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Average valueActiveJAWS · $5 · California Lottery
JAWS: Average value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.56 on average.
▲ +0.8 pts vs launch#2 of 11 · $5 CA games
▲ +0.8 pts vs launch#2 of 11 · $5 CA games
JAWS is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the California state lottery. Its current expected value is 71.2%, up 0.8 percentage points from the launch value of 70.4%. 12 of the original 20 $500,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 51% of the 23.9M printed tickets have been sold.
71.2%
expected return
1 in 3.81
odds of any win
12 of 20
$500K top prizes left
51%
claimed · 12.1M of 23.9M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 3,127,005 winning tickets still unclaimed.
19 win more than $5
$6 – $100, an actual profit
8 win their money back
a $5 prize, so you break even
73 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 3,831 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.56 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$3.02 · 60.5% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $500K
$0.54 · 10.7% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
3,126,776 winning tickets remain in this range: 85% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
51% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Apr 2026.
23.9M
tickets printed
12.1M
tickets claimed · 51%
11.8M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Jackpots are outlasting sales: good for buyers.
Jackpots left
60%
Tickets left
49%
60% of top prizes remain with only 49% 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 $5 CA peers
#2 of 11
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from California Lottery published claim data.
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