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Poor valueActiveGnome for the Holidays · $1 · Virginia Lottery
Gnome for the Holidays: Poor value. A $1 ticket pays back $0.53 on average.
▼ -9.0 pts vs launch#13 of 13 · $1 VA gamesUpdated Jun 12, 2026, 12:57 AM
▼ -9.0 pts vs launch#13 of 13 · $1 VA gamesUpdated Jun 12, 2026, 12:57 AM
Gnome for the Holidays is a $1 scratch-off ticket from the Virginia state lottery. Its current expected value is 53.0%, down 9.0 percentage points from the launch value of 62.0%. 56 of the original 336 $500 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 71% of the 4.0M printed tickets have been sold.
53.0%
expected return
1 in 5.24
odds of any win
56 of 336
$500 top prizes left
71%
claimed · 2.9M of 4M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 220,696 winning tickets still unclaimed.
8 win more than $1
$2 – $100, an actual profit
11 win their money back
a $1 prize, so you break even
81 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 20,651 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $0.53 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $1 – $500
$0.53 · 53.0% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$1 – $500 wins
220,696 winning tickets remain in this range: 100% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
71% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch, Nov 2025.
4M
tickets printed
2.9M
tickets claimed · 71%
1.2M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
17%
Tickets left
29%
17% of top prizes remain with 29% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
Virginia Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $1 VA peers
#13 of 13
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from Virginia Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 12, 2026, 12:57 AM.
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