Return Ledger

What this game actually paid back

A lottery’s declared return is a design figure. What it paid on a given night is a different number, and where the prize table and a ticket count are both readable it can be worked out exactly: prizes paid, over what the lines cost. Almost every night it is well under half.

Every figure here is about draws that have already happened. A night above the price is visible only afterwards, and nothing on this page says anything about the next one.

Draw by draw

Match 44/24 era · since Jan 20106,093 draws

Scroll the chart sideways →

jackpot wonroll-downthin salesnot explained

Over this era the game paid back 128.2% of what was staked, and was above the price on 3,027 of 6,093 draws.

Prize-table return ledgerreturn-ledger-v1

The dashed rule is break-even. Above it the scale is compressed, because a single roll-down night can pay back twenty times its stake and would otherwise flatten every ordinary draw into one line. Marked nights are the ones above the price.

How often it lands where

Match 44/24 era · since Jan 20106,093 draws

552

20%

901

35%

50%

194

65%

746

80%

669

90%

483

100%

693

125%

899

150%

710

200%

198

300%

Every draw of the era, binned by what it paid back. The bands are not equal width — they are narrowest around break-even, where the interesting nights are — and the heights are square-rooted, because nine draws in ten land in two adjacent bands. Each bar carries its own count.

The nights above the price

Match 44/24 era · since Jan 20103,027 draws

Draw	Paid back	Why	Lines
2010-01-01	225%	jackpot won	15,725
2010-01-02	173%	jackpot won	21,774
2010-01-03	212%	jackpot won	17,738
2010-01-05	220%	jackpot won	21,476
2010-01-06	212%	jackpot won	22,706
2010-01-07	130%	jackpot won	21,261
2010-01-08	174%	jackpot won	21,681
2010-01-09	122%	jackpot won	24,160
2010-01-11	124%	jackpot won	23,079
2010-01-14	142%	jackpot won	18,325
2010-01-16	129%	jackpot won	21,094
2010-01-19	197%	jackpot won	18,959
2010-01-20	130%	jackpot won	20,944

Each with the reason it happened. A won jackpot is the game working, not an edge.

And across every game

And across every game60 draws

Draw	Game	Paid back	Prizes paid
2026-10-19	LuckyDay Lotto	183%	223,575
2026-10-19	Pick 5	296%	139,807
2026-10-19	Kicker	264%	17,348
2026-10-19	All or Nothing	103%	18,450
2026-10-19	Texas Two Step	132%	1,100,396
2026-10-19	Wild Money	168%	24,574
2026-10-19	Set for Life	163%	4,621,765
2026-10-19	Jersey Cash 5	453%	405,777
2026-10-18	Millionaire for Life	143%	388,085
2026-10-18	Jersey Cash 5	135%	77,070
2026-10-18	Wild Money	657%	140,781
2026-10-18	LuckyDay Lotto	383%	638,860
2026-10-18	Fantasy 5	116%	205,245
2026-10-17	SuperLotto Plus	2,266%	64,492,424
2026-10-17	Show Me Cash	282%

The most recent draws anywhere on this site that paid out more than they took.

The ledger

Match 44/24 era · since Jan 20106,093 draws

Over the whole era: 128.2%
Median draw: 99.4%
Nights above the price: 3,027
Draws read: 6,093 / 6,093
Declared return: —

Nobody has recorded what this game says it pays back, so there is nothing to compare the measured figure with.

Prize-table return ledgerreturn-ledger-v1

The maths, in plain language

The story behind it

What this game actually paid back

Draw by draw

How often it lands where

The nights above the price

And across every game

The ledger

Realised return, and what makes a night exceed it

The only edge that ever came from the rulebook

Paid back	Draws
0% – 20%	0
20% – 35%	552
35% – 50%	901
50% – 65%	4
65% – 80%	194
80% – 90%	746
90% – 100%	669
100% – 125%	483
125% – 150%	693
150% – 200%	899
200% – 300%	710
300% – 500%	198
500% – 2,900%	44