Online Scratchies and Scratch Cards in Australia: What You Can Buy

Can you buy instant scratchies online? Not from the official lotteries

This section is about the two official lotteries; we did not check third-party websites. Official scratch tickets come from one of two state lottery brands, depending on where you live. In Western Australia it is Lotterywest, and its tickets are called Scratch'n'Win. In every other state and territory it is The Lott, which describes itself as the banner that “unites Australia's Official Lotteries by Tatts (Tattersall's Sweeps Pty Ltd), Tatts NT (Tatts NT Lotteries Pty Ltd), NSW Lotteries (New South Wales Lotteries Corporation Pty Ltd), Golden Casket (Golden Casket Lottery Corporation Limited) and SA Lotteries (Tatts Lotteries SA Pty Ltd)”. Its tickets are called Instant Scratch-Its.

Lotterywest answers the question directly: “No, Scratch'n'Win tickets are not able to be purchased online.” Its Scratch'n'Win page says “Scratchies can only be purchased from your local Lotterywest store”, lists “How to play: In-store only” and ticket prices of A$1, A$2, A$3, A$5, A$10 and A$20. Two things on its site can look like online sales. Lotterywest does sell online — “Create a Lotterywest account to play your favourite games online” — but that means Lotto and its other draw games; the same page repeats that scratchies are sold only in its stores. And its “View scratchies online” button opens a gallery of tickets and prices, not a shop.

The Lott does not put it in one sentence, but its pages show the same thing. Its Instant Scratch-Its page points to a store finder: “Find the closest Instant Scratch-Its store to you, from over 3,800 retailers across Australia (excluding WA).” Its ticket-range page shows A$1, A$2, A$5, A$10, A$20 and A$30 tickets “available at your local retailer”. On 27 October 2026, with the site set to NSW, neither page had a button or link to buy a ticket online; its Victorian Instant Scratch-Its page on 26 October 2026 was the same; and five searches of its help centre found no article on buying them online. The Lott app describes scanning “Instant Scratch-Its tickets bought in-store”.

Read on 26–27 October 2026. We saw The Lott's pages with the site set to NSW and to VIC; the online check, the prize rules and the store limits come from its help centre, which is not specific to one state. The Lott pays Instant Scratch-Its prizes in the state or territory where the ticket was bought; a Golden Casket ticket can be claimed in QLD, TAS or NT. From another state, you claim by post with the Prize Claim Form of the state where you bought the ticket. The table covers only the two official lotteries, not third-party websites.

Checking a ticket and collecting a prize

With The Lott, checking works online; collecting does not. To check, you need “an online account with The Lott and be logged in”; then you scan the barcode at the bottom of the ticket with your device camera, on its website or in its app. The help page says the feature “will work for $1, $2, $4, $5, $10, $15 and $20 Instant Scratch-Its tickets” — the A$30 tickets on its current range are not in that list, so do not count on checking one online. The Lott also has “Check and Collect”, a feature for claiming a prize into your online account, but Instant Scratch-Its prizes are on its list of prizes that cannot be claimed with Check and Collect, whatever the amount. As its help centre puts it, “the physical ticket is needed to claim and verify your prize”: take the ticket to a store in the state or territory where you bought it (for a Golden Casket ticket, in QLD, TAS or NT), or send it by post with the Prize Claim Form for that state; a prize above the store limit in the table goes through The Lott's Prize Administration team. A non-winning ticket of A$2 or more can go into The Lott's monthly 2nd Chance Draw; we did not read that draw's terms.

With Lotterywest, the steps it describes are all in store. You “can check it using the ticket checker at any Lotterywest store, or ask your local retailer to check the ticket for you”. Its online check is described only for tickets bought online or in its app, and scratchies are not sold there. Prizes “up to and including $500 can be collected from any Lotterywest retailer if you have purchased a physical ticket”; larger prizes are paid at Lotterywest Head Office or by post with the original ticket and a prize claim form. A Scratch'n'Win top prize of A$5,000 or more has a 14-day validation period and is paid only at Head Office.

Why the law treats an electronic scratchie differently

We think the reason neither lottery sells scratchies online is the law; neither lottery gives a reason on the pages we read, so this is our reading. Lotterywest's pages show the split plainly: its draw games can be played “in-store, online or through our app”, its scratchies only in a store. The federal Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA) has a clause that fits this pattern. Section 8D(1) makes “a service for the conduct of a lottery” and “a service for the supply of lottery tickets” an “excluded lottery service” — an exemption for ordinary lotteries. Section 8D(2) then says that subsection (1) “does not apply to an electronic form of” a “scratch lottery” or an “other instant lottery”. So the exemption covers a lottery and its tickets, but not an electronic scratch or instant lottery. The Act does not define “instant lottery”.

