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Average valueActiveWheel of Fortune · $5 · North Carolina Lottery
Wheel of Fortune: Average value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.48 on average.
▲ +0.8 pts vs launch#2 of 18 · $5 NC gamesUpdated Jul 28, 2026, 12:37 PM
▲ +0.8 pts vs launch#2 of 18 · $5 NC gamesUpdated Jul 28, 2026, 12:37 PM
Wheel of Fortune is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the North Carolina state lottery. Its current expected value is 69.6%, up 0.8 percentage points from the launch value of 68.8%. 5 of the original 5 $200,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 19% of the 5.6M printed tickets have been sold.
69.6%
expected return
1 in 4.31
odds of any win
5 of 5
$200K top prizes left
19%
claimed · 1.1M of 5.6M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 1,040,326 winning tickets still unclaimed.
14 win more than $5
$10 – $200, an actual profit
9 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 17,392 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.48 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$3.23 · 64.6% of price
Mid prizes $2K – $200K
$0.25 · 5.0% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
1,040,297 winning tickets remain in this range: 93% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
19% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Jul 2026.
5.6M
tickets printed
1.1M
tickets claimed · 19%
4.5M
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
81%
100% of top prizes remain with only 81% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
North Carolina Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $5 NC peers
#2 of 18
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from North Carolina Lottery published claim data, updated Jul 28, 2026, 12:37 PM.
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