Scratch Cards

Betfred
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BETFRED

Take your chances today, explore Betfred's wide range of scratchcard games. Play across a multitude of devices.
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LADBROKES

With the unbeatable range of scratch card games available at Ladbrokes, players have more choices and more fun. 

Mecca Bingo
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MECCA

Strike it lucky with Mecca Scratchcards! Enjoy the thrill of playing over 100 incredible games – many offering exciting bonus features.

SCRATCH CARDS

THE GAME HUNTER

There is nothing more satisfying than a good old scratch!

And scratch cards have come a long way in recent years. No longer are they confined to the newsagent or petrol station counter, you can now play them online too.

I bet you’re thinking, ‘how do you scratch a card online’? Don’t worry, you won’t have to rub the computer screen to reveal the prizes.

You just pick up your virtual coin using the mouse and scratch away. Prize money on the cards varies from site to site, at Jackpotjoy Scratch Cards you can play from just 20p a card! The prize money on the 20p card is £200. Play the £5 card, and you could win a whooping £10,000.

The cards at Jackpotjoy are just like the ones you buy in the shops – there’s even a virtual newsagent who congratulates you on a winning card.

If you’d like to know a little bit more about each site before you play, then read the full review.

Personally, my choice for the cards online is Jackpotjoy Scratch Cards –  they allow you to play a demo of the cards for FREE once you’ve joined. Happy Hunting! 

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Betfred

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HOW TO GUIDES

SCRATCH CARDS & INSTANT WINS

It’s amazing how quickly we forget that some of the things we take for granted today haven’t actually been with us all that long.

Take for example scratch cards. It seems like they have been around forever, but the reality is that the first mass-produced scratch card only hit the market in 1973.

They were created by a company called Scientific Games, and their first game was called ‘The Instant Game’. It was very basic in its appearance and had five panels that could be scratched off with a coin.

The card was a huge hit, and the company is still active today, creating instant win games worldwide.

So it was no surprise when scratch cards made their way to the UK in the mid-1980s. The jackpots started off quite small and were nowhere near as big as the ones we see today. 

That changed with the creation of a state franchise the ‘National Lottery’ in 1994. For the first time, scratch cards were nationally distributed, and the jackpots were the highest on offer anywhere in the country.

Today scratch cards are the UK’s second most popular form of gambling, with 12% of Brits buying at least one card every month.

ONLINE SCRATCH CARDS IN THE UK

It has been 25 years since the first online casino was launched in 1996. At the time it was home to just 18 games. A few years later, in 2002, Jackpot Joy Casino launched in the UK. The online gaming portal was one of the first to offer scratch-off style games. 

These early games were basic. Your mouse operated as a virtual coin, and you motioned it back and forth to remove the grey panel. Simple but effective. 

Technology has advanced a lot since those early days, and now online scratch cards are incredibly interactive and as close to the real thing as you can get.

They come at all price points and offer some staggering jackpots.

HOW DO ONLINE SCRATCH CARDS WORK

The process is very similar to the real world. You go onto your bookmaker or casino account and head to the ‘instant win’ or games section.

Like a store, you have a range of online scratch cards to choose from. They all have different features, themes, and prices. You pick the one you want and buy it. Then you use your mouse to virtually scratch it off. You can also click the ‘reveal all’ button and the card will instantly reveal itself.

Depending on the style of the card there can be multiple ways to win. If you do win it will be announced on the screen. If you don’t, you will get a message saying something like ‘better luck next time’.

Like a regular scratchcard, the online version will also have a win rate. To find it you have to click on the ‘i’ on the front of the card. This is where all the game information is. It is also where you can try the card in demo mode.

 

HOW TO PLAY SCRATCH CARDS ONLINE

Like all gaming and gambling, you must first have an online account with a bookmaker or casino to buy an online scratch card.

Once you have your account, you can browse through the selection of cards and pick the one you want to play.

The card will appear almost the same as the shop-bought version. There will be multiple games on it, and you use your mouse to scratch it off. What makes the virtual cards different is the fact that they can often offer bonus rounds. So, for example, on The Goonies scratch card on Betfred, there is a bonus round if you find three keys.

Price-wise, online is also better with cards offering a vast range of prices. So the same card can be purchased for as little as 10p all the way to £10. The more you pay the bigger prizes.

AT WHAT AGE CAN YOU BUY SCRATCH CARDS?

Like all forms of gambling, to buy a scratch card online, you must be 18 years or older in the UK.

It goes without saying that if you have to be 18+ to open an online casino account, you have to be at least that age to play the games on it.

In terms of real-world scratch cards that you can buy in a shop, the regulations have changed since 22 April 2021.

Prior to this date, you could purchase a scratch card as long as you were at least 16 years old.

However, players must now be 18 or over to play National Lottery games online, in-store, and on the app. The government took that decision to bring the National Lottery into line with all other forms of gambling.

HOW DO YOU WIN WITH AN ONLINE SCRATCH CARD?

Winning with an online scratch card is the exact same as how you win with a real-world scratch card. Except, of course, it’s all virtual.

Then you simply choose your online scratch card, purchase it (the money gets deducted from your balance), and scratch it. The scratching part is via a virtual coin on the screen that you move with your mouse. If you win, the prize goes straight back onto your balance.

If you lose, you lose and get nothing back. And money won can be withdrawn from your online account back onto your debit card.

The good news is that online scratch cards tend to have bigger prizes and a greater range of prices and often have little bonus games attached that real-world cards do not. In that respect, they have many more benefits than a scratch-off bought in a shop!

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Jackpotjoy

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