state
vs 2,159 active gamesWhere this game ranks versus all active US scratch-offs (USA) and all active CA games (state). Better means more unclaimed prize value relative to remaining tickets.
Burn-down forecast · % tickets remaining
historical + P50 projectionClaim heat · 30-day strip
claims per day, all tiersClaim velocity is consistent with the 30-day mean.
Price vs EV — CA field
80 games · break-even highlightedNo other active CA games currently clear break-even.
Top-prize claim cadence · the roll
Top-prize claim history is not published for this state.
States that report individual claim events (TX, NY, PA, FL, NC) will show a full timeline here. This game's state does not currently publish that data.
ABOUT THIS GAME
Instant Prize Crossword (#1739): prizes, value and pace
As of October 26, 2026, 12 of the 15 $2,000,000 top prizes are still unclaimed; across the 13 prize levels the lottery reports, 4,062,042 of 5,788,856 prizes (70%) remain.
At current prize levels a $20 ticket returns about $16.01 on average (0.80 per dollar), which ranks 6 of 13 $20 games on sale in California, above the $20 median of 0.79. Among every California game with a computable value it is 14 of 80; nationally it sits in the 93th percentile. Like nearly every scratch-off, it pays back less than it costs on average.
Over the last 30 days, 561,057 prizes were claimed across the reported levels, including 1 top prize.
Figures come from the prize data the California lottery publishes (official game page), which Tirage checks daily; this page reflects the October 26, 2026 update. See how we calculate value.
SIMILAR PLAYS IN CA
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Same state · same price tier · similar EV signal
Know when this one turns
We alert you the day a CA game crosses break-even, and send a weekly digest of what moved.