Scratchcards to Play Online

Scratch cards are a low-cost way for gamblers to enjoy betting. Due to their affordability, you’ll see them in a lot of places, most often at petrol stations and kiosks. The traditional scratch card is a thin piece of card with numbers or symbols concealed by an opaque covering. Only by scratching the covering off will you know whether you won anything. As your involvement will just be in revealing the numbers or characters, learning how to play scratch card games is easy.

The downside is you have no control over whether you win or lose. Especially for printed-out scratch cards, you can say that the results are predetermined as the manufacturer only prints out a set number of winning cards.

As you’ve seen from the previous section, participating in scratch card games is very simple; however, the exact procedure that you’ll have to follow will depend on how you prefer to obtain your cards.

Playing a Physical Scratch Card

1. Purchase your scratch cards at a petrol station, convenience store, or any other place that sells them.
2. Make sure that you have a receipt for your purchase to help establish proof of purchase if you win.
3. Whip out a coin to scratch the covering to see the numbers or symbols.
4. Based on the rules for the scratch card you’ve got, check if you won.
5. If you win, learn important details about how to claim the prize, such as where you need to go, what kind of identifying information you should provide, and how long you have to get your winnings.

Playing a Scratch Card in an Online Casino

1. Go to the online casino of your choice and log in.
2. Select the scratch game that you want to play.
3. Depending on the mechanics of the game, you may purchase the virtual scratch cards beforehand or just press a button to automatically “buy” them.
4. Depending on how the developers designed the online scratch card games, you may need to scratch the covering virtually or press a button to reveal the symbols underneath.
5. If applicable, claim the associated rewards with the symbols on your card.

Game Odds & RTP

Below, we discuss two important concepts in scratch cards:

• Game Odds

Your odds of winning a certain amount may be calculated more accurately than possible with slot games. Many developers make it easy for you to determine your odds of winning. All it takes is a little maths! For example, if the developer claims there’s only one jackpot prize for every 10 million tickets, then you already know that you have a 1 in 10 million odds of getting the jackpot. They may also already have established RTP based on the symbols that you get. For example, you get 5x RTP if you scratch off two Reds and 10x RTP for two Blacks.

• RTP

Scratch cards at online gambling platforms may also have an established RTP (this is usually between 94% and 97%). Check on the provider’s site to get the most accurate information on this matter.

Whether you want to play for free or for real money, there will always be a lot of options open to you. If you want the best scratch games on the market today, you can start by exploring these titles:

Hot Safari Scratchcard

Take yourself on a journey to meet the King of the Jungle and get the chance to win as much as €50,000. Hot Safari Scratchcard follows the simple mechanics of a scratch card: get three of the same symbols and win that amount. In place of the scatter symbol is a mighty lion that grants you an additional card, letting you explore more of the vast safari in search of a decent payout.

Slice & Dice

Slice & Dice uses a tongue-in-cheek appreciation of the phrase the title was derived from, using a sliced dice as the game icon. And if you like things that make you queasy, this is a great pick. Following the same mechanics as your Match 3 scratch card, this title uses a human body as the “card”, and to reveal the dice values underneath, you have to open that person up! Get three sixes and win 1,000 times your original bet.

Bun in the Oven

Bun in the Oven is reminiscent of cute baking game apps, and it’s one of the most interesting scratch card concepts that we’ve seen. The amount that you’ll win is based on the colour of the cupcakes (not buns, unfortunately). Get three of the same colour to win. But here’s something unique: the fewer picks you need to reveal a match of three, the bigger your prize.

The max win is 1,000 times your bet if you get three pink cupcakes. That sounds almost impossible! But with an RTP of 96% and medium volatility, you still have a solid chance of getting a sweet payout.

Diamond Rush

Diamond Rush looks like your old-school scratch card but in a cartoon! If you’re looking for something simple, this is a great pick. It stays true to the traditional rules of scratch games and makes them accessible online. Diamonds are forever, and you’ll certainly be able to buy the nicest ice out there with a max win of €30,000.

Break the Ice

Speaking of ice, what better way to break the ice and introduce yourself to the world of online scratch games than with this title? This Hacksaw Gaming release has a maximum win enough to get anybody’s attention; it’s 10,000 times your bet. This ice-themed scratch game looks a lot like a virtual scratch card, which can make the transition from physical to virtual cards much smoother.

These days, there are many different kinds of scratch cards available. As you will observe, there may be some overlaps in the categorisations.

