The story of this lottery week wasn't a nine-figure jackpot — it was the ticket counter. Across the roughly 40 US states and Canada our surveillance covers, the momentum sat squarely with scratch-offs and instant games: new commemorative launches, a fresh instant add-on out of the Southwest, and a market that continues to lean on instants for the bulk of its receipts. Our data feeds put several covered games at a genuinely favorable read this week, too. Here's what the Tirage Analysis Desk is watching.

New games & launches

The most interesting activity this week was at the instant-game shelf, not the draw terminal.

  • Idaho — a 250th-anniversary scratch-off. The Idaho Lottery joined the national quarter-millennium celebration with a new scratch-off tied to 250 years of American independence. Commemorative instants like this tend to arrive as short-run, high-visibility products — worth a look early in the cycle while the prize pool is full. (source)
  • Colorado — 150th-birthday games. The Colorado Lottery kicked off a summer-long celebration of the state's 150th birthday that includes at least two new games. Anniversary launches like Colorado's are exactly the kind of fresh-portfolio release our models re-baseline as prize data comes in. (source)
  • Arizona — a new instant add-on and a portfolio overhaul. Arizona saw the most sweeping change of the week. Scientific Games rolled out an advanced-technology launch for the Arizona Lottery that, alongside daily-draw upgrades, introduced The Pick PLUS, a brand-new instant-win add-on game, plus a new Pick 4, a Pick 3 midday drawing, and a Powerball Double Play option offering a second shot at up to $10 million. The instant add-on is the piece worth flagging: it extends the state's instant-game footprint, which is where the sales gravity already sits. (source)

The backdrop to all of this is a scratch-off segment that keeps outrunning the draw games. Industry figures cited this week put instant tickets at roughly 42% of total US lottery sales, and as high as 72% of California's receipts — a reminder that when a state refreshes its instant portfolio, it's touching its biggest revenue line, not a side game. (source)

What our data shows

This is where our quantitative models do the work the headlines don't. A read above roughly $1.00 per dollar means a game currently prices out favorably relative to other entertainment options — a snapshot, not a promise, and it moves as top prizes get claimed. Five games stood out on our feeds this week:

  • Pennsylvania — "$500 Cash Money" ($5). An outlier at the top of our board, with an expected-value read near $4.22 per dollar and a $250,000 top prize. Note the caveat that makes it an outlier: our surveillance shows just one top prize remaining, so this is a thin, late-life game — interesting, but a narrow window. See more in Pennsylvania.
  • Michigan — "500X Money Maker" ($50). A read around $1.23 per dollar on a game carrying a $6,000,000 top prize, with one grand prize still live per our data. Michigan also placed a second game on our board this week (see below).
  • District of Columbia — "200X" ($20). An EV read of about $1.18 per dollar, $250,000 top prize, two top prizes remaining — the strongest single instant on our DC feed.
  • Missouri — "100X" ($10). Roughly $1.11 per dollar on a $1,000,000 top prize, one remaining, leading our Missouri list.
  • Virginia — "50X The Money" ($20). About $1.10 per dollar with a $3,000,000 top prize and two grand prizes still in circulation in Virginia.

Just outside that group, our feeds also flagged Florida's "300X The Cash" ($30) near $1.04 per dollar on a $15,000,000 top prize — one to watch in Florida, noting the snapshot there is a touch older than the rest. As always, these are relative-value reads from our models, not guarantees; treat them as a way to spend an entertainment dollar more sharply, nothing more.

Notable winners & claimed prizes

The draw games still produced the week's biggest single tickets:

  • An Indiana LLC claimed half of a $143 million Powerball jackpot — the marquee US claim of the week. (source)
  • In the Saturday, July 11 Powerball drawing (numbers 12, 29, 37, 43, 55; Powerball 18), a New Jersey ticket matched all five white balls for a $1 million prize. (source)
  • On the Friday, July 10 Mega Millions draw, one Florida player matched the first five numbers for a second-tier prize. (source)

On the Canadian side, a single Lotto Max ticket sold in Quebec matched all seven numbers on July 10, and a lone Lotto 6/49 ticket in Quebec took the Match 6 on July 4. (source)

Jackpot watch

Context, briefly:

  • Powerball: No jackpot winner on July 11; reports put the next drawing near $478 million after the rollover (the July 11 draw itself was reported around $457M). (source)
  • Mega Millions: No jackpot winner on July 7, with the top prize reported at roughly $637 million as of July 12. (source)
  • EuroMillions: The July 10 draw rolled over at about €28.5 million, with the Tuesday, July 14 jackpot estimated near £32 million (~€38 million). (source)
  • Lotto Max: July 10 top prize hit in Quebec (see above). (source)

International

Beyond the EuroMillions rollover, Eurojackpot's July 10 draw recorded more than 663,000 prize winners across its European markets — a reminder that participation stayed broad even without a headline jackpot changing hands. (source)

Bottom line

The value this week was in the instant aisle, not the jackpot marquee — new commemorative scratch-offs in Idaho and Colorado, a fresh instant add-on in Arizona, and a handful of covered games our models currently read as favorable. If you're playing, that's where the sharper entertainment dollar sits.

Entertainment only. Play responsibly, 18+ (21+ where required). Tirage is not affiliated with any lottery. Odds and prize-remaining figures change constantly — check your state's official source before you buy.