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Weak valueActiveOne-Word Crossword · $5 · South Dakota Lottery
One-Word Crossword: Weak value. A $5 ticket pays back $3.24 on average.
▼ -2.6 pts vs launch#12 of 17 · $5 SD gamesUpdated Jun 24, 2026, 12:13 PM
▼ -2.6 pts vs launch#12 of 17 · $5 SD gamesUpdated Jun 24, 2026, 12:13 PM
One-Word Crossword is a $5 scratch-off ticket from the South Dakota state lottery. Its current expected value is 64.8%, down 2.6 percentage points from the launch value of 67.4%. 1 of the original 3 $40,000 top prizes are still unclaimed. Approximately 44% of the 0.7M printed tickets have been sold.
64.8%
expected return
1 in 4.01
odds of any win
1 of 3
$40K top prizes left
44%
claimed · 323k of 729k printed
Odds, in plain terms
If you bought 100 tickets today
Based on the 101,304 winning tickets still unclaimed.
14 win more than $5
$10 – $100, an actual profit
11 win their money back
a $5 prize, so you break even
75 win nothing
the house edge, made visible
Prizes of $500 or more hit about 1 in 16,926 tickets, so they won't show up in a batch of 100.
Value map
Where the $3.24 comes from
The average payback per ticket, split by prize size. Small wins do most of the work.
Small wins $5 – $500
$3.13 · 62.6% of price
Mid prizes $1K – $40K
$0.11 · 2.2% of price
Most of the value pays out as
$5 – $500 wins
101,298 winning tickets remain in this range: 97% of total value, and the wins you'll actually see.
Claim progress
44% of the print run claimed
Counting every ticket since launch, Jan 2025.
729k
tickets printed
323k
tickets claimed · 44%
406k
still out there
Prizes claimed over time
Claim chart needs more snapshot history
Sales are outpacing the jackpots: worse for buyers.
Jackpots left
33%
Tickets left
56%
33% of top prizes remain with 56% 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
#12 of 17
By expected return. Higher is better for the player.
Figures from South Dakota Lottery published claim data, updated Jun 24, 2026, 12:13 PM.
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