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Decent valueActiveTHE GAME OF LIFE · $20 · Pennsylvania Lottery
THE GAME OF LIFE: Decent value. A $20 ticket pays back $15.69 on average.
▲ +0.2 pts vs launch#4 of 8 · $20 PA gamesUpdated Jun 13, 2026
▲ +0.2 pts vs launch#4 of 8 · $20 PA gamesUpdated Jun 13, 2026
THE GAME OF LIFE is a $20 scratch-off ticket from the Pennsylvania state lottery. Its current expected value is 78.5%, up 0.2 percentage points from the launch value of 78.3%. 5 of the original 5 $1,000,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 3% of the 8.4M printed tickets have been sold.
78.5%
expected return
1 in 3.4
odds of any win
5 of 5
$1M jackpots left
3%
claimed · 269k of 8.4M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 2,370,915 winning tickets still unclaimed.
18 win more than $20
$30 – $250, an actual profit
11 win their money back
a $20 prize, so you break even
71 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 540 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $15.69 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $20 – $500
$14.40 · 72.0% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $10K
$0.68 · 3.4% of price
Jackpots $1M+
$0.61 · 3.1% of price
Realistic return, jackpots set aside
75.4%
Just 5 tickets out of 8.1M carry the $1M+ prizes. This is your expected return if none of them is yours.
Most of the value pays out as
$20 – $500 wins
2,366,026 winning tickets remain in this range: 92% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
3% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch.
8.4M
tickets printed
269k
tickets claimed · 3%
8.1M
still out there
Tickets claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Jackpots are outlasting sales: good for buyers.
Jackpots left
100%
Tickets left
97%
100% of top prizes remain with only 97% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
Pennsylvania Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $20 PA peers
#4 of 8
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from Pennsylvania Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 13, 2026.
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