What You Need to Know About Online Scratch Cards

Get your loonie ready to scratch
Whether you spell it scratchcards or scratch cards, these scratchies are a great deal of fun and are enormously popular with Canadian online casino players. Some Canadians love to play a few scratch cards as a welcome diversion from the intensity of other online casino games such as roulette and blackjack. Other Canadians love to play scratch cards as their main online casino game of choice. Whatever the reason, scratch cards are becoming more and more popular, as more of the top online casino software developers try their hand at creating exciting online scratch card games.

Visit virtually any one of our recommended online casinos for Canadians and you will no doubt see an array of cutting edge scratch card games to choose from. Online scratch cards are very similar to real ones except they are the virtual or digital version. The advantage of online scratch cards is that they can be far more diverse in theme and design and you can choose from tons of great scratch cards without ever leaving your home!

golden ghouls scratch cards

If you have never tried your hand at online scratch cards but have always wanted to, then please feel free to read our simple and easy to follow guide to playing online scratch cards. We take an in-depth look at the best online scratch card games and take you through a simple step by step process to help get you started. Online scratch cards are fun and very simple to play, they offer the ideal online casino game for Canadians looking for something a little more relaxing and simple. As long as you follow our basis online scratch card guide and use basic online scratch card strategies.

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Rules of Scratchcards

Online scratch cards explained in 4 easy steps:

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Step 1:

Finding great scratch card games online is very easy as there are thousands of scratch card games currently available at most top online casinos. In fact, the biggest problem with playing online scratch cards isn’t in finding them, it’s in deciding where to start and which ones to try first. For our simple step by step guide, we’ve chosen to go with a classic-style online scratch card called VIP Black. Scratch cards come in all sorts of designs and themes, from casino themes, to movies, sports, adventures and much more.

Step 2:

The first thing that you will notice once you have chosen your online scratch card is the layout. Not all scratchcards will have the exact same layout but most follow more or less the same basic design. You will usually find a table on the right hand side, covered in a theme related design. You can clearly see this in our image of the VIP Black scratch card game above.

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Step 3:

Once you have decided on your bet size as well as the number of blocks that you want to play, the next step is to start to scratch off the covered surface. This works in exactly the same way as a real scratch card does that you buy at a kiosk or at a gas station. You can use your mouse to scratch the blocks that you have bet on or, if you are playing quite a few scratch card games in a session, you can simply click on the ‘Reveal All’ button. This will automatically reveal all of the blocks that you have bet on (bought).

Step 4:

In this particular online scratch card game the idea is to match one of your uncovered numbers with one or more of the numbers at the top. These numbers have been selected by the game at random and, if you manage to match one of these, you win a prize. You can clearly see in our above example image, that we managed to win a $2 prize by matching just one number. That is really all there is to playing online scratch cards, it is simple and a ton of fun! Depending on the scratch card that you choose, you could stand to win thousands in CAD. Online scratch cards like the one shown here also often feature cool bonus rounds that offer even more prizes.

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Online Scratch Cards Strategies

scratch cards


While online scratch cards may seem simple enough and are really easy and fun to play, you may be surprised that there is actually some strategy that can be applied to them. At first glance, online scratch cards look exactly like the real world scratch card and, most people buy scratch cards without too much thought. After all, it’s just about scratching and seeing if you were lucky, right?

Not quite. Online scratch cards offer a wider range of actual scratch card options which also come with a wide range of odds and house edges. It is therefore important to approach your online scratch card game with the same attitude and preparation that you would with any other online casino game.

Your first strategy in playing online scratch cards is to pick your game carefully. There are literally hundreds of online scratch cards games will all sorts of themes, designs and layouts. Many of the newest online scratch card games are based on a popular online slot and some will have similar bonus rounds, themes and so on. You need to try a few different online scratch card game types out first and find the sort of theme, design and layout that you are most comfortable with and will enjoy playing the most.

The second part of your online scratch card strategy should be to start practising. It may sound a bit odd to practice online scratch cards but they are just like any other online casino game, they have odds, rules and house advantage percentages. The best thing is to find free online scratch card games, at one of our recommended Canadian online casinos and see how they work. Practising will show you how the rules work, what it takes to win and will also help you analyse your mistakes in losing games.

Once you start playing online scratch cards for real money, you will also need to incorporate good money management into your online scratch card strategy. As you begin to win playing online scratch cards, bank your winnings at regular intervals. This will help to ensure that you don’t lose it all again with continuous play. By the same token, it is also a good strategy to practice good bankroll management. Never play more online scratch card games than you can realistically afford to play and also try to find Canadian online casinos that offer good scratch card bonuses to help boost your bankroll.

More on scratch cards odds

Online scratch card odds vary greatly and it often depends on the brand of online scratch card that you are playing. However, generally speaking, most online scratch card games will offer a house edge percentage of around 5%, which is better than most online casino games. The average RTP or Return to Player is around 95%, which again, is quite good and better than most online casino games for real money.

Reasons to love online scratch cards:

  • Online scratch cards are fun and very easy to play
  • Most online scratch cards offer great odds, payouts and have a low house advantage
  • You do not need a lot of experience with online casinos to play online scratch cards

Some things you may not love:

  • Some online scratch cards only offer low value prizes so you will need to choose carefully
  • Online scratch cards use random number generators which some players don’t trust.

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Last Updated: June 27, 2023