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Weak valueActiveCrossword · $3 · New Jersey Lottery
Crossword: Weak value. A $3 ticket pays back $1.95 on average.
▲ +0.0 pts vs launch#1 of 4 · $3 NJ games
▲ +0.0 pts vs launch#1 of 4 · $3 NJ games
Crossword is a $3 scratch-off ticket from the New Jersey state lottery. Its current expected value is 65.0%, up 0.0 percentage points from the launch value of 65.0%. 20 of the original 20 $20,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 2% of the 14.1M printed tickets have been sold.
65.0%
expected return
1 in 4.89
odds of any win
20 of 20
$20K top prizes left
2%
claimed · 249k of 14.1M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 2,820,566 winning tickets still unclaimed.
13 win more than $3
$5 – $100, an actual profit
7 win their money back
a $3 prize, so you break even
80 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 156,865 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $1.95 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $3 – $500
$1.91 · 63.8% of price
Mid prizes $5K – $20K
$0.04 · 1.2% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$3 – $500 wins
2,820,524 winning tickets remain in this range: 98% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
2% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Aug 2026.
14.1M
tickets printed
249k
tickets claimed · 2%
13.8M
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Jackpots are outlasting sales: good for buyers.
Jackpots left
100%
Tickets left
98%
100% of top prizes remain with only 98% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
New Jersey Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $3 NJ peers
#1 of 4
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from New Jersey Lottery published claim data.
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