Black Pearls
District of Columbia· Launched Apr 2026· 217 days on shelf· scanned today
EV / Dollar
0.69
USA percentile
57th
of 2,201 games
Top prizes left
1
$50,000 tier
% sold-through
—
2026-11-04
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.
Black Pearls is a $5 scratch-off game from the District of Columbia lottery (game #1656). It launched in April 2026. As of the most recent daily scan, 1 top prize of $50,000 remains unclaimed, as published by the District of Columbia lottery. Overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 4.17. Our models put its expected value at 0.69 per dollar, returning about $0.69 per dollar on average at current prize levels, number 32 of 46 $5 games on sale in District of Columbia.
THE THESIS
At 0.69 EV/$, this game ranks 32 of 46 same-price games on sale in District of Columbia (median 0.70).
- 1.50% of $50,000 prizes still unclaimed at ??% sell-through — the top tier has not burned out.
- 2.Ranks in the 57th percentile of all active US scratch-off games by expected value per dollar.
Prize ladder
11 tiers · % remainingTotal unclaimed prize value: $493,535 — weighted to top-tier prizes as of latest data feed.
EV percentile · USA + state
vs 2,201 active gamesWhere this game ranks versus all active US scratch-offs (USA) and all active DC 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 — DC field
200 games · break-even highlightedNo other active DC 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
Black Pearls: prizes, value and pace
As of November 4, 2026, 1 of the 2 $50,000 top prizes is still unclaimed; across the 11 prize levels the lottery reports, 34,492 of 58,689 prizes (59%) remain; the thinnest level is $5,000, with 33% of its prizes left.
At current prize levels a $5 ticket returns about $3.43 on average (0.69 per dollar), which ranks 32 of 46 $5 games on sale in District of Columbia, below the $5 median of 0.70. Among every District of Columbia game with a computable value it is 77 of 169; nationally it sits in the 57th percentile. Like nearly every scratch-off, it pays back less than it costs on average.
Over the last 30 days, 2,153 prizes were claimed across the reported levels, none of them a top prize.
Figures come from the prize data the District of Columbia lottery publishes (official game page), which Tirage checks daily; this page reflects the November 4, 2026 update. See how we calculate value.
SIMILAR PLAYS IN DC
If you like this game, look at these
Same state · same price tier · similar EV signal
Know when this one turns
We alert you the day a DC game crosses break-even, and send a weekly digest of what moved.