Holiday Scratch-Offs: Why Last Year's Christmas Tickets Are Still on the Rack

By Doug Moeller | Professional Gambler & Founder of Savvy Scratch

Walk into a New Jersey convenience store this week and you can find two $5 Christmas scratch-offs with the same $200,000 top prize. One is Holiday Dough, part of this year's holiday lineup. It still has all three of its $200,000 top prizes. The other is Merry Money Tree, left over from last Christmas. All three of its $200,000 top prizes are gone.

Both tickets cost the same, and both have holiday art and a big number on the front. One of them can still pay the prize it advertises and the other can't.

That's the whole problem with holiday scratch-offs, and it gets bigger every year, because holiday scratch-off season doesn't start at Thanksgiving and it doesn't end on December 25. It runs from about Halloween to Valentine's Day, and each season's tickets keep selling long after the season is over.

I've spent 20+ years gambling for a living, mostly poker and blackjack card counting with a stretch of casino advantage play, and I'm north of $500K in lifetime winnings. The holidays are when the most casual money in the year hits the lottery counter. Here's what's actually going on behind the glass, and how to buy a holiday ticket without paying for a prize that's already been claimed.

Want to see which holiday games in your state still have their top prizes? Create a free Savvy Scratch account with no credit card and the Bad and New tabs are yours. Full Good and Neutral rankings are $5 a month or $50 a year, with a 30-day worry-free guarantee. Start free at savvyscratch.com

The December Bump Is Real, and Gifts Drive It

Lotteries don't hide how much the holidays matter. In a February 2026 analysis published by NASPL, the lottery industry's trade association, ticket printer Pollard Banknote reported that U.S. instant ticket sales averaged 13% more per week in December 2025 than in November, and named holiday-themed games as the main driver. The same analysis found that $1, $2, and $5 holiday games performed above average, because they work as stocking stuffers and quick gifts.

The number of holiday games went up again, too. NASPL counted 252 holiday and winter seasonal instant games across North American lotteries in 2025, up from 241 the year before.

The reason is simple. During the holidays a lot of tickets are bought by people who don't play, for someone else. A ticket fits in a card, needs no size, and gives the person opening it a little moment of suspense. Lotteries know this group well. Reviewing its 2024 holiday season, the New Hampshire Lottery told NASPL that gifted tickets put the game in front of new and casual players, and its rewards app, which normally adds new players at 2% to 3% a month, grew 5.6% in December.

That's the gift-buyer's blind spot. The person buying a ticket as a gift is the person least likely to check whether the game is still alive. They're grabbing something festive at the register with a line behind them.

Why the Season Starts Before Halloween

If Christmas tickets on the rack in October seem early, that's on purpose. Lotteries get holiday games into stores well before the gift-buying weeks so they're on every counter by the time the ads start.

In its review of the 2025 season, the Missouri Lottery told NASPL it launched two holiday tickets in late September and the rest in mid-October, with paid "Lottery as Gifts" advertising starting around Black Friday. Wisconsin launched in mid-October and started most of its TV advertising in early November.

This year looks the same. Massachusetts put out its first-ever scented holiday tickets, the $5 and $10 Candy Cane Cash Blowout, on October 6. In a WBUR report on the launch, the Massachusetts Lottery said scratch ticket sales were down 6% so far in the fiscal year, which shows how much it is counting on the holiday push. California's 2026 holiday lineup includes a $1 Festive Wishes and a $5 Holiday Delight that double as gift tags. Virginia's holiday games, including a $5 Merry Money Tree with four $125,000 top prizes, are dated to launch today, November 3.

West Virginia skips the gap between the two holidays entirely. Some of its games carry paired names like Spooky Kitty - Santa Spins and Lucky Witch - Lucky Elf, Halloween and Christmas on the same game. Spooky Kitty - Santa Spins is a leftover with none of its four top prizes remaining, which makes the West Virginia rack a good preview of the rest of this post.

Here's the part the packaging leaves out. A ticket designed to be a gift tag is built to sell, and that has nothing to do with whether it's the best game on the rack. The launch calendar decides when a game shows up. Only the prize data tells you whether it's worth your money.

Last Year's Christmas Tickets Never Left

This is where the season gets expensive. Some lotteries pull holiday games in January, but many don't. They keep selling until the tickets run out or the game is officially closed, and a lot of that inventory hangs right next to the new holiday games the following fall.

I went through Savvy Scratch's November 3 data for all 28 states we track and pulled every active game with a holiday or winter name. That came to 159 games. About two-thirds of them, 106 games, are less than half sold, which means they're mostly this season's releases. The other 53 are more than half sold. Those are mostly leftovers from last season, and some are older.

