How many $2,000,000 prizes are left in Instant Prize Crossword?

12 of 15 as of October 25, 2026. The chance that a ticket bought today is a top-prize winner is about 1 in 1,119,462.

What are the odds of winning anything on Instant Prize Crossword?

1 in 3.28 as of October 25, 2026, compared with 1 in 3.31 printed at launch. Cash-only odds are 1 in 3.28, and the odds of winning more than the $20 ticket price are 1 in 5.60.

Is Instant Prize Crossword worth buying?

Its current payout is 75.6% ($15.11 back per $20 ticket), rank #19 of 55 in California. The best $20 alternative as of October 25, 2026 is 100X (#1696, $20) at 79.6%. No scratcher has a positive expected value; this is about losing less over time.

How many Instant Prize Crossword tickets are left?

We estimate 13,433,544 of roughly 19,160,672 printed tickets are unsold (25.3% sold), derived from the prizes claimed at each tier and their published odds.

When did Instant Prize Crossword launch and is it still on sale?

It launched on July 27, 2026. It is still on sale.

Instant Prize Crossword — $20 California Scratcher #1739

Data captured October 25, 2026, 03:29 UTC · launched July 27, 2026

Instant Prize Crossword California scratcher ticket

Official California Lottery page →

Instant Prize Crossword (#1739) is a $20 California scratcher launched on July 27, 2026. As of October 25, 2026 it ranks #19 of 55 active games on current payout (75.6%, $15.11 expected back per ticket) and #12 of 13 $20 games, #16 on any-prize odds (1 in 3.28) and #22 on top-prize odds (1 in 1,119,462). Since launch the payout has fallen 2.8 points (78.4% at launch) and your chance of winning something has risen 1.0% (1 in 3.31 at launch). 12 of 15 top prizes of $2,000,000 remain, and we estimate 13,433,544 tickets are still unsold (25.3% sold). That is a middle-of-the-pack game: fine to play, but the ranking lists show better value at the same price.

Current payout

75.6%

78.4% at launch

Expected value

$15.11

per $20 ticket

Any-prize odds

1 in 3.28

1 in 3.31 at launch

Cash odds

1 in 3.28

excludes free tickets

Profit odds

1 in 5.60

win more than $20

$600+ odds

1 in 1,082

claim-at-lottery prizes

Top prizes left

12 of 15

$2,000,000 each

Tickets remaining

74.7%

≈ 13,433,544 tickets

Last top prize claimed: September 30, 2026, 25 days ago.

Prizes remaining

Every prize level in Instant Prize Crossword, with the odds printed at launch, the odds today given what is left, and how much of each tier is still unclaimed. To set its odds of $1,000 or more (or any other prize size) against every other California game, see odds by prize size. Across all tiers, 4,098,571 of 5,788,856 prizes (70.8%) are still out there.

Prize	Odds at launch	Odds now	Total	Claimed	Remaining	% left
$2,000,000	1 in 1,197,542	1 in 1,119,462	15	3	12	80.0%
$25,000	1 in 561,348	1 in 497,539	32	5	27	84.4%
$10,000	1 in 598,771	1 in 537,342	30	5	25	83.3%
$5,000	1 in 122,198	1 in 113,844	147	29	118	80.3%
$2,000	1 in 4,008	1 in 3,986	4,482	1,112	3,370	75.2%
$1,000	1 in 1,497	1 in 1,515	11,997	3,131	8,866	73.9%
$500	1 in 573.0	1 in 605.6	31,374	9,192	22,182	70.7%
$250	1 in 401.0	1 in 424.8	44,845	13,224	31,621	70.5%
$200	1 in 184.0	1 in 195.4	97,426	28,668	68,758	70.6%
$100	1 in 40.0	1 in 42.4	448,992	132,262	316,730	70.5%
$50	1 in 21.0	1 in 22.7	838,194	245,883	592,311	70.7%
$25	1 in 9.00	1 in 9.91	1,916,238	560,984	1,355,254	70.7%
$20	1 in 8.00	1 in 7.91	2,395,084	695,787	1,699,297	70.9%
All prizes	1 in 3.31	1 in 3.28	5,788,856	1,690,285	4,098,571	70.8%

How Instant Prize Crossword has moved

Current payout (solid) and any-prize odds (dashed, inverted so up is better) since we began tracking Instant Prize Crossword. 49 daily readings.

Recent claims of $1,000 and up

October 24, 2026: 32 $2,000 prizes were claimed; 3,370 remain.
October 24, 2026: 51 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 8,866 remain.
October 23, 2026: 52 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 8,917 remain.
October 22, 2026: 12 $2,000 prizes were claimed; 3,402 remain.
October 22, 2026: 30 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 8,969 remain.
October 21, 2026: 22 $2,000 prizes were claimed; 3,414 remain.
October 21, 2026: 46 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 8,999 remain.
October 20, 2026: one $5,000 prize was claimed; 118 remain.
October 20, 2026: 10 $2,000 prizes were claimed; 3,436 remain.
October 20, 2026: 70 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 9,045 remain.
October 17, 2026: one $5,000 prize was claimed; 119 remain.
October 17, 2026: 47 $2,000 prizes were claimed; 3,446 remain.

Derived from day-to-day changes in the official remaining-prize counts, so the date is when the lottery published the change.

Instant Prize Crossword: common questions

How many $2,000,000 prizes are left in Instant Prize Crossword?: 12 of 15 as of October 25, 2026. The chance that a ticket bought today is a top-prize winner is about 1 in 1,119,462.
What are the odds of winning anything on Instant Prize Crossword?: 1 in 3.28 as of October 25, 2026, compared with 1 in 3.31 printed at launch. Cash-only odds are 1 in 3.28, and the odds of winning more than the $20 ticket price are 1 in 5.60.
Is Instant Prize Crossword worth buying?: Its current payout is 75.6% ($15.11 back per $20 ticket), rank #19 of 55 in California. The best $20 alternative as of October 25, 2026 is 100X (#1696, $20) at 79.6%. No scratcher has a positive expected value; this is about losing less over time.
How many Instant Prize Crossword tickets are left?: We estimate 13,433,544 of roughly 19,160,672 printed tickets are unsold (25.3% sold), derived from the prizes claimed at each tier and their published odds.
When did Instant Prize Crossword launch and is it still on sale?: It launched on July 27, 2026. It is still on sale.

Other $20 California scratchers

100X — 79.6% payout, 1 in 3.05 any prize
2027 — 79.5% payout, 1 in 3.03 any prize
Golden State Riches — 79.1% payout, 1 in 2.89 any prize
Set for Life — 78.9% payout, 1 in 3.61 any prize
MONOPOLY — 78.6% payout, 1 in 3.49 any prize

California hub All $20 games Odds by prize size Methodology