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Decent valueActive$5,000,000 Extreme Cash · $20 · California Lottery
$5,000,000 Extreme Cash: Decent value. A $20 ticket pays back $15.78 on average.
▲ +1.6 pts vs launch#5 of 13 · $20 CA games
▲ +1.6 pts vs launch#5 of 13 · $20 CA games
$5,000,000 Extreme Cash is a $20 scratch-off ticket from the California state lottery. Its current expected value is 78.9%, up 1.6 percentage points from the launch value of 77.3%. 4 of the original 4 $5,000,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 15% of the 12.0M printed tickets have been sold.
78.9%
expected return
1 in 3.00
odds of any win
4 of 4
$5M jackpots left
15%
claimed · 1.9M of 12M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 3,385,246 winning tickets still unclaimed.
16 win more than $20
$25 – $250, an actual profit
17 win their money back
a $20 prize, so you break even
67 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 413 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $15.78 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $20 – $500
$13.31 · 66.5% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $100K
$0.51 · 2.5% of price
Jackpots $5M+
$1.97 · 9.8% of price
Realistic return, jackpots set aside
69.1%
Just 4 tickets out of 10.1M carry the $5M+ prizes. This is your expected return if none of them is yours.
Most of the value pays out as
$20 – $500 wins
3,382,750 winning tickets remain in this range: 84% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
15% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Aug 2026.
12M
tickets printed
1.9M
tickets claimed · 15%
10.1M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Jackpots are outlasting sales: good for buyers.
Jackpots left
100%
Tickets left
85%
100% of top prizes remain with only 85% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
California Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $20 CA peers
#5 of 13
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from California Lottery published claim data.
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