Instant lottery is one of the simplest types of lottery that is available to the general public. Instant lottery is also called as scratch card and also goes with many other monikers. The modus operandi with this type of lottery is very simple. The lottery buyers will have to scratch out the hidden portion(s) of the lottery ticket. If the revealed portions contain the predetermined combination, the buyers are declared winners and they can collect their prize money right away. Instant lottery is different from other types of lottery because there is no draw. The winning numbers are released during the time of the launch of the lottery. The winning numbers are usually selected by a computer algorithm or are manually selected from a group of number combinations. These winning combinations are published and displayed at all locations of ticket purchase. Instant lottery was introduced in the early 1970s and within a few years, gained tremendous popularity. People were attracted to this type of lottery because of the simplicity of rules and instantaneous benefits. Instant lottery can be of many types – depending upon the number of combinations. They can range from single number lottery to multiple combinations of numbers and symbols. The winning amount is also spread across many different permutations, thereby making the instant lottery, an irresistible attraction for regular lottery buyers.

Instant lottery continued to be popular for many decades but it showed signs of slowing down from the early 2000s onwards. There are many reasons for this and the most pertinent reason is the rampant usage of fraudulent practices from both the issuing authorities and lottery fraudsters. Instant lottery also became easily predictable and many professional experts began to predict the winning combination with the help of specially created algorithms that could determine the chances of winning accurately. As a result, people were discouraged from buying these lotteries and the overall sales showed a sharp decline, till early 2008s. By 2008, instant lottery moved on from physical sales to online sales and distribution. This phenomenon has revived the popularity because people can now buy and even realize their earnings through the internet. It is still possible to determine the chances of winning but that has added on to the allure of instant lottery. Lottery issuers are willing to take a risk of early payouts and accurate predictions but are able to overcome these by earning their profits through overall sales.