Ohio Lottery Scratch Connect: How the Bonus Cash Wheel QR Feature Works

Ohio Lottery Scratch Connect adds a mobile feature to the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game. A QR code on the physical ticket opens Reach the Wheel, while reported early usage figures show how players interacted with the connected experience.

The Ohio Lottery’s Scratch Connect feature connects a physical scratch-off ticket with a mobile mini-game. It is attached to the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game and uses a QR code printed in a designated area of the physical ticket.

Scanning that code sends the player to Reach the Wheel. The Ohio Lottery says the outcome of Reach the Wheel is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed, rather than being generated by the mobile game at the moment of play. The mobile feature therefore provides a connected way to interact with the ticket, while the printed game remains the basis for the outcome.

Scientific Games reported early usage figures for this Ohio product. As of August 22, 2026, nearly 570,000 Ohio players had scanned the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel ticket to play Reach the Wheel. The same report said that 90% of those players completed the connected digital game, and that 40% of players who completed it selected the option to play again by entering another ticket.

Those figures describe participation in this particular Ohio Lottery feature. They do not establish different odds, improved chances of winning, or a general pattern for other lottery products.

What Scratch Connect is

Scratch Connect is a feature attached to the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game. The feature is not described as a separate lottery ticket purchased through a digital channel. Instead, the Ohio Lottery describes the Scratch Connect prize as part of the physical ticket’s total winnings.

The connection begins with the physical ticket. A QR code is printed in a designated area, and scanning it sends the player to Reach the Wheel, the associated mobile mini-game. This gives the ticket a digital component while keeping the physical scratch-off game central to the documented process.

Scientific Games describes Scratch Connect as a connected retail-to-online experience that extends a traditional physical scratch game into digital play. In the Ohio implementation, the physical product and the mobile experience are linked through the ticket’s QR code.

The Ohio Lottery’s description also makes clear that the mobile feature is optional. A player does not have to play Reach the Wheel to receive a Scratch Connect prize associated with the ticket. The option to use the mobile feature does not replace the ticket or create a requirement to complete the digital step.

When Bonus Cash Wheel tickets were scheduled for sale

Bonus Cash Wheel tickets containing Scratch Connect were scheduled for sale beginning June 23, 2026. The Ohio Lottery’s June 2026 Ticket Seller publication listed an initial quantity of 6 million tickets for the Bonus Cash Wheel game.

The same publication listed a top prize of $150,000 when the Ohio Lottery presented the game for its June 2026 launch. That top-prize figure concerns the Bonus Cash Wheel game as listed in the publication. The Ohio Lottery separately lists the Scratch Connect prize amounts that can add Bonus Cash to the overall winnings of an eligible ticket.

The available Scratch Connect prize amounts are $5, $10, $15, $20, $50 and $100. The fact that these amounts are connected to the mobile feature does not mean they are generated independently by a phone or website. The Ohio Lottery says the Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed.

How the QR feature works

The documented process can be summarized in a few steps.

The feature is on the physical ticket

Scratch Connect is attached to the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game. Its QR code appears in a designated area of the physical scratch-off ticket.

The ticket is therefore the starting point for the connected experience. The available information does not describe Scratch Connect as a general online game that can be entered without the eligible physical ticket.

Scanning opens Reach the Wheel

Scanning the QR code sends the player to Reach the Wheel. The Ohio Lottery identifies Reach the Wheel as a mobile mini-game. Scientific Games uses the broader description of a connected retail-to-online experience for Scratch Connect.

The scan connects the physical ticket with the mobile presentation. It does not, according to the Ohio Lottery’s description, generate a new result at the instant the code is scanned or the mobile game is played.

The mobile feature can add Bonus Cash

Reach the Wheel can add Bonus Cash to the overall winnings of an eligible Bonus Cash Wheel ticket. The listed Scratch Connect prizes are $5, $10, $15, $20, $50 and $100.

The Ohio Lottery says that any Scratch Connect prize displayed after the mobile play is already included in the total amount won when the physical ticket is checked. This places the connected prize within the ticket’s overall result rather than treating it as a separate independently purchased digital lottery play.

The mobile feature may display or reveal the connected prize, but the available facts do not say that the mobile play creates an additional result. The result is tied to the physical Scratch-Off game and is predetermined when that game is printed.

The outcome is predetermined when the ticket is printed

The central mechanical point is the timing of the outcome. According to the Ohio Lottery, the Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed.

That means the mobile game is not described as a system that generates a new outcome when a player scans the QR code. The scan opens the connected experience, and the player may interact with Reach the Wheel, but the documented outcome has already been determined as part of the printed physical game.

This distinction is important when considering what the QR code does. The QR code creates access to the mobile mini-game. It does not turn the phone into the source of a newly generated lottery result. The Ohio Lottery’s description instead treats the Scratch Connect prize as part of the physical ticket’s total winnings.

The same point helps explain why playing Reach the Wheel is optional. A player does not have to play the mobile mini-game to receive a Scratch Connect prize associated with the ticket. The optional digital interaction does not become a separate purchase or a condition for receiving the associated prize.

Nothing in the supplied information indicates that scanning, completing the mobile game or choosing to enter another ticket improves the odds of winning. The participation figures describe player behavior, not a change in the predetermined outcome or in the chances attached to the physical game.

Scratch Connect prize amounts

The Ohio Lottery lists six Scratch Connect prize amounts: $5, $10, $15, $20, $50 and $100. These are the Bonus Cash amounts associated with the connected feature.

The Bonus Cash Wheel game also had a listed top prize of $150,000 when the Ohio Lottery presented the game for its June 2026 launch. The supplied information identifies the $150,000 figure as the game’s top prize and the six smaller figures as Scratch Connect prizes that can add Bonus Cash to the winnings of an eligible ticket.

