Online Casino

Gamblers in general like to gamble on things that are fairly simple while retaining an element of excitement. That's why lotteries are so popular, although the chance of winning a huge prize also has a lot to do with it.

Always on the lookout for something new, innovative and exciting, gamblers will latch onto new games as long as they keep the element of simplicity. One such game to explode onto the gambling stage was the scratch card, which appeared over thirty years ago and made an immediate impact with gamblers. They had everything that a gambler loves in a game, being easy to play, readily available and exciting with the promise of a big prize.

It was inevitable then that with the advent of Internet casinos that the popular scratch card would find its way into the collection of games before too long. Here, we'll look at how that came about and where the humble scratch card is making its impact amongst online gamblers.

The original scratch cards were produced on small rectangular pieces of card. The games varied but were generally similar to a win line on a slot machine. If you lined up three symbols you won the amount that the symbol was worth according to a win table. The winning line was covered with a resinous, latex substance that was impervious to cheating by reading with different types of light. This substance is what players scratched off with the edge of a coin to reveal the win line symbols. Prizes also varied but they usually carried a top prize of $10,000 with smaller prizes starting at $1 rising in stages such as $10, $20, $50, $100 etc. Some scratch cards even carried a mega jackpot of as much as $100,000. As they only cost $1 to buy, they soon became hugely popular, especially amongst housewives and occasional gamblers.

When the Internet casinos first appeared in the 1990s, games were initially restricted to regular casino games such as roulette, craps, slots and card games such as blackjack and baccarat with poker sites specializing in the various popular types of poker. It wasn't until a few years ago that the first scratch card games started appearing and at first they were very simple, emulating their real world counterparts.

Today, the simplicity of those original scratch cards has given way to more complex games that are available in some online casinos. They call for an element of skill to go with the element of luck, which was always their appeal. At first, it seemed that by adding more features to the simple scratch card games it may drive people away from them, but the opposite seems to have happened.

Online scratch cards are growing rapidly in popularity because of their added features of interest. They are attracting a whole army of dedicated scratch card players who enjoy that added depth and skill features that their simple predecessors lacked. One such scratch card game, called Beat Brazil is based around a football (soccer) game where you have to kick five balls and try to score as many goals as you can. You then scratch the card to reveal the score registered by the Brazilian team and if you have beaten it, you win the prize marked on the card.

Of course the thrill of actually physically scratching the surface with the edge of a coin is not possible when you play online. Instead, this stage is done in the digital realm, but the excitement is still there as you graphically scratch the card to reveal either prize or set of symbols or whatever the game has in store for you.

The number and variety of scratch card games is an ever increasing one as their creators dream up new ways to play with a variety of different themes and situations. There are currently sports games, fantasy games and even adaptations of some casino games to keep the gamer interested and excited about the prospect of winning in an ever growing variety of ways.

The other great thing about online scratch card games is that they can easily be carried by any online casino site that has the necessary software. This means that more and more existing online casinos are carrying these games as well as new dedicated scratch card gambling sites which are popping up here, there and everywhere in a similar way that dedicated bingo sites started appearing a few years ago.

Online scratch cards are here to stay and as their popularity continues to rise, they will become a more regular feature in online casinos and gambling websites. As long as they retain the element of simplicity while including the interest factor of skill games, more people are going to love playing them. Who knows, they might even overtake some established casino games in the popularity stakes.