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Weak valueActiveHOT & COLD NUMBERS · $5 · Washington Lottery
HOT & COLD NUMBERS: Weak value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.24 on average.
▼ -2.6 pts vs launch#11 of 20 · $5 WA gamesUpdated Jun 17, 2026, 6:48 AM
▼ -2.6 pts vs launch#11 of 20 · $5 WA gamesUpdated Jun 17, 2026, 6:48 AM
HOT & COLD NUMBERS is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the Washington state lottery. Its current expected value is 64.8%, down 2.6 percentage points from the launch value of 67.4%. 1 of the original 4 $50,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 67% of the 2.2M printed tickets have been sold.
64.8%
expected return
1 in 3.48
odds of any win
1 of 4
$50K top prizes left
67%
claimed · 1.5M of 2.2M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 208,862 winning tickets still unclaimed.
11 win more than $5
$10 – $100, an actual profit
17 win their money back
a $5 prize, so you break even
72 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 19,688 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.24 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$3.15 · 63.0% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $50K
$0.09 · 1.8% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
208,859 winning tickets remain in this range: 97% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
67% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch.
2.2M
tickets printed
1.5M
tickets claimed · 67%
728k
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
25%
Tickets left
33%
25% of top prizes remain with 33% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
Washington Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $5 WA peers
#11 of 20
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from Washington Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 17, 2026, 6:48 AM.
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