A professional accountant who left the world of high finance to analyze lottery odds for a living has revealed his current rankings of the scratch-off tickets with the most favorable odds in each state.
Lotto Edge founder Jared James, 44, shared the data exclusively with DailyMail.com this week, naming the instant games with the best odds in each state, as well as the top five across the nation.
James, a certified public accountant who lives near Charlotte, founded the lottery analytics company in 2019 following a career as a financial consultant atPricewaterhouseCoopers and Wells Fargo.
'Everything we do is all mathematical, there's no magic box,' he explained in an interview on Wednesday. 'You still have to have the luck to find the right ticket at the right store.'
James said that his site runs 'thousands of calculations' to rank the best scratchers as new sales and redemption data come out, explaining: 'the odds actually change every day -- that's one thing people are surprised hear.'
Scroll down for state-by-state list
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Out of the country's five tickets with the best overall odds of winning any prize, three games from Iowa made the cut.
A $20 game from Kansas, Extreme Crossword, had the top overall odds in the nation, according to James.
Offering his advice to scratch-off players, James said: 'Most importantly, have a budget in mind. Don't overextend yourself.'
'Once you know how much you're willing to spend, decide what you're trying to win,' he continued. 'If you're after $5,000 prize, or $10,000, or $1 million, that's a totally different set of games.'
Lotto Edge founder Jared James analyzes scratch-off odds for a living
'Out of 70 games, I'll tell you which has the best odds, but if you want the million dollar prize, that's a different question.'
James said that his interest in the lottery began with his step-father, who used to play scratch-offs 'religiously' when he was growing up.
'For holidays all he wanted was scratch-offs,' James recalled. 'I realized there's got to be something more to this, if we could just tell people...what the odds were behind these scratch-offs.'
James launched his Lotto Edge service, which offers premium insights for a subscription fee, three years ago, saying he'd always dreamed of running his own company.
He says the service saw a big spike in interest in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were stuck at home in lockdown.
'We also really see these spikes when the Mega Millions [prize] gets so big, like it is now -- people who are exploring Mega Millions find us and are surprised,' he said.
Scratch-off games with the best overall odds in each state
| STATE | Game | Price | Odds of any prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| AR | 200X the Money | $20 | 2.94 |
| AZ | Triple Bonus Crossword | $25 | 2.40 |
| CA | $10 Million Dollar Titanium Black | $30 | 2.62 |
| CO | $50 Set For Life | $50 | 2.57 |
| CT | $1,000,000 Golden Riches | $30 | 2.98 |
| DC | Capital Fortune | $30 | 2.76 |
| DE | Bonus Money | $20 | 2.95 |
| FL | Billion Gold Rush Supreme | $30 | 2.60 |
| GA | 200X The Money | $25 | 2.49 |
| IA | Win Big | $30 | 2.38 |
| ID | Ace of Spades | $30 | 2.97 |
| IL | $1,000,000 Jumbo Crossword 10X | $25 | 2.70 |
| IN | $150,000,000 Extravaganza | $20 | 3.12 |
| KS | Extreme Crossword | $20 | 2.34 |
| KY | Gold Rush | $30 | 2.60 |
| LA | Bonus Money | $10 | 3.17 |
| MA | Diamond Millions | $30 | 2.77 |
| MD | $100,000 Extreme Cash | $30 | 2.79 |
| ME | $50,000,000 Ca$h Riche$ | $25 | 2.38 |
| MI | Worth Millions | $30 | 3.03 |
| MN | 500X | $50 | 2.89 |
| MO | 300X | $30 | 2.64 |
| MS | $100 Million Extravaganza | $20 | 3.40 |
| MT | Monopoly 50X | $10 | 3.21 |
| NC | $10,000,000 Colossal Cash | $30 | 2.83 |
| NE | $200,000 Cash Crossword | $20 | 2.98 |
| NH | Granite State Premier | $25 | 3.09 |
| NJ | Raging Hot 7's | $30 | 3.41 |
| NM | Triple Jackpot | $10 | 3.13 |
| NY | $5,000,000 Mega Multiplier | $20 | 3.33 |
| OH | 40th Anniversary Millions | $30 | 2.66 |
| OK | Millionaire Extraordinaire | $30 | 2.55 |
| OR | Colossal Cash | $20 | 2.72 |
| PA | $3,000,000 Payout | $30 | 2.85 |
| RI | $5,000 Cash Dash | $20 | 3.22 |
| SC | Instant Millions | $10 | 3.18 |
| SD | $250,000 Bonus | $20 | 3.15 |
| TN | $3,000 In A Flash | $30 | 2.73 |
| TX | $750 Million Winner's Circle | $30 | 2.88 |
| VA | 100X the Money | $30 | 2.77 |
| VT | Platinum Cash | $25 | 2.79 |
| WA | Lion's Share | $30 | 2.93 |
| WI | Gnome for the Holidays | $15 | 2.90 |
| WV | Maximum Black | $20 | 3.41 |
Note: Five US states do not have a lottery. They areAlabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. North Dakota and Wyoming offer drawings, but not scratch-offs.
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Offering his advice to scratch-off players, James said: 'Most importantly, have a budget in mind. Don't overextend yourself' (file photo)
The jackpot for the Mega Millions, a multi-state lottery drawing, now stands at $660 million for the next drawing on Friday -- which would be the third-largest prize in the contest's history.
A total of 45 US states offer government-operated lotteries, and across North America, lottery sales topped$106 billion last year, according to theNorth American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
Lotto fever was hottest in Florida, which had the most sales of any state last year at more than $9 billion.
Critics of lotteries say that they prey on the poor and financially desperate. But defenders argue that they are a voluntary form of entertainment that helps fund state initiatives, including education.
Lotteries have a long history in the Americas, even dating back to the colonial period prior to the founding of the United States.
The British financial backers of the Jamestown colony in Virginia raised funds for the venture using lotteries, according to a 1997 report from theCalifornia Research Bureau.
'The lotteries were relatively sophisticated and included instant winners,' wrote the report's author Robert Dunstan. 'Eventually, the crown banned the lotteries because of complaints that they were robbing England of money.'
A total of 44 US states offer government-operated lotteries, and across North America, lottery sales topped $106 billion last year (file photo)
Following backlash on religious and moral grounds, legal government-operated lotteries were banned across the country from 1894 to 1964 -- though illegal 'numbers games' flourished nationwide.
In 1974, theMassachusetts Lottery becomes the first in the world to launch an instant scratch-off game.
Scratchers, which rely on computer algorithms to generate secure tickets, quickly became a global sensation.
Lottery tickets are sold at approximately 216,000 locations throughout the US, most often at retail outlets such as convenience shops and grocery stores.
For confidential support, call or text theNational Problem Gambling Helpline Network at 1-800-522-4700.
