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Average valueActiveMerry Bright · $5 · South Dakota Lottery
Merry Bright: Average value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.45 on average.
▼ -0.2 pts vs launch#4 of 17 · $5 SD gamesUpdated Jun 24, 2026, 12:12 PM
▼ -0.2 pts vs launch#4 of 17 · $5 SD gamesUpdated Jun 24, 2026, 12:12 PM
Merry Bright is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the South Dakota state lottery. Its current expected value is 69.0%, down 0.2 percentage points from the launch value of 69.2%. 2 of the original 3 $10,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 79% of the 0.2M printed tickets have been sold.
69.0%
expected return
1 in 4.11
odds of any win
2 of 3
$10K top prizes left
79%
claimed · 144k of 182k printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 9,278 winning tickets still unclaimed.
13 win more than $5
$10 – $100, an actual profit
11 win their money back
a $5 prize, so you break even
76 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 6,357 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.45 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$2.93 · 58.5% of price
Mid prizes $10K
$0.52 · 10.5% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
9,276 winning tickets remain in this range: 85% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
79% claimed, and the jackpots are still out there
Counting every ticket since launch, Sep 2025.
182k
tickets printed
144k
tickets claimed · 79%
38k
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Jackpots are outlasting sales: good for buyers.
Jackpots left
67%
Tickets left
21%
67% of top prizes remain with only 21% of tickets left to claim them.
Where to buy
South Dakota Lottery
At retailers statewide, or online through Jackpocket. Affiliate link: Scratchstats may earn a commission.
Rank vs $5 SD peers
#4 of 17
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from South Dakota Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 24, 2026, 12:12 PM.
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