How many $750,000 prizes are left in Mystery Crossword?

5 of 48 as of October 25, 2026. The chance that a ticket bought today is a top-prize winner is about 1 in 819,014.

What are the odds of winning anything on Mystery Crossword?

1 in 3.64 as of October 25, 2026, compared with 1 in 3.33 printed at launch. Cash-only odds are 1 in 3.64, and the odds of winning more than the $10 ticket price are 1 in 9.36.

Is Mystery Crossword worth buying?

Its current payout is 71.3% ($7.13 back per $10 ticket), rank #33 of 55 in California. The best $10 alternative as of October 25, 2026 is Set For Life (#1748, $10) at 81.6%. No scratcher has a positive expected value; this is about losing less over time.

How many Mystery Crossword tickets are left?

We estimate 4,095,072 of roughly 55,802,880 printed tickets are unsold (92.9% sold), derived from the prizes claimed at each tier and their published odds.

When did Mystery Crossword launch and is it still on sale?

It launched on December 15, 2025. It is still on sale.

Mystery Crossword — $10 California Scratcher #1708

Data captured October 25, 2026, 03:29 UTC · launched December 15, 2025

Mystery Crossword California scratcher ticket

Official California Lottery page →

Mystery Crossword (#1708) is a $10 California scratcher launched on December 15, 2025. As of October 25, 2026 it ranks #33 of 55 active games on current payout (71.3%, $7.13 expected back per ticket) and #9 of 10 $10 games, #31 on any-prize odds (1 in 3.64) and #19 on top-prize odds (1 in 819,014). Since launch the payout has fallen 6.8 points (78.1% at launch) and your chance of winning something has fallen 8.6% (1 in 3.33 at launch). 5 of 48 top prizes of $750,000 remain, and we estimate 4,095,072 tickets are still unsold (92.9% sold). That is below average for California; the California ranking lists show better payouts, including at $10.

Current payout

71.3%

78.1% at launch

Expected value

$7.13

per $10 ticket

Any-prize odds

1 in 3.64

1 in 3.33 at launch

Cash odds

1 in 3.64

excludes free tickets

Profit odds

1 in 9.36

win more than $10

$600+ odds

1 in 6,814

claim-at-lottery prizes

Top prizes left

5 of 48

$750,000 each

Tickets remaining

7.1%

≈ 4,095,072 tickets

Top prize still waiting. Last 7% of tickets, 5 top prizes still waiting: better jackpot odds than on launch day (1 in 819,014, was 1 in 1.2 million). More California games like this. Last top prize claimed: September 18, 2026, 37 days ago.

Prizes remaining

Every prize level in Mystery 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, 1,124,304 of 16,766,823 prizes (6.7%) are still out there.

Prize	Odds at launch	Odds now	Total	Claimed	Remaining	% left
$750,000	1 in 1,211,000	1 in 819,014	48	43	5	10.4%
$10,000	1 in 587,152	1 in 409,507	99	89	10	10.1%
$4,000	1 in 377,455	1 in 315,006	154	141	13	8.4%
$2,000	1 in 406,490	1 in 511,884	143	135	8	5.6%
$1,000	1 in 7,936	1 in 7,248	7,325	6,760	565	7.7%
$400	1 in 4,756	1 in 5,417	12,222	11,466	756	6.2%
$200	1 in 531.0	1 in 628.7	109,433	102,919	6,514	6.0%
$100	1 in 50.0	1 in 63.2	1,173,906	1,109,142	64,764	5.5%
$60	1 in 100.0	1 in 119.6	583,475	549,235	34,240	5.9%
$40	1 in 63.0	1 in 75.5	929,298	875,039	54,259	5.8%
$20	1 in 12.0	1 in 14.8	4,650,240	4,373,963	276,277	5.9%
$10	1 in 6.00	1 in 5.96	9,300,480	8,613,587	686,893	7.4%
All prizes	1 in 3.33	1 in 3.64	16,766,823	15,642,519	1,124,304	6.7%

How Mystery Crossword has moved

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

Recent claims of $1,000 and up

October 24, 2026: one $2,000 prize was claimed; 8 remain.
October 24, 2026: 7 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 565 remain.
October 23, 2026: 8 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 572 remain.
October 22, 2026: one $4,000 prize was claimed; 13 remain.
October 22, 2026: 7 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 580 remain.
October 21, 2026: one $2,000 prize was claimed; 9 remain.
October 21, 2026: 5 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 587 remain.
October 20, 2026: 8 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 592 remain.
October 17, 2026: one $2,000 prize was claimed; 10 remain.
October 17, 2026: 8 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 600 remain.
October 16, 2026: 5 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 608 remain.
October 15, 2026: 7 $1,000 prizes were claimed; 613 remain.

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

Mystery Crossword: common questions

How many $750,000 prizes are left in Mystery Crossword?: 5 of 48 as of October 25, 2026. The chance that a ticket bought today is a top-prize winner is about 1 in 819,014.
What are the odds of winning anything on Mystery Crossword?: 1 in 3.64 as of October 25, 2026, compared with 1 in 3.33 printed at launch. Cash-only odds are 1 in 3.64, and the odds of winning more than the $10 ticket price are 1 in 9.36.
Is Mystery Crossword worth buying?: Its current payout is 71.3% ($7.13 back per $10 ticket), rank #33 of 55 in California. The best $10 alternative as of October 25, 2026 is Set For Life (#1748, $10) at 81.6%. No scratcher has a positive expected value; this is about losing less over time.
How many Mystery Crossword tickets are left?: We estimate 4,095,072 of roughly 55,802,880 printed tickets are unsold (92.9% sold), derived from the prizes claimed at each tier and their published odds.
When did Mystery Crossword launch and is it still on sale?: It launched on December 15, 2025. It is still on sale.

Other $10 California scratchers

Set For Life — 81.6% payout, 1 in 3.87 any prize
Mystery Crossword — 75.6% payout, 1 in 3.55 any prize
California Jackpot — 74.6% payout, 1 in 3.35 any prize
$50 or $100 — 73.4% payout, 1 in 8.08 any prize
$1,000,000 Poker — 73.2% payout, 1 in 3.54 any prize

California hub All $10 games Odds by prize size Methodology