The Best Online Scratch Cards in the UK 2021

Going to the shop and buying a physical scratch card is still a viable opportunity, but now you also have the option to enjoy scratch cards from the comfort of your own home. Thanks to the explosion in popularity of online casinos, gamblers can now experience the fun of scratch cards right in their own browsers, without needing so much as a coin to scratch with. If you have ever wondered whether or not online scratch cards might be for you; you have come to the right place. Here, we will present you with the ultimate guide to online scratch cards!

Best Scratch Card Providers

#1 Mecca Bingo	£20 Welcome Bonus + 50 Free Spins	Wide selection of games Trusted provider Many entertaining scratchcards	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#2 888	100% up to £100 + £88 No-Deposit	One of UK’s most popular casinos Unequalled experience Great customer service	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#3 Betsson	100% up to £100	Trusted casino provider Wide selection of games Many interesting scratch cards	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#4 LeoVegas	100% up to £400 + 100 Free Spins	Wide selection of games Experienced customer support Interesting scratch cards	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#5 Genesis	100% live casino bonus up to £100	Over 20 different scratch cards Free play available Different themes	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#6 32Red	Up to £160	Big prizes 8 Online Scratch card games Instant play	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#7 Karamba	100 bonusspins	Promotions Exclusive games Bonus welcome package	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#8 Videoslots	100% up to £200 first deposit	Over 50 different scratch card games Different themes and animations Gives scratch cards a modern touch	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply
#9 Mr Play	€200 Welcome Bonus & 100 Free Spins	Special scratch card features Turbo mode and auto play Massive selection of games	Review Play	* more terms & conditions apply

What is a Scratch Card?

Traditionally speaking, scratch cards are little, square cards you can buy at your local convenience store or corner shop. They cost next to nothing, and they contain a certain number of covered squares which you can “scratch” with a coin, and if you get three matching numbers, you win a prize equal to that number. It’s the perfect, inexpensive way to inject a tinge of excitement into your day when you are having lunch or finishing up some grocery shopping.

Different Variations of Scratch Cards

People who spend any regular amount of time at online casinos, will be well aware of the fact that many games can now be difficult and at times complicated to get into. Sure, Poker and Blackjack have always required a bit of study, but we now also find a host of different slot machines with elaborate designs and technical innovations that, whilst entertaining and exciting in the long run, often can leave us wanting something simpler and more straight forward to pass the time with. This is where scratch cards come in.

Scratch cards tend not to be the main draw for an online casino. Instead, they are nice little “extra” games that can usually be found either as simply scratch cards, or under other names such as “scratch ticket”, “scratch-off” or “scratch to win”. The main idea behind these games are that when you need a little break after several hours on your favourite slot, or after half a day spent on the same poker table, you can turn off your brain and still have the chance to win big.

There are not a whole lot of different versions of scratch cards. Yes, they come in different shapes and sizes and with different designs, but every scratch card follows the same principle: they are cheap (some times starting as low as 5p), they leave you with minimal work to do, they are very easy to play and don’t contain complicated rules, and they provide you with instant winnings that go straight to your casino account.

Online Scratch Cards

The idea of having scratch cards on the internet seemed almost laughable at first. What could, after all, possibly be the point in transferring a game where you needed a coin, to a medium where the ticket can’t even be touched?

It turned out to be a great idea. Scratch cards on the internet has quickly gone from being a novelty to becoming one of the more accessible and popular games online and they can now be found at almost any online casino you can think of.

Instead of using a coin to physically scratch open the squares on a ticket, online scratch cards give you the opportunity to virtually scratch and thereby open either one, or every single square at once, revealing your prize, if any. Just like with physical scratch cards from the corner shop, online scratch cards come in different types and sizes and with slightly different rules that tend to vary very little, if at all. Should you be in doubt about the rules or amount of combinations needed in order to win, all you need to do is take a look at your virtual ticket. Should this not answer your question, we recommend a quick chat with customer support.

Mecca Bingo Scratch Cards

One of the most trusted providers of money-based games for players in the UK, is Mecca Bingo. Mecca Bingo have made their name as an overall excellent casino with focus on classic lottery games, especially bingo. Bingo is the bread and butter of Mecca Bingo, together with slots. This means that their website wall is filled up with fantastic slots and bingo games, but they also offer their players a nice little selection of instant-win scratch cards, the only problem is that these can be a little bit difficult to find if you don’t know where to look.

In order to access the scratch card games at Mecca Bingo, you have to navigate to the tab called “Slots”. When hovering over this tab, you will quickly see an under tab named “Scratch cards”. Click on this and you are on your way.

