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Average valueActiveSet for Life · $2 · California Lottery
Set for Life: Average value. A $2 ticket pays back $1.45 on average.
▲ +5.5 pts vs launch#1 of 7 · $2 CA games
▲ +5.5 pts vs launch#1 of 7 · $2 CA games
Set for Life is a $2 scratch-off ticket from the California state lottery. Its current expected value is 72.5%, up 5.5 percentage points from the launch value of 67.0%. 2 of the original 2 $1,200,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 40% of the 12.0M printed tickets have been sold.
72.5%
expected return
1 in 4.44
odds of any win
2 of 2
$1.2M jackpots left
40%
claimed · 4.8M of 12M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 1,629,103 winning tickets still unclaimed.
12 win more than $2
$3 – $200, an actual profit
10 win their money back
a $2 prize, so you break even
78 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 100,385 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $1.45 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $2 – $200
$1.10 · 55.2% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $3K
$0.01 · 0.7% of price
Jackpots $1.2M+
$0.33 · 16.6% of price
Realistic return, jackpots set aside
55.9%
Just 2 tickets out of 7.2M carry the $1.2M+ prizes. This is your expected return if none of them is yours.
Most of the value pays out as
$2 – $200 wins
1,629,031 winning tickets remain in this range: 76% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
40% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Jul 2026.
12M
tickets printed
4.8M
tickets claimed · 40%
7.2M
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
60%
100% of top prizes remain with only 60% 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 $2 CA peers
#1 of 7
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from California Lottery published claim data.
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