Every active Pennsylvania scratch-off has a published count of how many prizes are still unclaimed. Most players never look at it. It's the single most useful piece of public information in the whole rack, and we put it on one sortable page.
What the numbers actually mean
The Lottery prints a game's total prize structure when it launches — say, 10 prizes of $250,000 on a $5 game. As those tickets get sold and claimed, the remaining count drops. When a game shows 0 top prizes left, every big prize in that game has already been claimed, even though the tickets are still sitting in the rack. You can still win the smaller tiers, but the headline prize is gone.
That's the first thing to check: if you're buying a game because of the top prize, make sure it's still there.
Three things worth knowing
- A high count isn't the whole story. A game that just launched has all its prizes left, but also has every ticket left. What matters more is the ratio — prizes remaining against how long the game has been out.
- Price tier changes the odds, not your luck. Higher-priced tickets generally carry better overall odds and bigger prize tiers. They also cost more per play. Pick the tier you're comfortable with and stay there.
- Nothing here beats the house edge. The Lottery is designed to pay out less than it takes in. Reading the remaining-prizes list helps you avoid dead games; it does not make scratch-offs a good investment. Play with money you're fine losing.
How we use it
We watch this list for our own rack. When a game's top prizes are gone, we'd rather put something fresh in that slot. It's also how we pick which tickets to buy for ScratchinLottoTV — no fun scratching a game where the big one is already claimed.
Check the list, then come see us. And if you hit something, your ticket goes up on the winners wall.