The first scratch cards in Europe were only issued in 1978, almost 45 years ago, by Loterie Romande from Switzerland. Other Games of chance, such as Blackjack or Roulette, can look back on a much longer history. Scratch cards belong to the category of "instant lottery", as players know immediately whether they have won or not after scratching off all the squares. In most scratch tickets, the Player has always won if there are at least three identical symbols on a ticket. The winning symbols are mostly typical gambling symbols such as leprechauns, shamrocks or horseshoes.
According to Statista, there were around 870,000 people in German-speaking countries in 2021 who bought scratch or tear tickets at least once a week. While scratch tickets may only be purchased from the age of 18 in Germany and Switzerland, players from Austria are already able to purchase them from the age of 16.
In the meantime, scratch tickets are no longer only available in brick-and-mortar stores, but also in most online casinos and online gaming arcades. The special thing about scratch cards is that even a small stake is enough to be able to play. In the meantime, scratch cards for different budgets are available in local sales outlets - from one euro to ten euros. Those who search for scratch cards in online casinos will often find that there is no special section for this. Instead, interested players can either enter "scratch cards" directly in the search bar of the games portfolio or directly the English term "scratch cards".