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Decent valueActiveCash King · $20 · California Lottery
Cash King: Decent value. A $20 ticket pays back $15.07 on average.
▼ -1.8 pts vs launch#13 of 14 · $20 CA gamesUpdated Aug 2, 2026, 12:05 AM
▼ -1.8 pts vs launch#13 of 14 · $20 CA gamesUpdated Aug 2, 2026, 12:05 AM
Cash King is a $20 scratch-off ticket from the California state lottery. Its current expected value is 75.4%, down 1.8 percentage points from the launch value of 77.1%. 2 of the original 6 $5,000,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 58% of the 18.3M printed tickets have been sold.
75.4%
expected return
1 in 3.00
odds of any win
2 of 6
$5M jackpots left
58%
claimed · 10.6M of 18.3M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 2,586,442 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 418 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $15.07 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $20 – $500
$13.30 · 66.5% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $100K
$0.48 · 2.4% of price
Jackpots $5M+
$1.29 · 6.4% of price
Realistic return, jackpots set aside
68.9%
Just 2 tickets out of 7.7M 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
2,584,633 winning tickets remain in this range: 88% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
58% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch, Feb 2025.
18.3M
tickets printed
10.6M
tickets claimed · 58%
7.7M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
33%
Tickets left
42%
33% of top prizes remain with 42% 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
#13 of 14
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from California Lottery published claim data, updated Aug 2, 2026, 12:05 AM.
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