Over the years gambling has always been a hot topic of conversation for a variety of politicians and lobby groups, particularly regarding the issue as to whether gambling should be encouraged. The problem for many of these groups is of course the lotteries, and with many charities in particular almost totally dependent for their income from lotteries it remains a difficult subject for them to address. In the meantime gambling on lotteries of one type or another has become the most widespread form of gambling in many countries including Ireland. The number of people regularly gambling on scratch cards for example far exceeds those actively engaged in sports gambling or casino gambling. Scratch cards were introduced by the lottery operators to boost income away from the main lottery draws, and the ease of purchase and instant results proved extremely successful. So successful in fact that the online casino operators have also taken up the idea of gambling on scratch cards, and casino gambling fans now have a wide variety of scratch cards to choose from on most online casino sites. Online scratch card gambling also has the advantage that cards can be purchased for very little money, often as little as 0.1 euros per play, making gambling on scratch cards affordable for almost everybody. Most online casinos now offer a wide range of scratch cards with an equally wide choice of purchase price, so online scratch card gambling is available to suit almost every budget. It is even possible to stake as much as $500 on one scratch card at Party casino, although it is difficult to believe there are many people prepared to go to that level of scratch card gambling. Some casino gambling fans probably use scratch cards along with the slots as a bit of light relief with instant results, but for many more scratch card gambling is now their prime gambling activity.