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Poor valueActiveINSTANT $500 · $10 · New York Lottery
INSTANT $500: Poor value. A $10 ticket pays back $5.91 on average.
▼ -9.1 pts vs launch#13 of 14 · $10 NY games
▼ -9.1 pts vs launch#13 of 14 · $10 NY games
INSTANT $500 is a $10 scratch-off ticket from the New York state lottery. Its current expected value is 59.1%, down 9.1 percentage points from the launch value of 68.2%. 1,126 of the original 56,773 $500 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 97% of the 18.5M printed tickets have been sold.
59.1%
expected return
1 in 4.19
odds of any win
1,126 of 56,773
$500 top prizes left
97%
claimed · 18M of 18.5M printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 121,562 winning tickets still unclaimed.
13 win more than $10
$15 – $100, an actual profit
12 win their money back
a $10 prize, so you break even
75 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 435 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $5.91 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $10 – $500
$5.91 · 59.1% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$10 – $500 wins
121,562 winning tickets remain in this range: 100% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
97% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch, Mar 2023.
18.5M
tickets printed
18M
tickets claimed · 97%
490k
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
2%
Tickets left
3%
2% of top prizes remain with 3% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
New York Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $10 NY peers
#13 of 14
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from New York Lottery published claim data.
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