A finished scratchcard looks like a small piece of printed board with a silver panel. Behind it is a controlled manufacturing process involving game design, prize programming, secure data, multiple print layers, opacity testing, quality control, packing and protected distribution.
Whether you call them scratchcards in Britain, scratch-offs or Scratchers in the United States, Instant Scratch-Its in Australia or scratchies in New Zealand, the physical product has to solve the same problem: hide the result from the player without making the winning tickets predictable to the people producing and distributing them.
The lottery first agrees the artwork, rules, price and prize structure. Game data is then generated under security controls, winning and non-winning outcomes are arranged according to the approved system, and large printing presses build the ticket through multiple printed and protective layers.
The hidden result is already part of the physical ticket before it reaches a shop. Scratching does not create the win; it reveals information that was concealed during manufacture.
Large manufacturers such as Scientific Games and Pollard Banknote supply lotteries around the world, but operators can specify different prize structures, security controls, ticket formats, suppliers and distribution arrangements.
Where this guide describes a particular manufacturing technology, it identifies the supplier or industry security standard rather than presenting it as universal.
The interesting part starts long before ink reaches paper. The game has to be defined, secured and tested before millions of tickets can be printed.
Theme, ticket price, play mechanic, artwork, wording and responsible-play requirements are developed and approved.
The lottery defines how many prizes exist at each tier and the overall mathematics of the finite game.
Winning and non-winning outcomes are generated and arranged using controlled systems designed to make individual winners unpredictable.
Proofs, artwork and production files are checked before the live printing plates or systems are released to the press.
Paperboard moves through multiple print stations receiving back print, security coatings, game data, concealment and visible graphics.
Cameras, data systems and quality checks look for production errors and confirm that the game matches its specifications.
Tickets become books or packs, cartons and pallets while prize and inventory controls are checked.
The finished game moves to lottery distribution with protected inventory and validation data for later retail and claim transactions.
A scratchcard begins as a set of rules and mathematics, not as artwork. The lottery has to decide what the ticket costs, what counts as a win and how many prizes of each value the game will contain.
Match symbols, reveal an amount, crossword, bingo, multiplier, bonus area or another approved play style. The visible instructions have to match the programmed game.
A finite physical game is designed around a defined set of prizes. That is why a scratchcard can advertise both overall odds and separate top-prize odds.
The final visuals, legal wording and game rules are proofed before full production. The WLA security code specifically treats final visuals, text and prize structure as integrity requirements.
This is the part most players never see — and the part that generates questions about whether somebody inside the factory could know where a jackpot is going.
Scientific Games publicly describes its Keyed Dual Security system as using separate random-number-generation keys held by independent parties. One key is created by the manufacturer and another by the lottery. Together they control an RNG used to shuffle winning and non-winning tickets, with further ticket-level shuffling during manufacture.
That is a Scientific Games system, not a claim that every instant-ticket printer uses identical technology. The wider security principle is more important: prize information should be protected and the finished ticket population should not expose a predictable route to the winners.
The best answer is more nuanced than either “yes” or “no”. The industry security model deliberately separates different types of knowledge.
The World Lottery Association's 2024 Security Control Standard says controls should ensure that, before a prize is claimed, nobody in the lottery organisation has both knowledge of which instant ticket is winning and knowledge of where that winning ticket is located or which retailer received it.
Its implementation guidance explicitly recognises the split: the printer/supplier can determine whether a ticket is winning, while the lottery operator knows where books of tickets are located. The security objective is to stop those two pieces of information being combined.
A computer system somewhere in the manufacturing chain may necessarily hold confidential winner data. That is different from an employee being able to look up “the jackpot is ticket 17 in a pack headed to this shop”.
Modern controls use encryption, restricted access, separation of duties, independent oversight and audited processes to prevent that useful combination of winner identity and physical location.
Related: Can scratchcard employees see where winning cards go? →
One of the clearest public descriptions comes from Scientific Games' global production process, published through the World Lottery Association.
Scientific Games says a production roll can move through as many as 21 separate print units, each applying a different colour or functional layer. Its printing systems integrate drying and curing equipment, inspection cameras and data-capture systems.
The back of the ticket is printed as part of the process, alongside the hidden play area and front-facing design.
The manufacturer describes laying down an opaque black security coating that both adheres to the board and prevents light penetration. A white or tinted security primer then creates an image-receptive area before the variable game data is printed.
That helps explain why simply shining a bright light through a legitimate modern scratchcard should not reveal the hidden result.
A secure ticket has to resist much more than casual curiosity. Its winning status should not be inferable from anything visible before the card is scratched.
Opaque underlayers are designed to prevent the hidden game data being read by shining light through the ticket.
The WLA standard calls for checks that a ticket's winning status cannot be predicted from visible information.
The standard specifically refers to using different techniques to test whether a winner can be identified without scratching or visibly altering the ticket.
The scale of instant-ticket printing makes prepress and automated inspection essential. A small mistake can otherwise be repeated extremely quickly.
