One of the most popular legal forms of gambling in the US is instant lottery, also known as scratch off tickets. These tickets contain winning numbers hidden beneath a coating which can be scratched away with your finger to reveal them – in order to prevent fraud these tickets must be designed and manufactured with stringent security precautions in order to thwart fraudsters and track distribution. Usually these tickets also contain coded serial numbers to validate them further and track distribution.
After being printed, tickets are then processed through a cover applicator that treats them with various concealment coatings – opaque metal foil, paper pulltab, and acrylic film are the most widely used types of concealment coatings – to cover and conceal. Common types of coating include opaque metal foil, paper pulltab and acrylic film – the latter type providing better protection from candling, delamination and wicking. During application of an opaque covering to both front and back sides of tickets is called confusion pattern printing which typically features lines or symbols matching up with lottery numbers – followed by opaque covering application on both front and back sides completing this step of application process.
Certain methods for breaching lottery ticket security attempt to directly view lottery numbers through either side of their front or back covers without scratching off their coating, known as candling, by shining a bright light through it. Other techniques, like wicking, involve chemically dissolving the covering to reveal them underneath.
For player safety, games will be removed from sale once all the top prizes have been claimed. If there are still winning tickets left in any particular game, they will be added to an official Outstanding Prize List which is updated daily.
