MEGA BUCKS — $5 North Carolina scratch-off ticket
NC · #947 · $5

MEGA BUCKS#947

North Carolina· scanned today

Lottery site

EV / Dollar

0.65

USA percentile

43th

of 2,201 games

Top prizes left

2

$200,000 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.

MEGA BUCKS is a $5 scratch-off game from the North Carolina lottery (game #947). As of the most recent daily scan, 2 top prizes of $200,000 remain unclaimed, as published by the North Carolina lottery. Overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 4.35. Our models put its expected value at 0.65 per dollar, returning about $0.65 per dollar on average at current prize levels, number 21 of 24 $5 games on sale in North Carolina.

THE THESIS

At 0.65 EV/$, this game ranks 21 of 24 same-price games on sale in North Carolina (median 0.68).

  1. 1.22% of $200,000 prizes still unclaimed at ??% sell-through — the top tier has not burned out.
  2. 2.Ranks in the 43rd percentile of all active US scratch-off games by expected value per dollar.
About this game ↓

Prize ladder

10 tiers · % remaining
$200K
2/9
22%
$10K
1/18
$1K
10/72
$500
39/475
$100
1.1K/13.8K
$50
12.8K/166.6K
$25
30.1K/370.2K
$15
28.9K/333.7K
$10
69.5K/740.6K
$5
114.9K/925.9K

Total unclaimed prize value: $3.64M — weighted to top-tier prizes as of latest data feed.

EV percentile · USA + state

vs 2,201 active games

Where this game ranks versus all active US scratch-offs (USA) and all active NC games (state). Better means more unclaimed prize value relative to remaining tickets.

USA median · 50th0.67 EV/$
NC median0.70 EV/$
YOU · 43th
USA: 43th percentileNC: 26th percentile

Burn-down forecast · % tickets remaining

historical + P50 projection
Not enough historical data to render chart.

Claim heat · 30-day strip

claims per day, all tiers
30d ago15dlast 7d · -20%

Trailing 7-day claim rate 20% below the 30-day mean — activity slowing.

Price vs EV — NC field

112 games · break-even highlighted
$0$15$30$520.000.300.601.04break-even · 1.00 EV/$YOU

No other active NC 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

MEGA BUCKS (#947): prizes, value and pace

As of November 4, 2026, 2 of the 9 $200,000 top prizes are still unclaimed; across the 10 prize levels the lottery reports, 257,324 of 2,551,371 prizes (10%) remain; the thinnest level is $10,000, with 6% of its prizes left.

At current prize levels a $5 ticket returns about $3.25 on average (0.65 per dollar), which ranks 21 of 24 $5 games on sale in North Carolina, below the $5 median of 0.68. Among every North Carolina game with a computable value it is 83 of 112; nationally it sits in the 43th percentile. Like nearly every scratch-off, it pays back less than it costs on average.

Over the last 30 days, 453 prizes were claimed across the reported levels, none of them a top prize.

North Carolina also sells another issue of MEGA BUCKS: game #45. Each issue has its own print run and prize pool, so their odds and remaining prizes differ.

Figures come from the prize data the North Carolina 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 NC

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 NC game crosses break-even, and send a weekly digest of what moved.

A weekly digest and break-even alerts for your states. We'll email you a confirmation link first. Unsubscribe in one click, any time. What you'll get