Scratch cards have been around since the 1960s, but can they find a new lease of life by going online? Originally used by supermarkets to give away mystery prizes, these cards were an instant success when used as a way of giving instant lottery wins, so how could the move online add to the popularity of these games?
A Big Range of Varied Cards
Online casinos have many varied games placed on a single site. This means that scratch cards now sit alongside slots, roulette, blackjack and other classic ways of gambling as well as emerging trends like live-streamed game shows. It’s increased competition for them, but it also allows a wider potential audience to see them. In fact, scratch cards have been available online since the turn of the century, but the range of games has increased greatly in recent years.
Online versions now cover a variety of themes, as we can see with this list of new scratch cards. Cash Pong has a 1980s retro feel while Crack the Code is based on the idea of getting into a bank vault to claim a prize. Deal or No Deal What’s in Your Scratchcard shows how these games can be based on TV game shows. The basic gameplay mechanism is always the same, as it’s all about scratching off the boxes to hopefully reveal prizes.
King Kong Cash is based on the famous movie and ties in with a series of themed slots produced by the same company, Blueprint. This game also introduces players to the idea of bonus rounds while scratching, with the barrel bonus offering the route to the jackpot. The process of adding new themes and features should be the key to their future success.
They’re Still Easy to Play
When reading the early history of scratch cards, we can see how Massachusetts Lottery revenue increased significantly when they started selling these cards in the mid-70s. The ease of use and instant results were the main reasons why they were such a big hit. People loved the idea of just grabbing a card and finding out right away if they’d won the lottery, rather than having to wait a week or so.
Sales of physical scratch cards have fallen in many parts of the world in recent years, with Camelot confirming lower sales figures in the UK in 2022, despite still being easy to buy and play. However, as more of our lives go online, it’s no surprise to see that people are looking more closely at digital scratch cards. In some cases, you can choose whether to manually scratch the boxes one by one or else see the result instantly.
A Look Ahead
We might never see a return to the heady days when the first scratch cards appeared for sale and large queues formed as people were keen to give them a try. Yet, the way the market has grown and diversified suggests that we can expect to see more new scratch cards offering different ways of playing in the future.
