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Online Scratch Cards UK

By Dale Shelabarger, Updated:

In the world of online gambling, online scratch cards are rarely the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of online casino games. A player’s go-to is usually slots, roulette, blackjack or some of the other popular table games around.

However, online scratch cards, along with the rest of the instant lottery market, should definitely not be overlooked, if you haven’t tried them yet.  Scratchcards online are simple to play, incredibly accessible, and with the potential for massive jackpots, online scratch cards offer a welcome change of pace if you’ve ever found yourself getting bored of watching reels spin or playing cards.

Top Scratch Card Casinos UK

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Finding the Best Casinos with Scratch Cards

Although the scratch cards that you know are typically sold at convenience stores, post offices, and  similar establishments, their online counterparts are actually commonly found at UK casino sites. You can use our online casino finder tool to help you narrow down the scratch card casino to the one that you like most. All of the casinos we list, have been vetted by the InsideCasino online casino review team.  Here are the sites that make our Top 5;

 

What are Online Scratch Cards?

As the name suggests, online scratch cards are instant lottery games that are effectively the online equivalent of their physical counterparts. When it comes to playing scratch cards online, the process is simple, making them an excellent choice for individuals who want to take a vacation from the intricacies of slot machines and other casino games.

The basic principles of online scratch cards require players to match at least three symbols in order to be eligible for a winning combination.

Just like their physical counterparts, most of the online scratch cards you can play today have a 3×3 grid layout, although larger grids also exist. Each online scratch card has a different paytable than the others. Some games also have additional bonus play elements such as multipliers, mini-games, and free games, among other things.

Scratch card games are available in a variety of themes and prize sizes, ranging from retro-themed games to modern and more advanced designed games, as well as scratch cards based on films and television shows. Scratch card games are available in a variety of themes and prize sizes, ranging from small to large.

In fact, several of the scratch card games are based on popular slot titles, so you may play them in a whole different context! Simply make your wagers and scratch away to uncover the symbols as you take pleasure in the game’s dynamic action.

 

How to Play Online Scratch Cards 

Being the staple for instant casino games, online scratch cards are one of the easiest gambling games you could possibly play. However, since the cards are online and not something you can just buy from the store down the street, there is a bit of a different process to start playing. Thankfully, all it takes is 3 simple steps:

1.  Sign up for an online casino. Since online casinos are the easiest way to buy online scratch cards, you will want to register a new UK casino site to buy them. You can use our online casino finder tool here at InsideCasino to help you quickly look for the site that has the cards that you’re looking for.

2. Buy an online scratch card. Once you’ve gone through the registration process, you can go ahead and buy the online scratch cards you want on their site. In most sites, they are usually located in the “instant game” section.

3. Play! Once you have your scratch cards, just click or tap on them to scratch a card off.

 

History of Online Scratch Cards

Online scratch cards are a relatively recent creation when compared to certain old slot games as fruit machines, Slingo games, and table games. However, just because they are new does not mean they haven’t grown extremely popular in such a short period of time.

To better understand how they got to this point, it is best to trace online scratch cards back to their roots. Offline scratch cards first gained popularity in the 1970s (long before the invention of the Internet) and were designed as a type of lottery game that players could participate in at any time and win an instant prize if their coin scratched off a winning combination.

This was fantastic news for casual players as it gave them complete control over the gameplay pace. With online scratch cards, players didn’t have to wait for the weekly or bi-weekly drawings to find out whether or not they had won.

Over the next few decades, scratch cards would gain in popularity while also broadening the kinds of quick win experiences that gamers could take advantage of. It was therefore not surprising that these scratch cards would cross over into the digital realm when online gambling exploded in popularity in the 2010s.

 

Online Scratch Cards

Today, online scratch cards have become more popular than their offline counterparts thanks to a variety of factors, the most significant of which is just how easy it is to pick up and play as long as you have an internet connection and a device that can run an up to date web browser. In addition to that, UK casino operators have come up with many more gimmicks and innovations for the games, as technology continues to improve over the years.

Some of the most notable innovations have been listed below.

 

Accessibility & Convenience

With physical scratch cards, players naturally have to actually scratch off the foil layer on the cards to reveal the symbols underneath. Thanks to the magic of computers, however, players only need to click or tap on the spaces on the online scratch card to reveal their number or symbol underneath, which is incredibly useful for people with certain disabilities that makes them unable to use physical cards.

In addition, winning combinations on online scratch cards will be highlighted automatically and the player will be awarded with their prize immediately after all of the symbols have been displayed.

Now, while the control scheme does make playing online scratch cards easier, it does make the gameplay a bit tedious. It is for this reason that Microgaming casino sites created a “autoplay” feature, that went onto became one of the next big thing.  Many UK Netent casinos followed suit and it then became a standard feature among all scratch card developers. With this feature, the scratch card casino automatically scratches off the cards so the player doesn’t have to.  This allows players to take full advantage of the feature, the online scratch cards could now be bought in bulk packs, making the already fast process of opening an online scratch card even faster.

 

Mobile Access

With the previously mentioned accessibility features implemented across the instant gaming market, it was not long before developers saw the usefulness of these features to enable users to play casino games on a mobile phone. And the same way that online slots and similar games made the jump to mobile, so too did online scratch cards thanks to technologies like HTML5.

Now that just about all of the scratch cards online are optimised for mobile play, players could now enjoy playing this instant win game wherever and whenever they want. The jump to mobile these cards to more closely replicate the instant gratification originally experienced by those who purchased physical scratch cards back in the 1970s.

 

Themes and Franchises

These days, even the most well-known developers will have a collection of online scratchcards in their product portfolios. The effect of this is twofold: for the developers, making scratch cards online allows them to quickly and easily promote many of their popular games and franchises to a very wide audience. As for the players, themed online scratch cards allow them to enjoy the themes and designs they know and love, but in the simple and quick gameplay context of online scratch cards.

 

Other Casino Games to Play Online

Scratch cards are simple to play and are especially popular among players who have already been playing the physical versions since their inception.  Many of the casino sites hosting these games, also have many of the other traditional table games.  If you’re on a bit lof a losing streak and want to mix things up, you can try some of these:

 

Our Final Thoughts

The scratch card has come a long way from its humble beginnings. While it’s still as simple as it has always been, developers have been tinkering with including new features into their scratch cards in recent years. Some examples include the ability to reward free games, similar to free spins casinos and winning progressive jackpot prizes.

Over the coming years, we may expect to see even more innovative approaches to the online scratch card genre, and you can bet that we at InsideCasino will be keeping track of these developments as they happen.

 

Online Scratch Card FAQs

How do you play online scratch cards?

To play online scratch cards, you purchase them from a scratch card casino, then click or tap on any of the spaces on the card to reveal the number or symbol underneath.

How do you win online scratch cards?

To win an online scratch card, the symbols on the card will need to contain a winning combination. With some cards having certain gimmicks on it, one will need to check the card’s specific rules.

How do you check online scratch cards?

You can check online scratch cards at scratch card casinos where they are typically sold. Check out our reviews here at InsideCasino to find the best scratch card casinos UK.

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