Texas Holiday Scratch-Offs: What to Buy and What to Skip (October 2026)
2 Texas holiday scratch-offs are on sale as of October 25, 2026. The best of them by current payout is Holiday Countdown ($5) at 68.1%, 1 in 3.89 for any prize. As a group they are the worse buy: a median payout of 64.1% against 68.2% across all 77 games on sale. Festive packaging is not a better ticket.
Texas holiday scratch-offs on sale, best payout first
- 1 $5
Holiday Countdown
#278068.1% payout now- EV / ticket
- $3.40
- Any prize
- 1 in 3.89
- Beats price
- 1 in 7.30
- Top prizes
- 5 of 5
Best payout - 2 $1
Gnome for the Holidays
#277960.1% payout now- EV / ticket
- $0.60
- Any prize
- 1 in 4.49
- Beats price
- 1 in 9.13
- Top prizes
- 57 of 57
Payout is what the remaining prize pool returns per dollar; profit odds count only prizes larger than the ticket price. Definitions are on the methodology page.
Compare all 2 games in a table
| # Game | Price | Payout now | EV / ticket | Any-prize odds | Cash odds | Profit odds | Top prize | Top left | 7-day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Holiday Countdown | $5 | 68.1% | $3.40 | 1 in 3.89 | 1 in 3.89 | 1 in 7.30 | $100,000 | 5 | — |
| 2. Gnome for the Holidays | $1 | 60.1% | $0.60 | 1 in 4.49 | 1 in 4.49 | 1 in 9.13 | $500 | 57 | — |
Why holiday scratch-offs usually pay less
A holiday range is the most heavily promoted thing a state lottery sells. The tickets are bigger, the artwork is better, and they arrive at the one time of year when people who never buy a scratcher buy one as a gift. None of that changes the arithmetic. The prize pool is printed before the game ships, and the share of each dollar it returns is set at the same time. In Texas right now that share is lower than the state's ordinary games: a median 64.1% against 68.2%. Buying the festive ticket costs you about 4.1% of every dollar. The one thing a new holiday game does guarantee is that its top prizes are still unclaimed, which is not true of a game that has been on the shelf since spring.
If you are buying a scratcher as a gift, the useful question is not which game is festive but which is still worth handing over. The payout ranking answers that for every game in Texas, and the top prizes still unclaimed list shows which games have their headline prize in play. Both are free and both are recomputed daily.
Texas holiday scratch-offs: common questions
- How many Texas holiday scratch-offs are on sale right now?
- 2 as of October 25, 2026.
- Are holiday scratch-offs a better bet than normal ones?
- No. In Texas today the holiday games return a median 64.1% against 68.2% across all 77 games on sale. They are marketed harder and pay less.
- When do Texas holiday scratch-offs go on sale?
- Texas has released its holiday range in October and November: the games we hold launched between November 2, 2026 and November 2, 2026. This page lists the new range the day the Texas Lottery publishes it, because we re-read the official prize data every day.
- Can I still claim a holiday scratch-off from last year?
- Only while the game is inside its claim window. A game stops selling months before claims close, so check the last claim date on the game's own page.
- Do unclaimed holiday prizes carry over?
- No. Every game is a fixed pool printed before it ships, and prizes that are never claimed are simply never paid. That is why a game late in its life can look generous on paper: the money is still in the pool, but so are the tickets.