The difference between the two groups is hard to miss. Of the 106 fresh games, Savvy Scratch rates 62 as Good and only 4 as Bad, and none of them have lost every top prize. Of the 53 leftovers, 23 are rated Bad, and 10 have no top prizes left at all.

New Jersey is the cleanest example. Last year's lineup included the $2 Holiday Cash Doubler, which printed four $10,000 top prizes and has none left, and the $5 Merry Money Tree, which has none of its three $200,000 top prizes left. By our estimate each is more than 80% sold, so plenty of tickets remain. This year's $5 Holiday Dough has all three of its $200,000 top prizes and is about 4% sold.

Massachusetts has the same split at a higher price. A leftover $10 game, $2,500,000 Merry & Bright, has none of its three $2.5 million top prizes and none of its six $1 million second-tier prizes left. This year's $5 Jingle Jumbo Bucks 50X still has all three of its $1 million top prizes. Pennsylvania's $3 Sleigh Ride, still on sale, has none of its ten $50,000 top prizes left. Florida is still selling a $2 game called Happy New Year 2026 ten months after New Year's Day, most of its $50,000 top prizes have been claimed, and Savvy Scratch rates it Bad.

Old doesn't automatically mean dead, though. Pennsylvania's $5 ELF is about 89% sold and still has two of its five $250,000 top prizes. With that few tickets left behind two top prizes, Savvy Scratch rates it Very Good. I've written before about why the best odds can sometimes be in last year's ticket. The lesson isn't to avoid old games. It's that a game's age, art, and holiday theme tell you nothing. The prize count does.

Why a Busy Season Doesn't Make the Game Softer

Poker players watch the calendar, because the holidays change who sits down. People who play a few times a year show up, the tables fill with players who are there to have fun, and the games get easier. A busy season gives a poker player a real edge because it changes the opponents.

A lot of scratch-off players assume the same thing works at the lottery counter. More people buying must mean more winners going out. It doesn't work that way, and the reason is worth understanding. Your opponent in a scratch-off isn't the person in line behind you. It's a fixed prize pool that was printed months ago. A December crowd can't make that pool any richer. All it can do is burn through the tickets faster.

So the holiday rush doesn't help you the way it helps a poker player. It speeds up the clock. A game that was healthy in October can lose its last top prize by the middle of December, and nothing at the counter will tell you. That's why a holiday screenshot from three weeks ago, or a "best holiday tickets" article from last year, is worse than useless this time of year. The data has to be current.

Before you fill a stocking, check the game. Savvy Scratch shows you which holiday games still have their top prizes in your state. See New and Bad games free with no card required, or get the full Good and Neutral rankings for $5 a month or $50 a year with a 30-day worry-free guarantee. Check your state at savvyscratch.com

Giving a Ticket Means Picking the Game for Someone Else

Scratch-offs make good gifts for the right adult. They're cheap, they're fun to open, and they give someone a few seconds of what-if. I'm not trying to talk you out of that. I'm trying to make sure the what-if is real.

When you buy a ticket for yourself, you get to decide whether a game is worth it. When you buy one as a gift, you're making that call for someone who will never check. If the top prize on that ticket was claimed in March, the person scratching it on Christmas morning is playing for a prize that no longer exists, and neither of you will ever know. I went deeper on this in the best stocking stuffer for scratch-off players, and the short version holds: give a live game or give something else.

Two more rules. Lottery tickets go to adults only, which means 18 in most states and older in some. And skip them for anyone who is trying to stay away from gambling. That's not your call to make for them.

Why the Promotions Keep Going After Christmas

The season doesn't end when the wrapping paper comes off. Lotteries plan for the week after Christmas, when a wave of people who just received tickets scratch them, find out most of them lost, and wonder what to do next.

Nebraska told NASPL it times its holiday promotion to run into January so people who got tickets as gifts can enter their non-winners. Virginia said it ramped up promotions in January and February to keep players engaged. California's 2026 holiday second-chance draws run through January 10, 2027, for non-winning tickets from its four holiday games.

Casinos run holiday promotions too: drawings, bonus multipliers, free play. In advantage play, the first thing you learn is to read the rules sheet before you look at the banner. The banner tells you how the casino wants you to feel. The rules tell you what you're actually getting. A promotion is worth exactly what its prize list and its entry count make it worth, and it doesn't change the game it's attached to.

Second-chance drawings work the same way. Entering your losing tickets costs nothing, so do it. But in January that drawing is packed with every gifted non-winner in the state, and entering does nothing to the prize pool of the scratch-off you bought. Never buy a ticket because of the drawing attached to it. I covered what these drawings are worth in second-chance lotteries.

January has an upside, too. Once the holiday rush clears, some games are left with more top prizes than their sales would suggest, which is why I think January is one of the best times to look for better jackpot odds.

