F
Poor valueActiveZoltar® Crossword · $15 · New Mexico Lottery
Zoltar® Crossword: Poor value. A $15 ticket pays back $8.74 on average.
▼ -0.3 pts vs launch#1 of 2 · $15 NM games
▼ -0.3 pts vs launch#1 of 2 · $15 NM games
Zoltar® Crossword is a $15 scratch-off ticket from the New Mexico state lottery. Its current expected value is 58.3%, down 0.3 percentage points from the launch value of 58.5%. 4 of the original 4 $25,000.00 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 3% of the 0.3M printed tickets have been sold.
58.3%
expected return
1 in 2.98
odds of any win
4 of 4
$25K top prizes left
3%
claimed · 11k of 313k printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 100,971 winning tickets still unclaimed.
23 win more than $15
$20 – $200, an actual profit
10 win their money back
a $15 prize, so you break even
67 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 4,198 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $8.74 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $15 – $500
$8.31 · 55.4% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $25K
$0.43 · 2.8% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$15 – $500 wins
100,951 winning tickets remain in this range: 95% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
3% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Aug 2026.
313k
tickets printed
11k
tickets claimed · 3%
302k
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
97%
100% of top prizes remain with only 97% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
New Mexico Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $15 NM peers
#1 of 2
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
1
Zoltar® Crossword
58.3%
2
The Return of the Pink Panther™ Crossword
25.3%
Figures from New Mexico Lottery published claim data.
S
Scratchstats