Definition
Prize Tier
Also known as Prize Level, Prize Band, Payout Tier
By Abhinav VasudevanReviewed Editorial policy
In short
A prize tier is one level in a game's prize structure, from the top jackpot down to a stake refund. Most of a scratch card's advertised return sits in the lowest tiers, which frequently just give your money back.
Every instant win game publishes a prize table listing each prize amount, how many exist in the print run, and the odds of winning it.
A typical structure
For a £2 scratch card with a 10 million print run:
| Prize | Number in run | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| £100,000 | 4 | 1 in 2,500,000 |
| £10,000 | 20 | 1 in 500,000 |
| £1,000 | 200 | 1 in 50,000 |
| £100 | 4,000 | 1 in 2,500 |
| £20 | 50,000 | 1 in 200 |
| £10 | 200,000 | 1 in 50 |
| £5 | 500,000 | 1 in 20 |
| £2 | 2,100,000 | 1 in 4.8 |
Where the return actually is
Look at the bottom row. £2 prizes on a £2 ticket, your stake back, make up the overwhelming majority of all winning tickets.
This matters for two reasons.
First, they are counted in the overall odds. A game advertising “1 in 3.5 tickets wins” is counting stake refunds as wins. Strip them out and the odds of actually gaining money are closer to 1 in 10.
Second, they account for a large share of the advertised RTP. A game returning 65% might deliver 25 of those percentage points purely as refunds.
Reading the table
Two things are worth checking before buying, and the data is published:
How much of the RTP sits above the ticket price. A game with a high proportion of its return in genuine prizes is a better product than one padded with refunds, even at the same headline RTP.
How many prizes in each tier remain. Prize tables show the original allocation; remaining prizes data shows what is left. A game whose top two tiers are fully claimed is a materially worse ticket than the same game at launch, at the same price.
Multi-tier games
Some cards offer several games on one ticket. A match-three panel, a bonus panel, a multiplier. Each has its own prize structure, and the published table covers them separately. The overall odds combine all of them, which is why they look better than any individual panel.
Common questions
Where does most of a scratch card's return go?
Into the lowest tier, which usually just refunds the ticket price. On a typical £2 card those refunds are the overwhelming majority of winning tickets and account for a large share of the advertised RTP.
How do I read a scratch card prize table?
Check how much of the return sits above the ticket price rather than in refunds, and compare the original prize allocation against published remaining-prize data to see what is genuinely still available.