Valentine's Day Closes the Loop

Right after the holiday promotions end, the hearts show up. Valentine's Day gives lotteries one more gift occasion before spring. In 2024, for example, the Idaho Lottery ran a "Share the Love" campaign behind a $5 Sweethearts candy-themed ticket with a $50,000 top prize.

As of today, none of the 28 states we track has an active game with a Valentine's name. Those games typically launch in January. When they do, the same rule applies: a February theme doesn't stop a game from selling in June, and the hearts don't say anything about the prizes still inside.

From Halloween launches to Christmas gift tags to New Year's tickets to Valentine's Day themes, the lottery calendar gives you a reason to buy every few weeks for four months. None of those reasons says anything about the prize pool.

What to Check Before You Buy a Holiday Ticket

Start with the game number, not the name. Holiday games reuse names constantly ("Merry Money Tree" is a $5 game in both New Jersey and Virginia right now, and they have nothing to do with each other), so match the number on the ticket to the prize data you're reading.

Next, look at the top prizes remaining compared to how far the game has sold. A game that is 80% sold with every top prize gone is a different product from the one that launched, whatever the front says. A game that is 89% sold with two top prizes left can be one of the better buys on the rack. If you want to learn to read that relationship yourself, the Savvy Scratch odds guide walks through it.

Then check how recent the data is. In December, prize pictures change fast. A screenshot from early November can describe a game that no longer exists in that form.

Keep in mind that an unclaimed prize isn't always sitting in an unsold ticket. Someone may have scratched the winner and put it in a drawer until after the holidays. The later a game is in its print run, the more that matters.

Finally, set the budget before you walk in. A holiday promotion is not a reason to spend more. Pick your number for the season, gifts included, and stop when it's gone. I use the same structure a card counter uses for a bankroll, laid out in how a card counter budgets for lottery tickets.

Buy the Ticket, Not the Wrapping Paper

Every December a lot of people buy tickets based on how they look and what they cost, and get a game that can't pay what's printed on the front. The lotteries aren't hiding the data. They just aren't putting it next to the snowflakes.

Enjoy the season, and if a ticket fits in someone's card, give one. Just take ten seconds to make sure the prize on the front is still in the game before you hand it over.

See which holiday scratch-offs are still alive in your state. Create a free Savvy Scratch account, pick your state, and the New and Bad tabs are yours with no card required. The full Good and Neutral rankings are $5 a month or $50 a year, with a 30-day worry-free guarantee. If you play in New Jersey, the whole New Jersey board lists every game's remaining prizes. Get started at savvyscratch.com

Frequently Asked Questions

When do holiday scratch-offs come out?

Most lotteries release holiday games from late September through early November, so they're on store counters before the main gift-buying weeks. Missouri launched two of its 2025 holiday tickets in late September and the rest in mid-October. Virginia's 2026 holiday games are dated to launch November 3.

Are holiday scratch-offs better odds than regular scratch-offs?

Not by default. A holiday game is a scratch-off like any other, with its own printed odds and its own prize pool. A brand-new holiday game has all its top prizes, which helps, but plenty of regular games are just as healthy. What matters is the current ratio of top prizes left to tickets left, not the theme.

Do lotteries still sell last year's holiday scratch-offs?

Often, yes. Some lotteries pull holiday games in January, but many keep them on sale until the tickets run out or the game is closed. As of November 3, 2026, Savvy Scratch tracked 53 active holiday and winter games that were more than half sold, mostly leftovers from earlier seasons, and 10 of them had no top prizes left.

Can I give scratch-offs as a gift to anyone?

Only to adults. The minimum age is 18 in most states and higher in some, and lotteries run "gift responsibly" campaigns every December reminding buyers not to put tickets in a child's stocking. It's also worth skipping lottery gifts for anyone who is trying to avoid gambling.

Does entering a second-chance drawing improve my odds on the scratch-off?

No. A second-chance drawing is a separate promotion with its own prizes. Entering a non-winning ticket costs nothing and is worth doing, but it doesn't change the prize pool of the scratch-off game, so it shouldn't affect which ticket you buy.

About the Author: Doug Moeller is a professional gambler with 20+ years of experience in poker, blackjack card counting, and casino advantage play, with over $500K in lifetime winnings. He built Savvy Scratch to bring the same read-the-rules-not-the-banner discipline from the casino floor to scratch-off prize data, so holiday tickets get judged by what's left in the game, not what's on the wrapping. Follow Doug on X | YouTube

Scratch-offs are entertainment, not income, and a holiday ticket isn't a plan to pay for the holidays. If gambling stops being fun, visit our responsible gambling page or call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.