The change to the Act that starts on 1 January 2027 (Act No. 72 of 2026) rewrites the end of section 8D(2) and still names an electronic form of “scratch lottery” and “other instant lottery”, so they stay outside the exemption. Section 15(1) puts the offence on the provider: the person or business that offers the service. It commits the offence if it “intentionally provides a prohibited interactive gambling service” and the service has an Australian-customer link.

Whether a particular website or product falls under these sections is a question for a lawyer, not this page. Keno has its own position, set out in keno in Australia.

Real-money online scratch cards at casinos

At an online casino, a “scratch card” is a game from a game studio. You pay a fixed price per card, drag across the panel, and a random-number generator decides what it shows. There is no printed run of tickets behind it. A lottery scratchie is different: it belongs to a run of printed tickets with a fixed total of prizes. The Lott's Victorian ticket page, read on 26 October 2026, prints this for every game — for Christmas Gift, an A$1 ticket, “there are 6,500,000 tickets printed across Australia, excl. WA” and the “total value of prizes available to be won is $3,900,000”.

The word “scratch” in a game's name does not settle what kind of game it is. Mascot's Scratch the Bank, for example, is a video slot with five reels, three rows and 243 ways to win.

Each casino game lists a return to player (RTP): the share of all stakes its maths model pays back on average over a very long run. A game listed at 92% keeps, in expectation, 8 cents of every dollar staked. On this page, listed return means the figure printed in a lobby's game card or a game catalogue; we did not measure any of them.

These games are offered by offshore casinos — sites run from outside Australia. No online casino is licensed in Australia. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the federal regulator, says that “The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia”, and that if you use an illegal service, Australian regulators will not be able to help you if “the service provider withholds your winnings”.

Return to player: what the lobbies listed

On 23 October 2026 we read the full game catalogues of eight casino lobbies that run on one platform, from an Australian connection and without logging in. Fifty games had “scratch” in their title or game ID, from ten studios. Their listed returns run from 70.00% to 97.25%, and the median is 93.33%. For comparison, the median listed return of the whole catalogue, all games with a figure, was 96.00% in each of the same eight lobbies.

The list is built from the word “scratch”, not from the type of game: Scratch the Bank is a slot, and titles such as Scratch Dice, Spin & Scratch, Scratchy Spins, Scratch N Roll and Black Jack Scratch were not checked for type. A studio can release one title in several return versions; the figure in the game's information panel at your casino is the one that applies.

Not in those lobbies: Hacksaw Gaming, Pragmatic Play and Playtech had no games at all in the eight catalogues on 23 October 2026, and we do not know why. For their scratch games, the Slot Catalog database listed on 27 October 2026: Hacksaw — Scratch 'Em 92.04%, Happy Scratch 92.01%, Chaos Crew Scratch and Stack'em Scratch 60.12% each; Pragmatic Play — Panda Gold Scratchcard 85.59%, 7 Piggies Scratchcard 85.4%, Hot Safari Scratchcard 80.82%, Diamond Strike Scratchcard 76.55%, Queen of Gold Scratchcard 76.5%, Gold Rush Scratchcard 71.72%. These are catalogue figures, not what the lobbies we read showed.

Which casinos list them

Read from an Australian connection without logging in. Golden Crown's site, opened from Australia, asks visitors to confirm: “I am currently accessing this website outside of Australia”. A game being in a lobby is not a recommendation of the casino; the reviews linked above cover each one.

What the return means for a A$2.50 card

• Scratch 'Em at 92.04%, a fixed stake of 2.50 (Slot Catalog lists it in $, € or £): the expected cost of each card is about A$0.20, and a hundred cards, A$250 staked, cost about A$20. This is a catalogue figure for a game that was not in the eight lobbies we read, and a casino may run a lower version.
• A game at 96%, the median of the whole lobby catalogue: the same A$250 costs A$10. Per dollar staked, Scratch 'Em costs about twice as much (1.99×).
• Gold Rush Scratchcard at 71.72% (Pragmatic Play, Slot Catalog): the same A$250 costs about A$71 — about seven times the cost at 96% (7.07×).
• A lottery Instant Scratch-It works on a different base. By our count on The Lott's Victorian ticket page on 26 October 2026, each of its 51 games puts 60% of the face value of all printed tickets into prizes; Christmas Gift, for example, has A$3,900,000 of prizes for 6,500,000 tickets at A$1. The Lott does not state a percentage itself. This is a share of a whole printed run, not an average return on stakes, so it is not the same measure as an RTP, and it tells you nothing about Lotterywest's tickets.

All of these are expected costs over many cards, not what one session will do: a single session can end well above or well below them. A scratch card has nothing to decide inside the game, so the one choice you make is which title to open — and the listed return is the number to read before you do.