Scratch Cards

With scratch cards online, you’ll know what you win as soon as you have scratched off the opaque covering. However, some online game studios have taken liberties in creating the gameplay, so you’ll see a lot more variety online.

Lottery Tickets

With lottery tickets, you choose the sets of numbers that you want to bet on. The winners are determined by lottery draws, where a special machine is used to determine the winning combination.

Physical Cards

Physical cards are what you traditionally associate with scratch cards. You need physical access to the card itself to find out if you’ve won and to be able to claim your prize.

Virtual Cards

These scratch cards only exist on the internet, but the winnings are still cold, hard cash. The beauty of this option is that the developers have more freedom in creating the game mechanics while still sticking to the basic scratch game rules.

Most game developers allow players to play their games for free. Simply find a casino that offers a demo version for the titles in their gaming library. For one of our top casinos, these scratch games can be played without using real money:

• Anaconda Wild scratch
• Cash Collect
• King of Jumping
• Stack’ Em
• Scratch Alpaca

A scratch card bonus that you may have seen a lot is free play. This lets you scratch another card for free. Apart from that, you may have to rely on the promotions available at the casino site you’re playing at. Below are the two most prominent examples of casino bonuses that you may be able to use to play more scratch games:

1. Deposit Bonus. You get extra money on top of your deposited amount.
2. Cashback Bonus. You get a percentage of your bet or losses (depending on the promotion mechanics) back into your account.

Usually, casino bonuses are subject to wagering requirements. So, you may not be able to use the bonus until all the requirements for claiming it have been met.

Once you have purchased the scratch card, you can’t do anything to improve your odds of winning. This means that scratch card strategy formation must happen before you make a purchase. Here are a few things that you can try:

• Only play scratch cards with good odds or RTP, so you already have a good chance of getting returns on your bets.
• Learn where to find new scratch cards games online so you can assess odds and RTP, which will help you decide whether a game is worth trying out.
• Check the fine print so you can make informed decisions.
• Stick to just one scratch game to boost your odds of winning.

But even with the best strategies, nothing is more powerful than luck. So please remember that setting yourself up for a win doesn’t mean that you’ll rake in a big prize.

If you want to amplify the effectiveness of your strategies, please consider these scratch card tips and tricks when playing online and in real life:

• Ensure that the source of the scratch cards is legitimate, and you will receive your reward.
• Keep some form of record of your ownership of the card.
• When possible, buy in bulk to potentially get discounts.
• Consider joining a scratch pool in which members divide their winnings among the group.
• If the scratch game hasn’t had a jackpot in a while, someone may be about to get it very soon.

Because of the growing interest in scratch cards, many providers have been trying to get their slice of the market. The question now is finding out which game studios you can trust.

Some of the Best Scratch Card Game Providers

If the reputation of the software provider is more important to you than the game itself, look no further. These studios are great choices, having consistently delivered top-notch scratch games to the betting market.

Black Pudding Games

A spoonful of this black pudding will surely bring you delight! This UK-based game studio prides itself on bringing deliciously different approaches to its gaming products. Even though Black Pudding Games was only founded in 2018, its triple-threat pioneers, with a combined experience in the casino industry of more than thirty years, have already successfully disrupted the market with a series of unique and successful releases.

Hacksaw Gaming

Having forged partnerships with the most prominent casino brands and even governments, Hacksaw Gaming is far from a hack. As of 2023, it has exponentially grown its reach through the growing demand for its masterfully created slot, scratch card, and instant win games. This is no surprise, as their releases have garnered multiple international awards this year.

G.Games

G.Games is a game provider that shows the world just what it can deliver through its team of developers, marketers, and designers. Since it was formed through a merger in 2018, the team has been contributing to various forms of casino games, including scratch cards. And to them, the secret to innovation is collaboration. They've already worked with big names like Microgaming and iSoftBet in the past, and we're confident we'd see more of these fruitful partnerships in the future.

Scratch cards games are a popular gambling option worldwide, especially in the UK; they are also a means for various public projects to gain funding.

• In 2020, there were around 933 million scratch cards sold in the UK, with a total value of nearly £2.5 billion.
• Some of the earnings from the UK’s National Lottery are allocated to various community efforts and sectors, with 60% going to sports, arts, and heritage.
• Even though the minimum gambling age in the country is 18 years, you can buy a scratch card at 16 years.
• In a study performed in 2020, almost 44% of those questioned had participated in scratch games in the last 12 months.
• Twelve distribution bodies decide how the UK National Lottery will allocate part of its income.
• 95% of the revenues of the UK National Lottery go back to the winners and the public.