n
( in Britain ) a small paper card which can be bought from shops as a form of gambling. A covering on parts of the card can be scratched off to reveal whether or not you have won a cash prize. Although scratchcards have been legal in Britain since 1976 they became especially popular in 1995 as part of the National Lottery . Scratchcard prizes are generally smaller than the major National Lottery prizes. Scratchcards have also been part of state lotteries in the US since the 1980s.