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The History of Scratch Card
Scratch cards are a form of instant lottery. The idea of scratch cards as we know it which is an instant win game was first devised in 1974. It was called "The Instant Game" and was printed by a company called the Dittley Brothers Lottery Division.
It was used by the Massachusetts State lottery in order to raise money for the local Government and because it offered something that had never been offered before, it became extremely successful; it offered instant cash to the winner of the lottery.
The traditional Scratch Card which is also known as a Scratch-Off or Scratch Ticket or Scratcher or Scratch Game or Scratch-It is a small token or square usually made from cardboard. There is a grid printed on the cardboard which is concealed by a special material that can be scratched off. Printed in each of the grids are numbers or symbols. The idea of the game is to get three of the same numbers or symbols in a row in order to win the big prize, by scratching off three adjacent squares. In some cases if all of the squares were scratched off the card became invalid but other games required all of the squares to be scratched off. Scratch cards carry different themes such as baseball, football, holiday, Poker and so on. Scratch cards are also a good way for manufacturers to advertise their products and grew in popularity thanks to all of their side uses.

Prior to Scratch Cards, lottery itself has had a very rich history dating as far back as the Egyptians and Moses who apparently used a lottery to divide up areas of land. In China a lottery was used to help finance the building of the Great Wall of China in certain areas. There are many lottery games that have been popular with casino players for years like Keno. Over the years lottery developed as a safe and secure way of gambling, it was considered fair. There was even a period when the United States banned lottery games in the early 1900's because they believed it led to problems. This ban was lifted around 1931. Players would buy a lottery ticket and wait for the results of the draw. Different forms of the game developed according to the different areas of population that played the game. In some games, lottery was used to advertise a new product; others used it to raise money for charity. Some games required all of the squares to be scratched out and some required only three squares to be scratched out. The lottery can be used just simply as a game, for charity purposes, raising money for a particular cause and so on.

A Scratch Card works in a very similar way to a lottery but the difference is that the answers are instant. A player can buy a ticket and scratches off the concealing substance which is covering the grid. Usually he needs to match three colors or symbols. If he has a match then he wins the prize that was advertised. Prizes can be cash or products; you can even buy Scratch cards nowadays to win holidays. These initial Scratch Cards did not offer large prizes; the prizes were usually the value or double the value of the original ticket price. In 1987 a company called AstroMed Inc of West Warwick, Rhode Island attained the first U.S patent for the instant scratch-off lottery ticket. From then on the scratch cards became incredibly popular. The thought of winning the big prize is very tempting so players buy cards and if they don't win on the first time then they buy more and more until they are satisfied. For this a big bankroll is needed.
As Scratch Cards developed in popularity, players tried to devise ways to predict which cards would have prizes. The cards were created using manual randomization techniques so it was very difficult to predict which card would hold the winning line. But, there are amateur and even some professionals who spend hours card counting and tracking the number of cards sold and the number of prizes won in an effort to try and predict which cards will be the winning ones. There are cases whereby all of the winning cards have been sold and prizes claimed but still cards are being sold. This makes buying the remaining cards pointless so sometimes it is worth checking out the details of the prizes that have been won before investing in more cards.
Scratch Cards are not generally suited to land based casinos, although it has been told that in some casinos they were given out at the entrance, once the entrance fee had been paid, and the prizes offered were a free game on one of the casino tables. Despite land based casinos not really having Scratch cards, online casinos really took to them. The online casino boom started in the 1990's with the spread of the internet but it was not until the late 1990's that Scratch Cards were first seen at online casinos. At an online casino one cannot really scratch the numbers off, the way it works is that the player clicks on the area he wants to be revealed and that square is slowly revealed. It works a bit like a curtain being pulled back. The odds offered for certain number combinations or symbol combinations are clearly displayed at the side of the game. Online Scratch Cards is a very quick game and it is advisable to start with a big bankroll and bet small amounts each time if you want the game to last. The online Scratch cards are devised by Random Number Generators so there is no worry of the cards being fixed. Online casinos are also monitored by independent bodies to make sure that the odds they offer and the prizes they promise are paid. Online Scratch Cards are becoming more popular as players have less leisure time to themselves. It is a quick game that can be played from the comfort of your own home or any remote computer. Thanks to online banking and the secure online payment systems it is very easy to deposit money in an online casino to start playing Scratch Cards.

Although Scratch Cards have not been around for as long as other casino games they are becoming one of the more popular of the online casino games to play. They are quick and easy to play and not much thought is needed. Since Scratch Cards are associated with many good activities such as raising money for local charities or for building funds, players who would not normally venture to play at casinos are choosing to play Scratch Cards. IT is rewarding and fun and may not have the rich history of Keno or Blackjack but it still has a lot of culture associated with it.

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