The lastest Virginia Lottery scratch tickets have a big payday, but that shot at a big win comes with a big price tag.
The $326,000,000 Fortune scratcher is the first retail ticket ever with a $50 price point.
Remember, we’re talking about the tickets you buy at the check-out counter in this case. Several online Virginia Lottery scratchers already have $50 play options. You’ll find those when you log into your account.
The retail game is called “$326,000,000 Fortune” but a single winner doesn’t get $326 million either. That’s just the total amount of prize money available:
- The game has three $5 million tickets as the top prize. As of Thursday, none of the three tickets have been claimed.
- A dozen $326,000,000 Fortune tickets have a $100,000 win. No one claimed any of those 12 of those prizes so far.
- The remaining 2,351,337 winning tickets range from the $50 break-even mark on up to $10,000.
Premium scratcher buys are big bets, so be careful
Whether playing online or retail scratchers in Virginia, remember to set a limit and stick to it. The odds for million-dollar wins in any game are very steep.
Here’s what we mean: The odds of winning one of the three $5 million “Fortune” top prizes are 1 in 2,774,400. The odds of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 3.43. That means about two out of every three tickets will be a dead end after all of the scratching.
Players can use the eXTRA Chances program for non-winning tickets. That gives players a shot at additional prizes.
Overcoming odds can be part of the appeal. And, Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kelly Gee said scratcher games are the lottery’s most popular product. The launch of this $50 ticket marks another first for the Virginia Lottery, she said.
The $50 price point also “demonstrates our ongoing commitment to provide a variety of games to appeal to a broad range of consumers,” she added.
All Virginia Lottery profits go to K-12 education in the state. In the most recent state budget year, the Lottery raised more than $779 million. The amount is roughly 10 percent of Virginia’s total K-12 school budget.
“Contributing to important programs that support students across the Commonwealth is the reason the Virginia Lottery exists,” Gee said.
Stores with Virginia Lottery scratch tickets win, too
Customers can find Virginia Lottery scratch tickets at more than 5,300 businesses. The retailers get a share of both the sales and the wins:
- They earn a 5% commission on all lottery products.
- The stores get a 1% bonus on top of that for selling a winning ticket.
- Stores that sell a ticket with the $5 million top prize get a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery.
It pays to partner with the Virginia Lottery, too. From July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, businesses received $138.6 million in commissions and bonuses.