In plain English: how ScratchPulse™ compares Maryland scratch tickets
Best Value: compares estimated remaining prize value against ticket cost.Best Odds: compares estimated chance of winning the selected prize size, from any prize to top prize odds.Important: rankings are informational estimates, not predictions. Most scratch tickets have negative expected value, and no result is guaranteed.
ScratchPulse™ compares Maryland scratch tickets based on what appears to be left today, not only the odds printed when a game first launched.
Maryland Lottery ticket pages provide useful public data, including ticket price, game number, game start date, posted probability of winning, current prizes remaining, starting prize counts, and a records-last-updated date. ScratchPulse uses that posted prize data as the main source for Maryland rankings.
Maryland also publishes a Top 40 scratch-offs page with percent sold for those games. ScratchPulse uses that percent-sold field when it is available, and uses a prize-depletion estimate for other Maryland tickets.
How Maryland tickets remaining are estimated
ScratchPulse first estimates the original number of tickets from the total starting prize count and the posted overall odds.
estimated starting tickets = total starting prizes × posted overall odds
For Maryland games that appear on the official Top 40 page, ScratchPulse estimates current tickets left from the posted percent-sold value.
estimated tickets left = estimated starting tickets × (1 − percent sold)
For Maryland games that do not have percent-sold data, ScratchPulse estimates tickets left from common prize-tier depletion. In plain English, it looks at how much of the larger common prize tiers remain and uses those ratios as a proxy for how much of the ticket pool may still be unsold.
These are estimates, not official Maryland Lottery ticket counts. They are meant to make currently listed Maryland tickets easier to compare across Best Value and Best Odds views.
Best Value methodology
Best Value compares the estimated remaining prize value of a ticket against its cost. It looks beyond the advertised top prize and focuses on the current prize pool, estimated tickets left, and ticket price.
current remaining prize value = sum of prize amount × current prizes remainingestimated value per ticket = current remaining prize value ÷ estimated tickets leftestimated return = estimated value per ticket ÷ ticket priceestimated value vs cost = estimated value per ticket − ticket price
A Maryland ticket can rank well in Best Value when its remaining prize pool appears strong relative to the estimated number of tickets still available and the cost of each ticket.
Best Odds methodology
Best Odds lets users compare tickets by the prize size they care about, such as any prize, $100+, $1K+, $10K+, $25K+, or the top prize. Instead of ranking by total prize value, it estimates how many tickets may remain for each counted prize in the selected prize group.
estimated prize odds = estimated tickets left ÷ current prizes remaining for the selected prize sizelower estimated prize odds rank better
Some Maryland tickets have smaller fixed-style top prizes, such as games where the top prize is $100, $200, or $500. Those games can naturally show very strong top-prize odds because the top prize is small and frequent. ScratchPulse labels these as low-ceiling games so they are not confused with jackpot-style tickets.
Why Maryland estimates can still be imperfect
Public prize data can lag behind real-world ticket sales and prize claims. A prize may still appear as remaining even if the winning ticket has already been sold and simply has not been redeemed yet.
Top 40 Maryland tickets have a stronger current ticket estimate because percent-sold data is available. Other games rely on a model based on prize depletion, so their estimated tickets left should be treated as lower-confidence.
ScratchPulse keeps these games visible because the estimates are still useful for comparison, but rankings are informational only. Lottery outcomes are random, no result is guaranteed, and most scratch tickets have negative expected value.
Why scratch ticket odds can change
Scratch tickets are not static after launch. As tickets are sold and prizes are claimed, the remaining prize pool and estimated tickets left can shift, making some games look stronger or weaker over time.
How to use these rankings
ScratchPulse is best used as a comparison tool. It can help you compare currently tracked Maryland tickets, understand remaining prize profiles, and avoid games that appear weaker.
What ScratchPulse cannot know
ScratchPulse cannot know the exact tickets sitting at each retailer, whether an unclaimed winning ticket has already been sold, or whether a recent claim has not yet appeared in public data.
Not gambling advice
ScratchPulse rankings are informational estimates based on public lottery data. They are not predictions, guarantees, investment advice, or instructions to buy any ticket.