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Jackpots vs. scratch-offs

Most of the time a scratch-off returns more per dollar than Powerball or Mega Millions. When a jackpot gets big enough, that flips.

Is the jackpot worth it yet?

Scout shows the expected return of each jackpot game next to your state's best scratch-offs.

Powerball

$2 ticket
Jackpot
$674M
cash $283.9M
Expected return
Scout
per $1, before tax

Next draw Oct 24, 2026, 12:00 AM ET

Mega Millions

$5 ticket
Jackpot
$433M
cash $178.6M
Expected return
Scout
per $1, before tax

Next draw Oct 23, 2026, 12:00 AM ET

Pick your state to compare with its scratch-offs.

Expected return = average cash back per dollar spent over many tickets, using the lump-sum cash value and before federal and state taxes, which take a large share of big prizes. Ticket sales per draw are estimated. No ticket is a good investment: even a "positive" expected value comes with almost certain loss on any single play.