Scratch cards — how much they cost and what you can win

Scratch cards are sold at the same outlets as Lotto tickets, but that's about all they have in common. The buyer doesn't choose numbers, doesn't wait for an evening draw, and doesn't check the ticket afterwards — they scratch off the layer and know immediately whether they've won. Below we describe how prices vary between series, what determines the size of the top prize, and where to collect your winnings.

How much a scratch card costs

Totalizator Sportowy scratch card prices fall into several tiers. The cheapest series cost a few zlotys per ticket and offer a top prize of around several dozen thousand zlotys. Mid-range series, priced at a dozen or so zlotys, raise the top prize to a six-figure sum. The most expensive scratch cards cost several dozen zlotys, and it's here that top prizes reach hundreds of thousands of zlotys.

Specific prices and prizes change as old series are withdrawn and new ones introduced. The current catalogue, with the price, top prize, and number of tickets issued for each series, is published by the operator — this is the only binding source. It's worth checking before buying, especially if you're after a specific series, since editions are sometimes withdrawn once their pool is exhausted.

Each series has a predetermined, pre-planned number of tickets and an assigned prize structure. The operator publishes it in the rules: how many tickets win the top prize, how many the second, how many the third, and so on down to the lowest tier, which is often a refund of the ticket price. This table is the only real source of information about the odds — and it differs between series.

How a scratch card differs from a number game

There are several differences, and each has practical consequences. In a number game, the outcome is generated at the moment of the draw, so time passes between buying the ticket and the result being settled. In a scratch card, the outcome already exists the moment the ticket comes off the production line — scratching it only reveals it. The table below compares both types of games.

Feature	Scratch card	Number game (Lotto)
Moment the outcome is set	ticket printing	draw
Player's choice of numbers	none	six out of forty-nine
Time to learn the result	immediate	up to several days
Prize pool	fixed, planned within the series	variable, grows with a rollover
Splitting the prize	prize assigned to the ticket	shared among winners
Statistics of past results	does not exist	available for the entire history

Comparison based on the rules of Totalizator Sportowy games. Details of each scratch card series and each number game are set out in separate rules published by the operator.

The last row of the table has practical significance. For Lotto, you can review the history of every draw and check how often a given number has come up — that's what the Lotto number statistics are for. With scratch cards, such analysis has no subject: there are no numbers, no draws, no time series. There is only the prize structure of the series, identical from the first ticket to the last.

What you can win and how the prize structure looks

In every series, the lowest-tier prizes are the most numerous, and the top prize usually appears in just a handful of copies across the whole edition. The most frequently occurring prize is a refund of the ticket price or an amount only slightly higher — and it accounts for most of the moments when a player wins anything at all. Mid-tier prizes appear less often, and top prizes are a one-off event across the whole series.

It's worth understanding what the winning ratio quoted for a series actually means. The statement that every so many tickets wins applies to all tiers combined, including the lowest one. It doesn't mean that every so many tickets brings a profit — a refund of the ticket price is formally a win, but financially it closes the transaction at zero.

The top prize in a series may already be gone from circulation even though tickets are still on sale. The operator publishes information about top-tier prizes already paid out, so before buying a more expensive scratch card you can check whether the pool of top winnings in a given edition has already been exhausted. This is one of the few pieces of information that actually changes anything before a purchase.

Where to collect a scratch card win

Small winnings are paid out at the outlet where the scratch card was bought, or at any other point of sale. Higher amounts require a visit to a Totalizator Sportowy branch, and the largest ones require a scheduled appointment and payment by transfer. The thresholds that determine where a win is paid out are set by the rules and are similar to those applying to number games. You'll find the list of branches across the country on the where to collect your winnings page.

A scratch card is a bearer document, so its physical condition matters. Damage to the field with the code, a torn ticket, or scratching off the layer outside the game fields can complicate verification. For higher prizes, proof of identity and an intact ticket are required — a purchase receipt alone does not replace the scratch card.

There is also a claims deadline, counted from the day sales of a given series end. After it passes, the ticket loses its value regardless of the size of the win. Deadlines vary between editions, so it's not worth putting off collecting a win.

Tax on scratch card winnings

Scratch cards are subject to the same taxation rules as number games. A single win of up to 2,280 PLN inclusive is exempt from income tax. Above this threshold, a flat 10 percent tax applies, calculated on the full value of the prize, not on the surplus above the threshold.

The tax is withheld and paid by Totalizator Sportowy, so the player receives the amount already reduced and does not report it in their annual PIT tax return. Detailed calculations, thresholds, and deadlines are described in a separate article on tax on lottery winnings — the rules are identical for both types of games.

Most common misconceptions

First: that scratch cards from one outlet or from one pack are "better". Winning tickets are distributed within a series at the printing stage and reach points of sale in a way the buyer has no influence over. The place of purchase doesn't change what's under the layer.

Second: that after a run of losing tickets a win "must" come. Every ticket has its own outcome fixed at printing, and what previous ones showed says nothing about it. Third: that scratch cards from the end of a pack win more often. The order of tickets within a pack has no bearing on the distribution of prizes across the whole edition.

A fourth misconception concerns the choice of game itself. A scratch card and Lotto are different constructions, not two versions of the same thing. With a scratch card you know the prize pool in advance and don't share your win with anyone; with Lotto the pool grows with a rollover, but the top prize is split among all winners. Current rollover amounts can be checked in the rollover summary.