Online Scratch Cards vs Physical Scratch-Offs

How Each Format Works

Both of these scratch card formats share the same fundamental features and mechanics. Whether you are purchasing a scratch card in the real world or online, you pay for it, reveal the prizes within the scratch card, and hope that you have won one of the prizes.

• Physical scratch cards cost a set price and are available from newsagents, supermarkets, petrol stations. Winners are pre-determined when the scratch cards are printed.
• Online scratch cards cost any stake between £0.10 and £20+ and use a Random Number Generator (RNG) at the time of purchase to determine winners.

RTP — The Most Important Difference

This is where online scratch card formats have an advantage over the physical ones.

• Physical UK lottery scratch cards — The RTP of physical scratch cards such as those from the UK lottery are not legally required to be published. However, investigations into the lotteries and their own published data about the prizes shows that the RTP of most lottery scratch cards is between 55% and 65%.
• Online scratch cards at licensed casinos — The RTP of online scratch cards is usually much higher. For example, Pragmatic Play's top scratch card games return between 96% and 97% of all money staked by players. The mid-tier scratch card games from other major online casinos return between 92% and 95%.

The difference between the two is significant. For example, if you stake £100 on scratch cards at 60% RTP, you can expect to win £60. If you stake the same amount on a scratch card with a 96% RTP, you can expect to win £96. The difference may seem small at first, but over time, it makes a significant difference to the amount of money that gets spent.

The reason that online scratch card formats pay out at a higher RTP is that the manufacturers of scratch card physical formats must pay for the printing of the scratch cards, the distribution of the scratch cards to retailers, the prizes themselves, and the advertising of the scratch cards to the public. All of this money is funded from the prize pool for scratch cards. Online scratch card manufacturers do not have these costs.

Prize Pool Mechanics

Beyond the RTP advantage for online scratch cards, both formats use different prize pool systems:

• Physical scratch cards use a print run that is premanufactured to contain a specific number of winning scratch cards with prizes of each level. For instance, if 1,000,000 scratch cards are printed and there are 100 prizes of the top prize level, it does not matter which number you buy; all the top prizes will have been bought by others. However, scratch card operators may publish how many of the top prizes have been claimed.
• Online scratch card prizes use an RNG to determine winners, and the probability of winning prizes of any level is not affected by previous players of that scratch card. There is no concept of a prize that has already been claimed.

With scratch cards, you cannot check in advance whether or not the top prize for any online scratch card is still available. With physical scratch cards, it is possible to check whether or not the top prize (for instance) is still available if the organizer of the scratch cards has published information about how many prizes of that level remain available. For example, the UK National Lottery publishes information about how many top prizes remain available for each of its scratch card games.

Odds Transparency

• Physical scratch cards — The lottery is legally required under the Gambling Commission to publish the odds of winning any prize on the scratch card itself. The odds of winning individual prize levels are not required to be published.
• Online scratch cards — The operators are required to publish the RTP of the scratch card. Most online scratch card providers also publish the paytable for their scratch card games, which display the odds of winning each prize level.

Availability & Access

• Physical scratch cards must be visited in person at a retail location. Scratch cards are available in the same number of locations as they are sold in the UK - millions of outlets. There is no need to create an account or to verify age before purchase (as the games are restricted to 18+). There is no need to have an internet connection.
• Online scratch card games are available 24 hours a day, from any device with an internet connection. A registered and verified account with the online casino is required to play online scratch cards. Players must also verify their age at the time of registration. Online scratch card games are available from the comfort of one's own home, on the go via a mobile device.

Stake Range

• Physical scratch card games have a fixed price. Each game may have different prices, but they are still a set price. For instance, prices can be £1, £2, £3, £5 or £10.
• Online scratch card games have a variable stake. For example, online scratch card games may cost between £0.10 and £20 or more per scratch card game.

Payout Speed

• Physical cards — small prizes — Small prizes for physical scratch cards are paid out instantly in cash at the point of purchase for amounts up to a certain limit (for example, £30 to £500 per game).
• Physical cards — large prizes — For prizes larger than those limits, the winner will be sent the prize by post, or they can claim it in person at a scratch card prize center. Prize claims take between 5 to 10 working days for prizes in the mid-tier range. The prize for a jackpot scratch card takes place in person at a scratch center.
• Online cards — all prizes — For online scratch cards, the prize is credited to the player's casino account instantly. The prize can then be withdrawn to a bank account or PayPal; withdrawals take place at the casino's processing time, which is often the same day at most licensed online casinos.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Verdict

For value for money, online scratch cards win. The fact that the RTP of the best online scratch card games at 96%+ is so significantly higher than the maximum RTP of physical scratch card games at 60% means that the online scratch card format is far better value in terms of how long the player's money will last.

The only instances in which the physical scratch card loses is if the player cannot visit a retail outlet - online scratch cards do not require the player to have an account with the online casino, nor do they require an internet connection. Therefore, for someone who is looking to buy scratch cards in a shop that does not require registration, physical scratch card games will win.

If a player is already into online gambling, or if they would like the convenience of being able to play online scratch cards from the comfort of their own home, online scratch cards offer better value for money in every way that can be measured.