Scientific Games describes producing a contract proof designed to represent the final ticket accurately, then using proofing technicians to review blueline proofs and confirm that artwork and specifications have been produced correctly before plates are released to the press.
Modern systems can combine imaging, inspection cameras and data capture. The WLA standard calls for programming checks against the game mechanic and prize structure, printing checks, opacity tests, internal quality/security testing and protection of validation files.
Once tickets physically exist, the manufacturer has to move them out of the factory without creating a new opportunity to tamper with the game or combine confidential prize information with destination information.
Scientific Games describes a shipping sequence that includes prize balancing, carton labelling and stacking, banding and wrapping, a final audit, then truck loading and shipping.
Robotic cells used with its KDS360 system are described as helping ensure games meet prize-structure requirements and that the correct packs, cartons and pallets are delivered.
The manufacturer describes finished pallets being stretch-wrapped to provide evidence if a carton is opened in transit. Trailers are photographed, locked and sealed, while inventory and validation files are transferred separately through secure systems.
After that, the lottery's own warehouse and retailer-distribution controls take over.
The local name changes, and so can the supplier, rules and distribution model. The physical engineering challenge is recognisably similar.
Instant-ticket manufacturers use specialty finishes, digital-print effects and increasingly sustainable materials without removing the need for the underlying security layers.
Scientific Games and Loto-Québec have produced an instant game on 100% recycled board with water-based inks.
Scientific Games' Dimension technology creates specialty optical patterns, while Pollard Banknote markets proprietary scratch-off and holographic print processes.
Crosswords, bingo, fold-over formats, punch-out elements and other mechanics can change the construction while still relying on secure hidden game data.
The resemblance is mostly in the player's experience. On a phone or computer there is no paperboard, opaque security coating or hidden symbol physically printed under a removable layer.
A finite manufactured object. Its result is concealed during printing and travels through packs, warehouses and retailers before physical validation.
A software-based product. Outcomes, game records and validation are handled electronically, while the scratch or reveal animation is part of the interface.
These sibling guides follow the ticket from confidential game data into distribution, retail and validation.
The answers distinguish general instant-ticket principles from systems specific to a particular manufacturer or lottery.
Physical scratchcards are produced as secure printed lottery products. The lottery first approves the game rules, artwork and prize structure. Secure game data is then generated, tickets are printed in multiple layers, concealed play information is protected by opaque and scratch-off coatings, finished tickets are quality-checked, packed and transferred into controlled distribution.
Yes. On a physical scratchcard, the winning or non-winning outcome is part of the manufactured ticket before it reaches the retailer. The player is revealing a result already printed into that ticket, not generating a new result by scratching it.
The exact method depends on the supplier and lottery. Scientific Games publicly describes a system using separate security keys and random-number generation to shuffle winning and non-winning tickets, followed by further ticket-level shuffling during manufacture. Other suppliers and operators can use different approved systems.
The World Lottery Association's 2024 security guidance recognises that a printer or supplier can determine winning status, while the lottery operator can know where ticket books are located. The security objective is to prevent any person from having both pieces of information before a prize is claimed.
A lottery can track inventory and the location of ticket books or packs, but good security practice separates that location information from confidential winner information. The detailed controls vary by lottery and supplier, so this should not be generalised into a claim that every operator can or cannot identify a specific jackpot ticket.
The play area contains printed game data protected by security layers. Scientific Games describes an opaque black security coating that blocks light, followed by a white or tinted security primer that creates a secure surface for the game data. Additional scratch-off and graphic layers conceal the play information until the player removes them.
Instant-ticket security standards specifically call for opacity testing and other checks designed to prevent the winning status from being determined through visible information or without scratching or visibly altering the ticket. Manufacturers also use opaque security layers to block light penetration.
No. Commercial lottery instant tickets are produced on large high-speed printing systems from rolls of paperboard. Scientific Games says some of its systems process up to 1,000 feet of paper per minute and can produce up to one million 2-by-4-inch ticket units per hour.
They are generally printed on paperboard or similar ticket stock, with multiple ink, primer, security and scratch-off layers added during production. Materials and specialty finishes vary by manufacturer and product. Some modern tickets use recycled board, water-based inks or specialty holographic-like print effects.
Quality control starts before the press runs. Manufacturers can use contract proofs, prepress checks, inspection cameras and data-capture systems during production. The World Lottery Association security standard also calls for testing of game mechanics, prize structures, ticket opacity and non-predictability.
Finished games are packed into books, cartons and pallets, audited and shipped through controlled logistics. Inventory and validation files are transferred securely so the lottery can manage distribution and later system transactions. Retail distribution and activation are separate stages after manufacture.
No. Online instant-win games may imitate scratching visually, but there is no printed ticket with hidden symbols underneath a coating. They use software, account records and electronic outcome systems. That is why physical scratchcard manufacture and online instant-win mechanics are treated as separate topics on My Lottery Life.
Manufacturing details are difficult to research from consumer lottery pages alone, so this guide prioritises the World Lottery Association security standard and direct information from major instant-ticket manufacturers.