D
Weak valueActivePOT OF GOLD · $5 · New York Lottery
POT OF GOLD: Weak value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.14 on average.
▼ -2.0 pts vs launch#14 of 16 · $5 NY games
▼ -2.0 pts vs launch#14 of 16 · $5 NY games
POT OF GOLD is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the New York state lottery. Its current expected value is 62.8%, down 2.0 percentage points from the launch value of 64.8%. 1 of the original 3 $500,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 62% of the 6.9M printed tickets have been sold.
62.8%
expected return
1 in 4.35
odds of any win
1 of 3
$500K top prizes left
62%
claimed · 4.3M of 6.9M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 611,019 winning tickets still unclaimed.
13 win more than $5
$10 – $200, an actual profit
10 win their money back
a $5 prize, so you break even
77 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 2,888 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.14 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$2.94 · 58.7% of price
Mid prizes $3K – $500K
$0.20 · 4.1% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
611,002 winning tickets remain in this range: 94% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
62% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch, May 2026.
6.9M
tickets printed
4.3M
tickets claimed · 62%
2.7M
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
38%
33% of top prizes remain with 38% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
New York Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $5 NY peers
#14 of 16
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from New York Lottery published claim data.
S
Scratchstats