A Brief History of Online Scratch Cards
When it comes to playing the lottery, oftentimes we think about picking our preferred lottery numbers and entering them onto a play card. However, for those looking for a quick flutter, scratch cards are a fun and exciting way to test your luck. And in the 21st century, with the internet available in most homes and in our pockets via our mobile devices, themed online scratch cards have become a popular way to play our beloved scratchers.
The History of Scratch Card Games
Lotteries have been popular throughout history, reaching all the way back to ancient times. Many of our ancestors played the lottery as a means to try their luck, help raise funds for necessary community projects, and simply for fun. The scratch card is relatively young in comparison. The modern scratch card game did not come about until the 1970s when a young computer scientist name John Koza had an idea. He had recently graduated with a PhD in computer science and was working for J&H International, a company that specialized in making promotional gaming cards for grocery stores and gas stations in the 1950s and 1960s. These cards were very similar weekly supermarket ads and often followed a Bingo game style. Customers could win various prizes such as food and money.
This inspired Mr. Koza, who was also interested in the weekly state-sponsored lottery games sweeping the United States. He believed that rather than having players place their bets and wait a week to see if they had won, an instant win option would be an immediate success. He contacted one of his former co-workers, Dan Bower, and together they developed the idea for instant win lottery scratch card games. By March 1973, their company Scientific Games Corporation was up and running. They would often travel across the US convincing state officials to give their game a shot. It wasn’t until they pitched their idea to the state of Michigan that they found a test subject, and once they had produced successful results, their new lottery game began to take off. In 1995, this popular new game arrived in the UK and there was no looking back. This would lead the way to not only scratch cards, but online scratch cards as well.
From Analog to Digital
Buying these popular new lottery games became easier as their popularity spread. It wasn’t long until game cards could be found at petrol stations, markets, and more. And as the internet began to rise in popularity, so too did online lottery games. The appeal of being able to play the lottery from the comfort of one’s home was clear. It wasn’t long before online scratch cards began to become commonplace on lottery websites. Then the most recent boom in technology came about: mobile devices. Now, not only could people access the internet, but they could do so from wherever they were. They were no longer reliant upon their home computers, but could now browse the internet, play lottery games, and buy scratch cards online no matter where they were.
As young as the game may seem, it is a fun and well-known way to have a quick flutter for those that are looking for instant results. Its beloved status and recent history truly make it the game of the modern age. So, if you are looking for a quick test of luck and chance, why not check out what new online scratch cards await you today?