How to Use LottSpots
Buy the right game — in the right place.
What is Expected Value (EV)?
›EV tells you how much of every dollar you spend comes back as prizes, on average. A game with 80¢ EV returns 80 cents in prizes for every $1 ticket over time — better odds than most lottery games.
›EV is calculated from the remaining prize counts published by the CA Lottery. As big prizes get claimed, EV drops. LottSpots recalculates this automatically.
›No lottery game has EV over $1.00 — the house always wins overall. But some games are significantly better than others, and that's what LottSpots shows you.
Best Value (70¢+)Above-average return — look here first
Average (50–70¢)Typical lottery expected return
Poor Value (<50¢)Below-average — avoid if EV matters to you
Reading the EV Rankings
›Games are ranked best to worst EV at the top of the home screen. The #1 game gives you the most value per dollar right now.
›Each card shows the EV percentage on the right (e.g. 87.2¢), the game name, ticket price, tickets remaining, and jackpot size.
›The green bar under each card shows how close the EV is to 100¢. Longer = better.
›The sparkline chart next to the bar shows how EV has trended over the past 30 days — flat or rising is good, steeply declining means big prizes are being claimed fast.
What the Badges Mean
TOP VALUEThe single highest-EV game available right now. Start here.
BIGGEST JACKPOTThe game with the largest current jackpot — for players chasing the big win.
NO GRAND PRIZEThe top prize has already been claimed. Smaller prizes still remain but the jackpot is gone.
Viewing the Prize Table
›Double-tap (or double-click) any game card to open its full prize table.
›The table shows every prize tier — from the jackpot down to small prizes — along with how many are still remaining out of the original count.
›The green depletion bars show what percentage of each prize tier is left. Amber bars mean a prize tier is running low (<20% remaining).
›The Odds column shows your 1-in-X chance of winning that specific prize on any given ticket.
›Tap the EV History tab in the drawer to see a chart of how this game's EV has changed over time.
Filtering Games
›Use the All / Scratch-offs / Draw Games tabs to filter by game type.
›Use the Price buttons (Any, $1, $2, $5…) to filter by ticket price — great if you have a specific budget in mind.
›If multiple states are available, use the state selector (top left, under the logo) to view rankings for a specific state.
Lucky Retailers Map
›The Lucky Retailers tab shows CA Lottery retailers that currently have the official "lucky" flag — meaning the CA Lottery's own system has flagged them as active winning locations.
›Use Near Me to find lucky stores close to your current location, or enter a ZIP code to search a specific area.
›Filter by time window (7 / 30 / 90 days) to see which stores have been consistently lucky vs. just recently flagged.
›The score shown on each store pin is based on how often that retailer has had the lucky flag over time — higher score = more consistently lucky.
How Often Is Data Updated?
›EV data is refreshed every 24 hours from the CA Lottery's official prize counts.
›Lucky Retailer data is also updated daily.
›The Updated X ago timestamp at the top of the rankings shows when data was last pulled.
›Draw game jackpots (Powerball, Mega Millions, SuperLotto Plus) are fetched live from the CA Lottery on each scraper run.
For entertainment purposes only. LottSpots does not guarantee winnings. All EV calculations are based on publicly available lottery prize data and may not reflect real-time changes. Gambling is a losing proposition. Please play responsibly. 18+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.