An instant game whose big prizes have already been claimed keeps selling at the same price, with the same headline number on the ticket. Michigan publishes the data to see through that — every tier of every game, printed against unclaimed.
We pull it daily and rank all 115 games on sale, so you can tell which ones still hold their prize money and which have been hollowed out.
Every Michigan instant game, ranked
How to read the value index
The value index compares how much of a game's prize money is still unclaimed against how many of its prizes are still unclaimed — in other words, has this game kept its big money or spent it?
- 1.00 — the game still holds exactly the mix of prize money it launched with.
- Above 1.00 — unusually much of the large prize money is still out there.
- Below 1.00 — the big prizes have been claimed and mostly small ones remain, while the ticket costs the same and still advertises the top prize.
The top prize column is the blunter signal: a game reading "all claimed" is still on sale with its headline prize entirely gone.
Why there's no "value per dollar" here
Our Texas, California and Idaho pages show what each game returns in cents per dollar. That needs the ticket price and the overall odds, and Michigan publishes neither alongside its prize data. Rather than guess a price and present the result as fact, Michigan uses the same price-independent index as our New York page, which measures the same underlying thing using only what the state actually publishes.
How we calculate it
Figures come from the Michigan Lottery's own prizes-remaining data for in-store instant games, covering every prize tier: how many were printed and how many are still unclaimed. We sum the cash value of both and compare the shares.
The Michigan Lottery states the key caveat itself: remaining prizes represent unclaimed prizes and include tickets that may or may not have already been sold. A top prize counted as remaining may already sit in a bought, unscratched ticket. Late in a game's life that gap dominates, so games with more than 90% of prizes claimed are flagged and hidden by default — with few prizes left the index swings on very small numbers.
Compare other states on the scratch games hub, or see how draw games differ on the most winnable game map.
Derived from Michigan Lottery published prize data — descriptive statistics, not official guidance, and not a prediction about any individual ticket. Instant games are negative-expected-value by design: across all players they return less than they cost. For information and entertainment only — not financial or gambling advice. You must be 18+ to play. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-GAMBLER.