Bonuses and scratch games

Wagering is the total you must bet before bonus money can be withdrawn, and casinos count some games for less of it. Golden Crown's bonus terms, read on 27 October 2026, are an example of the rule: “All bets made while playing slots contribute 100% to bonus wagering. Bets made in table games, live casino games, lottery, or other available games contribute 5% to bonus wagering.” Its first-deposit bonus carries an “x40” wager. The clause does not name scratch games; if one counts as an “other available game”, which is our reading, a A$100 bonus at x40 means A$4,000 of wagering, and at 5% that takes A$80,000 of scratch-card bets. This shows how the rule works, not an offer: Golden Crown asks visitors from Australia to confirm they are outside Australia. Read the terms of the bonus you have before you play scratch games with it. How casino bonuses work explains wagering and game contribution in more detail.

FAQ

Can I buy instant scratchies online in Australia?

No. On 27 October 2026 neither Lotterywest (WA) nor The Lott (every other state and territory) offered a way to buy instant scratch tickets online: Lotterywest says they “are not able to be purchased online”, and The Lott lists Instant Scratch-Its as “available at your local retailer”. We did not check third-party resellers.

Can I buy Scratch'n'Win tickets online in WA?

No. Lotterywest's FAQ says: “No, Scratch'n'Win tickets are not able to be purchased online.” Its website and app sell draw games such as Lotto; scratchies are sold only in Lotterywest stores.

Can I check instant scratchies online or in an app?

With The Lott, yes: log in to an account and scan the ticket's barcode with your device camera on its website or app; its help page lists A$1, A$2, A$4, A$5, A$10, A$15 and A$20 tickets. Lotterywest describes checking a Scratch'n'Win ticket at a ticket checker in its stores.

Can I cash scratchies online?

No. The Lott lists Instant Scratch-Its prizes among those that can't be claimed with its online Check and Collect feature; you need the paper ticket, taken to a store in the state or territory where you bought it (QLD, TAS or NT for a Golden Casket ticket) or sent by post with that state's Prize Claim Form. In WA, prizes up to A$500 are paid at any Lotterywest retailer.

Can I play scratch cards online at a casino?

Offshore casinos offer scratch games: studio games with a random-number result at a fixed price per card, not lottery tickets. No online casino is licensed in Australia, and ACMA says Australian regulators will not be able to help if an illegal service withholds your winnings.

Which online scratch game lists the highest return?

Among the scratch-named games in the eight lobbies we read on 23 October 2026, Evoplay's Football Scratch and Scratch Match list 97.25%. That is the highest listed figure in that sample, not a measured result. Scratch the Bank (94.61%) is a video slot, not a scratch card.

Are online scratch cards legal in Australia?

ACMA says the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 “makes it illegal for gambling providers to offer some online services to people in Australia”, and the offence in section 15(1) of the Act is on the provider. If you use an illegal service, Australian regulators will not be able to help you recover withheld winnings. Online casino law in Australia sets out the position, including the changes that take effect on 1 January 2027.

Sources and method

Lotteries. Lotterywest: FAQ, Scratch'n'Win, Ways to play, Where can I play and Collecting your prize, read on 27 October 2026. The Lott: Instant Scratch-Its, ticket range, app, about and claiming prizes, read on 27 October 2026 with the site set to NSW, and the Instant Scratch-Its and ticket-range pages with the site set to VIC on 26 October 2026; help centre articles How do I check my Instant Scratch-Its ticket online?, What is Check and Collect? and How can I claim a prize?, read on 27 October 2026. All read from an Australian IP address without logging in. The 60% prize share is our calculation: total prize value divided by tickets printed times price, for each of the 51 games on the Victorian page.

Law. Sections 8D and 15 of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 are quoted from Compilation No. 24 (14 October 2024), the version in force on 27 October 2026 on the Federal Register of Legislation; the change from 1 January 2027 from Act No. 72 of 2026, Schedule 4 item 11. ACMA: About the Interactive Gambling Act and Protect yourself from illegal gambling operators, read on 23 October 2026.

Casino games. The eight lobbies' full catalogues were read on 23 October 2026 from an Australian connection without logging in; a game is in our list if “scratch” is in its title or game ID, its return is the figure in its game card, and a game's figure across lobbies is the median of its cards. Studio figures for Hacksaw Gaming and Pragmatic Play are from Slot Catalog game pages, read on 27 October 2026, as is the game type of Scratch the Bank. Golden Crown's bonus terms were read on 27 October 2026. We earn a commission when readers sign up through links on this site; it did not decide what is written here.

No online casino is licensed in Australia. Gambling is a cost, not an income; you must be 18 or over. Free, confidential support is available 24/7 on 1800 858 858 through Gambling Help Online.