How Many Winning Tickets Are in a Roll of Scratch-Offs?

How Many Tickets Are in a Roll of Scratch-Offs?

The number of tickets in a roll varies by price point and state. Here’s the general standard across most U.S. state lotteries:

Ticket Price Tickets Per Roll Total Cost Per Roll Typical Overall Odds
$1 300 $300 1 in 4.5 – 1 in 5.0
$2 150 $300 1 in 4.0 – 1 in 4.5
$3 100 $300 1 in 3.8 – 1 in 4.3
$5 50 – 60 $250 – $300 1 in 3.5 – 1 in 4.0
$10 30 – 50 $300 – $500 1 in 3.2 – 1 in 3.7
$20 25 – 30 $500 – $600 1 in 2.8 – 1 in 3.3
$30 20 – 25 $600 – $750 1 in 2.7 – 1 in 3.2
$50 15 – 20 $750 – $1,000 1 in 2.5 – 1 in 3.0

Key point: The total dollar value per roll is roughly consistent ($300-$600) regardless of price tier. Lotteries size their rolls so retailers are investing a similar amount of inventory capital whether they stock $1 tickets or $20 tickets.

Some states deviate from these standards. For example, Florida uses rolls of 25-30 tickets for most price points, while Pennsylvania often uses 150-ticket rolls for $2 games. Always check your specific state lottery’s documentation for exact roll sizes.

How Many of Those Tickets Are Winners?

This is the question everyone really wants answered. The math is straightforward:

Expected winners per roll = Total tickets in roll ÷ Overall odds

Using our table above:

Ticket Price Tickets Per Roll Overall Odds Expected Winners Per Roll Expected Losers
$1 300 1 in 4.75 (avg) ~63 winners ~237 losers
$2 150 1 in 4.25 (avg) ~35 winners ~115 losers
$5 55 (avg) 1 in 3.75 (avg) ~15 winners ~40 losers
$10 40 (avg) 1 in 3.45 (avg) ~12 winners ~28 losers
$20 27 (avg) 1 in 3.05 (avg) ~9 winners ~18 losers
$30 22 (avg) 1 in 2.95 (avg) ~7 winners ~15 losers

Important caveat: These are statistical averages across the entire print run. Any individual roll might have more or fewer winners than this because the winning tickets are distributed randomly. You could get a roll with 20 winners or a roll with 5. There’s no guarantee that every roll has its “fair share” of winners.

Are Winners Guaranteed in Every Roll?

No. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about scratch-off tickets.

Winners are distributed randomly across the entire print run — which typically consists of tens of thousands of rolls. While the overall odds mean that statistically, you’d expect a certain number of winners per roll, individual rolls can (and do) vary significantly.

Think of it like flipping a coin. The odds are 50/50, but that doesn’t mean every two flips produces exactly one head. You could flip 10 heads in a row. Similarly, a roll could theoretically contain all losers (though this is extremely unlikely for rolls with 100+ tickets).

Some states have implemented minimum winner guarantees per roll for certain games, but this is not universal. The safest assumption is that winners are randomly distributed and no individual roll is guaranteed to contain any specific number of winning tickets.

Does Buying a Full Roll Guarantee a Profit?

Almost never. This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about buying scratch-off rolls.

Even though a roll contains winning tickets, the total value of those wins is designed to be less than what you paid for the roll. Here’s a realistic example for a $10 game with 40 tickets per roll:

  • Cost of full roll: $400
  • Expected winners: ~12 tickets
  • Typical prize breakdown:
    • 8 tickets win $10 (break-even) = $80
    • 2 tickets win $20 = $40
    • 1 ticket wins $50 = $50
    • 1 ticket wins $100 = $100
  • Total expected return: ~$270
  • Net loss: ~$130 (32.5% loss)

The only scenario where buying a full roll would be profitable is if that specific roll happens to contain a large prize — and there’s no way to know that in advance. Top prizes ($10,000+) are typically allocated across thousands of rolls in a print run. Your odds of getting a roll with a top-prize ticket are extremely slim.

Roll Sizes by State

While most states follow similar patterns, here are some notable variations:

State $5 Roll Size $10 Roll Size $20 Roll Size Notes
Texas 50 50 25 Consistent sizing
Florida 60 30 25 Varies by game
Pennsylvania 50 30 20 $2 games = 150/roll
New York 50 30 25 Standardized
California 60 40 25 Larger rolls
Massachusetts 50 30 20 $2 games = 100/roll
Ohio 50 40 25 Standardized
Michigan 50 30 20 Standard sizing

Note: Roll sizes can vary by specific game within a state. These are the most common configurations. Check your state lottery’s retailer documentation for exact numbers on a specific game.

What About “Books” of Scratch-Off Tickets?

“Book” and “roll” are often used interchangeably, but they technically mean different things in some states:

  • Roll: A continuous strip of tickets wound together (like a roll of paper towels). Common in most states.
  • Book/Pack: A stack or bundle of tickets shrink-wrapped together. Some states use this format instead of rolls.

In states like Massachusetts, a “book” of $1 tickets contains 300 tickets. A “book” of $5 tickets contains 50. The terminology varies, but the concept is the same: a pre-packaged group of consecutive tickets from the same game.

How to Check Remaining Prizes Before Buying

Instead of guessing whether a roll has winners, check the data:

  1. Check remaining prizes on your state’s lottery website (or use ScratchersParadise for all 43 states in one place)
  2. Look for games with top prizes still available. If all the top prizes are gone, the expected value of remaining tickets has dropped significantly.
  3. Compare odds across games in the same price tier. Not all $10 games are equal — some have much better remaining value than others.
  4. Consider newer games. Games that recently launched have their full prize pool intact, meaning your expected value is at its highest.

Browse remaining prizes by state:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many winning tickets are guaranteed in a roll?

There is no universal guarantee. Winning tickets are distributed randomly across the entire print run, not evenly across individual rolls. While statistical averages suggest a certain number of winners per roll (based on overall odds), any specific roll could have more or fewer winners than expected.

Is buying a full roll of scratch-offs a good strategy?

Buying a full roll ensures you get a mix of winners and losers, but the total payout is almost always less than what you paid. The lottery’s payout rate (60-80% depending on price tier) applies to rolls just as it does to individual tickets. Full rolls are not a path to profit.

How much does a full roll of scratch-offs cost?

It depends on the ticket price and your state. A roll of $1 tickets typically costs $300 (300 tickets). A roll of $5 tickets is around $250-$300 (50-60 tickets). A roll of $20 tickets is $500-$600 (25-30 tickets). See the tables above for more detail.

Can I buy a full roll at any retailer?

Most retailers will sell you a full roll if they have one available and it’s their policy to do so. However, some stores limit purchases or may not have full, unbroken rolls available. Gas stations and small convenience stores are more likely to sell full rolls than large chain stores. Ask at the counter — the worst they can say is no.

Do the tickets in a roll come in a specific order?

Tickets in a roll are sequentially numbered, but the prize distribution within that sequence is random. There’s no pattern like “every 5th ticket wins” or “big prizes are at the end.” The randomization during printing ensures that position within a roll has no correlation with prize outcome.

How many $1,000+ winners are in a roll?

Rarely more than zero. Top-tier prizes ($1,000+) are distributed across the entire print run of a game — which could be millions of tickets across thousands of rolls. The chance of any individual roll containing a $1,000+ winner is very low. Most rolls will contain only small winners ($5-$100 for a $5 game).