Online scratch cards were a mostly non-existent form of iGaming until only recently. Operators had incorrectly estimated that online lottery players would not be interested a virtual recreation of the scratch card experience. But as some operators have had success with scratch cards online, a few others have followed suit.
Before you get busy marketing to scratch card players, it’s helpful to first understand your audience. Just who exactly are these people playing a scratch card game online?
Fun and Games
A key understanding of online scratch card players is their extroverted and carefree personality tendencies. Let’s face it, online scratch cards are not exactly what one equates with serious business. The games usually involve some sort of a dancing and smiling coin revealing one’s fortune one simulated swipe of the card at a time. You have to be a pretty cheerful person to be enticed by that.
Leverage these personality tendencies in marketing efforts aimed at stoking the flames of some light-hearted fun.
Blue Collar Crowd
Scratch card games tend to have a higher appeal among uniformed workers than suit-wearing professionals. The element of silliness inherent to scratch card games doesn’t tend to jive with a business demeanor.
Business professionals are more likely to find higher-intensity gaming like sports-betting more interesting than scratch cards.
Titans of Industry
Lotteries are very popular in English-speaking countries, but other regions should not be overlooked. Countries with a strong industrial economic base can be viewed as potential hot-spots for scratch card customers even if English is not the native language.
In Latin America, scratch cards are becoming increasingly popular among in developing economies where the games appeal to a working class populous amused by the activity. Global participation in online scratch card games stands to increase as in-home Internet access continues to reach more people in Latin America.
Generic Gender Appeal
Men tend to be more likely than women to gamble online. With scratch cards online, there is no exception to this. Men tend to consume slightly higher quantities of paper, offline versions of scratch cards. This disparity is likely extended somewhat with online scratch cards due to a greater willingness among men to participate in iGaming.
Not a One Trick Pony
Perhaps the most important lesson regarding scratch card player demographics is that almost no participants identify exclusively as scratch card players. This makes the scratch cards unique to poker or sports-betting where a large number of participants stick exclusively to their preferred activity.
Cross-marketing efforts can be necessary to creating conversions in the online scratch card niche since most scratch card players probably possess a keen interest in slots, horse racing, and other forms of online lotteries. In this light, scratch cards can be viewed as a compliment to other forms of iGaming marketing efforts since participants are unlikely to pigeon-hole themselves in identifying exclusively as scratch card players.