Scratchcard

In the late 1980s, adhesive specialist Jerome Greenfield invented a safe water-based coating still used in scratchers today that can be scratched off relatively easily, while resistant to normal abrasion.

[4] In 1987, Astro-Med, Inc. of West Warwick, Rhode Island, received the U.S. Patent for the instant scratch-off lottery ticket, but the patent acknowledges that "instant-game tickets comprising a card having game-playing indicia imprinted on a window thereon and a removable opaque layer covering the window:" had already been available for a number of years.

Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words, or are adaptations of popular (card-)games such as blackjack, poker or Monopoly.

Scratchcards are a very popular form of gambling due to their low cost, their distribution in many corner stores and gas stations, and the opportunity to win instantly, as opposed to waiting for a draw like many lotteries.

[6] Hypothetically, large early payouts may exceed ultimate sales before expiration of the game card series.

Break Opens, also known as breakopens, break open cards, strip tickets, pull-tabs, nevada tickets or in some Bingo Halls as "pickles" are lottery or bingo cards on which there are concealed letters, numbers, or symbols that have been predetermined as winners.

Regulatory authorities for telephone services have been taking action against such schemes, issuing warnings and large fines.

[9] Over the years, many lotteries have continued to sell scratch games, while failing to disclose that the larger prizes or jackpot have already been claimed in order to discourage players from no longer playing a won scratch game, though before the 2000s and direct connections between the lottery and their sales terminals could be made, there was no expectation of this to be known.

Research by The Guardian newspaper found that the £250,000 Gold game, which advertises 15 top prizes worth a quarter of a million pounds each, were still being sold after all 15 jackpots had been claimed.

[11] Many lotteries since the start of the 2010s have begun to have their retailers print out up-to-date game lists from their terminals daily or weekly (often with the force of state, provincial, or national law after consumer watchdog organizations or television station investigative units have exposed the practice), which note games where jackpots have already been won or which have large prizes left, along with up-to-date winners' lists on their websites.