The Ohio Lottery says any Scratch Connect prize shown after the mobile play is already included in the total amount won when the physical ticket is checked. As a result, the mobile display should be understood as part of the ticket’s connected experience, not as evidence of an additional independently purchased digital lottery play.

The fact list does not provide a complete prize table, prize frequency, odds or distribution for the Bonus Cash Wheel game. Those details should not be inferred from the listed prize amounts or from the early participation data.

What the early usage figures show

Scientific Games reported that nearly 570,000 Ohio players had scanned the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel ticket to play Reach the Wheel as of August 22, 2026. This is the reported count of players who had entered the connected mobile experience through a scan by that measurement date.

Scientific Games also reported that 90% of the Ohio players who scanned the ticket completed the connected digital game. In the context of the report, that percentage concerns completion of the digital experience among the players included in the measurement.

A third figure concerns what happened after completion. Scientific Games reported that 40% of players who completed the digital game selected the option to play again by entering another ticket.

These figures describe three stages of engagement: scanning the ticket, completing the connected digital game and selecting the option to enter another ticket. They do not measure prize value, winning frequency or the odds of receiving a particular Scratch Connect amount.

The dates and scope of the figures also matter. The nearly 570,000-player figure, the 90% completion figure and the 40% repeat-play figure were reported for the Ohio implementation as of August 22, 2026. They are not figures for every Ohio Lottery game, every lottery jurisdiction or every connected lottery product.

The data also should not be read as evidence that the mobile feature changes the result attached to a ticket. The Ohio Lottery says the Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed. The usage figures show how players interacted with the feature, while the predetermined outcome explains how the connected prize is tied to the physical game.

What the 40% repeat-play figure means

The 40% figure refers to players who completed the digital game and then selected the option to play again by entering another ticket. It is a measure of a further action within the connected experience.

It is not a measure of how many players won, how much they won or how often a particular prize appeared. It also does not show that entering another ticket changes the outcome of either ticket. The supplied information provides no basis for saying that repeat use improves the odds of winning.

The same caution applies to the 90% completion figure. It indicates that 90% of the players who scanned the ticket completed the connected digital game in the reported measurement. It does not establish that all ticket buyers scanned, that every player received the same result or that completion affected the predetermined outcome.

Together, the reported percentages provide information about interaction with the feature. They do not provide information about the game’s prize distribution or winning probabilities.

Why the physical ticket remains central

Scratch Connect adds a digital step, but the physical ticket remains central to the documented mechanics. The ticket carries the QR code, and the Ohio Lottery says the Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed.

The mobile mini-game provides the connected digital experience. The physical ticket supplies the underlying game and the basis for the total amount won. The Ohio Lottery further says that a Scratch Connect prize displayed after mobile play is already included when the physical ticket is checked.

This division of roles explains why the Ohio Lottery describes the Scratch Connect prize as part of the ticket’s total winnings. The feature does not need to be treated as a separate digital lottery purchase for the mobile experience to be connected to the ticket.

It also explains why the optional nature of Reach the Wheel matters. A player may use the QR code and enter the mobile mini-game, but a player does not have to play it to receive a Scratch Connect prize associated with the ticket. The mobile step is an optional part of the connected experience.

Readers following Ohio lottery products can use LotteryCoast’s Ohio lottery results page for broader Ohio results coverage. Scratch Connect itself is a feature of the Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game rather than a separate draw-results listing.

Key points for understanding the feature

The available facts establish the following points:

• Scratch Connect is attached to the $5 Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off game.
• Bonus Cash Wheel tickets containing the feature were scheduled for sale beginning June 23, 2026.
• The game had an initial quantity of 6 million tickets according to the Ohio Lottery’s June 2026 Ticket Seller publication.
• The game had a listed top prize of $150,000 when presented for its June 2026 launch.
• A QR code is printed in a designated area of the physical ticket.
• Scanning the QR code sends the player to the Reach the Wheel mobile mini-game.
• The Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical Scratch-Off game is printed.
• Reach the Wheel can add Bonus Cash to the overall winnings of an eligible ticket.
• The listed Scratch Connect prizes are $5, $10, $15, $20, $50 and $100.
• Playing Reach the Wheel is optional.
• The Ohio Lottery says any Scratch Connect prize displayed after mobile play is already included in the total amount won when the physical ticket is checked.
• Scientific Games reported nearly 570,000 Ohio players had scanned the ticket as of August 22, 2026.
• Scientific Games reported that 90% of the players who scanned the ticket completed the connected digital game.
• Scientific Games reported that 40% of players who completed the digital game selected the option to play again by entering another ticket.

These points describe how the feature is structured and how players used it during the reported measurement. They do not establish that the mobile feature improves a player’s chances or that the reported engagement figures apply outside this Ohio Lottery product.

Responsible play and final context

Scratch Connect should be treated as an optional entertainment feature, not as a way to predict, control or improve a lottery result. The Ohio Lottery says the Reach the Wheel outcome is predetermined when the physical ticket is printed, and playing the mobile mini-game is not required to receive an associated Scratch Connect prize.

Players should keep lottery activity within limits that are comfortable for them. The reported scanning, completion and repeat-play figures describe participation behavior; they are not evidence of improved odds, a guaranteed prize or a reason to purchase additional tickets.

Ohio Lottery Scratch Connect combines a physical $5 Bonus Cash Wheel ticket with the Reach the Wheel mobile mini-game. Its QR code links the two experiences, while the physical ticket remains the basis for the predetermined outcome and total winnings. The early Ohio figures provide a snapshot of engagement with this specific feature, but they do not change the game’s documented mechanics.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not legal, tax, financial, or professional advice. Rules and circumstances vary by location and can change; verify details with the official lottery operator or regulator and consult a qualified professional for advice about your situation.