The selection s not mind numbing, but that’s alright, it just means that the quality is higher. At Mecca Bingo, you can now play scratch card games that are versions of popular slots. At the time of writing, Mecca Bingo are offering the following scratch card games to their players: Cleopatra Scratch, Emoji scratch and Wish upon a Jackpot scratch.

888 Scratch Cards

Another popular casino provider in the UK, is 888. 888 is undeniably most famed for their poker and sports offers, but they also shine when it comes to scratch cards. In order to access the scratch card section of 888, all you need to do is type in scratch card in the search section. This will take you to a beautiful wall of games looking like this:

As you can see, there is a great many scratch card games on offer at 888. The extra interesting thing about these games is that whilst you can find more traditional-looking scratch card games when trawling through the site, the majority of scratch cards on 888 have a game-mechanic much more similar to that of slots than regular scratch cards. When you open a game like Aztec Realm Scratch, you are not met with a scratch card where you have to scratch open a few squares to get a win, oh no. Here, you are met with a full game-boar that looks identical to most slots. Instead of spinning, you click a button (very similar to the regular spin-button) and this reveals your 9 squares. If you get 3 combinations correct, you win. We highly recommend that players try out 888 scratch cards as 888 really have managed to add some fun to an already entertaining game.

Monster Casino Scratch Cards

Monster Casino specialise in slots and other casino games, but they have also realised that players might occasionally need a little break. To give the players what they want, Monster Casino have created a nifty little tab in the left-side of their homepage aptly named “Scratch cards”. Click on this link and you will immediately find yourself here:

The selection at Monster Casino is not the biggest when it comes to scratch cards, but every single one of their 10 games offers easy to understand, intuitive games that work a lot more like slots than traditional scratch cards. A full game board is available, and all you need to do is match 3 symbols in order to get an instant win. Let the fun commence!

Scratch Cards National Lottery

Finally, we have the most recognisable name in all of lottery-based games: the National Lottery. The National Lottery is something that everyone who has ever bought a scratch card is familiar with seeing as it is virtually impossible to buy a physical scratch card in the UK that is not delivered by the National Lottery.

Unlike the other providers on this list, the National Lottery is not a casino and does not offer online scratch cards to customers. This might seem odd at first, but the National Lottery’s website is still very useful because instead of offering us games, the National Lottery offers us a list of current scratch cards available from retailers.

This list features everything you need to know about scratch cards such as potential prize amount, number of remaining top prizes, and the actual price per ticket. If you have any questions about the specific rules for each game, all you need to do is click on your chosen game and you will get all the information you need.

The National Lottery is great for information about scratch cards, so if you have any questions, this is your website. One of the most frequently asked questions is whether or not scratch cards expire. They do, but this expiration date tends to vary, a fact that can be very annoying for customers. The National Lottery in general advises players to collect their winnings no later than 180 days after the closing of the event, and they provide us with an excellent, updated table where we can see exactly what the relevant dates are for several popular scratch cards:

Scratch Card Winners

One of the great things with lottery games is the amount of heart-warming stories they generate. Here we have gathered a couple of fantastic stories from previous scratch card winners so that you can get a feel of just how it is to win big!

Life Changing Christmas

Car valet Adam Kelsall from Nottingham was on his way to work one early December morning when he decided to stop for gas. Well, that might not have been a decision as gas tends not to be optional, but his decision to spend some pocket change on a scratch card was definitely a conscious choice and it turned out to be the best choice he has ever made. After initially thinking that he’d won £250, he luckily did a double take and got the cashier to confirm that he had indeed won £250,000. He spent the next few minutes dancing with joy, exclaiming “I’m rich!” in front of the gas station.

Lucky Cat

Cats are often believed to be unlucky, especially if teamed up with ladders and other symbols of superstition, but the cat of Andrew Hancock proved to be anything but. One day, when Andrew was about to feed his cat named Shortcake, he realised that he didn’t have any cat food. He therefore rushed to the store. When paying for the cat food, Andrew thought he might as well treat himself to a little scratch card. Some pocket change and a few nervous minutes later and Shortcake was not the only one in the Hancock household eagerly awaiting Andrew’s homecoming. Andrew returned with £1 million and it never would have happened if not for a hungry, hungry cat.

Conclusions

A long and difficult poker game is entertaining and fun, but it is also draining. In fact, the same can be said about most money-based games that we gamblers tend to play. We like to take our money and our games very seriously, and with good reason. However, we all reach that point where we need a break. Maybe it’s a bad beat at the end of a long day at a poker tournament, maybe it’s exhaustion after a full morning spent on our favourite slot. No matter the reason, we all need to wind down. One excellent way of doing this, is through online scratch cards. Online scratch cards tend to look like slots, but they work like classic scratch cards from the corner store: match 3 symbols for potentially high winnings. Online scratch cards are cheap, easy to play, potentially rewarding and a whole lot of fun!