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Decent value
ActiveCrossword Xtreme · $30 · California Lottery

Crossword Xtreme: Decent value. A $30 ticket pays back $23.95 on average.

-0.2 pts vs launch#2 of 2 · $30 CA gamesUpdated Jun 24, 2026, 12:06 PM

Crossword Xtreme is a $30 scratch-off ticket from the California state lottery. Its current expected value is 79.8%, down 0.2 percentage points from the launch value of 80.0%. 3 of the original 4 $7,000,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 19% of the 19.2M printed tickets have been sold.

79.8%
expected return
1 in 2.72
odds of any win
3 of 4
$7M jackpots left
19%
claimed · 3.6M of 19.2M printed
Odds, in plain terms

If you bought 100 tickets today

Based on the 5,727,372 winning tickets still unclaimed.

26 win more than $30
$40 – $250, an actual profit
10 win their money back
a $30 prize, so you break even
64 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 226 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map

Where the $23.95 comes from

The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.

Small wins $30 – $500
$20.59 · 68.6% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $500K
$2.01 · 6.7% of price
Jackpots $7M+
$1.35 · 4.5% of price
Realistic return, jackpots set aside
75.3%
Just 3 tickets out of 15.6M carry the $7M+ prizes. This is your expected return if none of them is yours.
Most of the value pays out as
$30 – $500 wins
5,710,288 winning tickets remain in this range: 86% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress

19% of the print run claimed

Counting every ticket since launch, Apr 2026.

19.2M
tickets printed
3.6M
tickets claimed · 19%
15.6M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
75%
Tickets left
81%
75% of top prizes remain with 81% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
California Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $30 CA peers
#2 of 2
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
1
7's
85.5%
2
Crossword Xtreme
79.8%
Figures from California Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 24, 2026, 12:06 PM.
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Scratchstats
© 2026 · Data from official state lottery feeds