While people are looking to spoil their mum this Mother’s Day, meet the woman who designs Instant Scratch-Its tickets – the gift with endless possibilities. 

Michelle from Instant Scratch-Its has been creating new games for Aussies to scratch since June 2015.

This month, she reached a significant milestone: she completed work on her 100th Instant Scratch-Its ticket. 

“I had always loved Instant Scratch-Its, so when I saw the job vacancy, I thought I would apply and hoped I’d get it,” Michelle said. 

“I actually flew up for my job interview on my birthday and got the job the same day! It was a great birthday present. 

“I’ve now been with Instant Scratch-Its for three and a half years, and I still love what I do just as much as I did then. It’s such a fun and creative job.”

The process of designing and creating Instant Scratch-Its tickets is surprisingly complex and Michelle explained how one game can take the best part of a year to complete.

“Each Instant Scratch-Its game takes around six to nine months to make, from our initial planning to arriving in stores. That’s why we have multiple games on the go at any time,” she shared.  

“There are quite a few steps involved, including ensuring the game offers the best experience for players, and working on prize structures to create lots of winning moments.

“Mother’s Day is one of the busiest times of year for Instant Scratch-Its. This year the range features a special range of special Mother’s Day tickets designed to complete mum’s gift, including the $5 Live the Life, $5 Luxe Riches and $2 Pearly Riches.

“We began working on this year’s Mother’s Day tickets in June last year. These take a bit longer to create as we want all the tickets in the range to complement each other.  

“We are working on a few tickets at the moment, including the Christmas tickets. It seems early, but we use this time to make our range extra exciting.

“We do lots of research with our players to find out what they like and don’t like and what they want to see in the future. We also see what other lotteries around the world are doing and evaluate customer trends before we create them.”

Even though she did help design all of the tickets, Michelle still has favourites she enjoys to play.

“I can play Instant Scratch-Its tickets and I do. All the integrity measures involved means we don’t know which ones are the winning tickets,” she explained. 

“Tickets are spent all around Australia so I’ve got the same chance as anyone else of landing a top prize.

“I play lots of the games, but my favourite at the moment is the $5 Live the Life ticket. I love the tickets with bright fun colours and themes and I like to play games that entertain for longer.”

When asked what Michelle would be getting her mum this Mother’s Day, Michelle had no hesitation.

“Yes, I am buying my mum a few little gifts and then I’ll add some Mother’s Day Instant Scratch-Its tickets as well,” she laughed.

“I always buy my mum Instant Scratch-Its tickets for Mother’s Day each year, and she always enjoys getting them! Especially because she knows my team and I designs the tickets. I think she’s pretty proud.”

Discover where you can buy Instant Scratch-Its tickets here.