Scientific Games Reports 90% of Ohio Scratch Connect Players Completed the Digital Game
Scientific Games announced on 3 September 2026 that the Ohio Lottery’s first Scratch Connect game has generated strong early player adoption, releasing completion and replay figures that speak directly to how well the retail-to-digital model is holding players. According to the company, nearly 570,000 Ohio players, as of 22 August, scanned their $5 Bonus Cash Wheel retail ticket to play the Reach the Wheel game online.
Of those players, 90% completed the digital game and 40% then selected the option to play again by entering another ticket. For a product built to move players from a physical scratch card into a digital bonus round, those two numbers are the ones that matter, and Scientific Games is presenting them as evidence that Ohio players are embracing the full connected play experience.
How Scientific Games links scratch tickets to mobile play
Lotteries have spent years looking for ways to add digital engagement without cannibalising the retail network that still drives most of their sales. Scratch Connect is Scientific Games’ answer to that tension. The product extends a traditional instant scratch game into a digital bonus game, but it does so in a way designed to keep the shop counter central rather than route players away from it.
Inside the Bonus Cash Wheel scratch-off and Reach the Wheel game
After playing the traditional instant scratch game, players scratch the Scratch Connect logo and scan the revealed QR code with their mobile device to unlock a digital bonus game with its own separate chance to reveal winnings. Following a simple age confirmation, they can begin immediately without creating an account or registering. For the Ohio Lottery’s Bonus Cash Wheel, the retail Scratch-Off features a wheel-style play action that continues in the Reach the Wheel digital game, with colours and other visual elements carried across both experiences to create a cohesive game from ticket to mobile device.
What connected lottery play means for retailers
The design keeps retailers at the centre of the experience. The physical ticket remains the bearer instrument, and all prizes are redeemed at retail, including those revealed through digital bonus play. Scientific Games also notes that Scratch Connect does not require any system vendor integration, which it positions as a quick-to-market digital product without integration challenges. For operators, that combination of a digital layer with no integration lift and retail as the redemption point is the practical appeal.
“The early response to Bonus Cash Wheel demonstrates the opportunity lotteries have to connect retail and digital play in a way that feels natural to players,” said Charlie Scannella, VP, Customer Success & Relationship Management for Scientific Games. “Scratch Connect extends the entertainment of a physical scratch game to mobile while keeping the retail network central to the experience. Players can move easily from the ticket to digital play without an account or registration, giving lotteries a simple way to introduce a connected experience while supporting their retail business.”
Reading the early Ohio Lottery engagement numbers
The figures are early and come from Scientific Games itself. The company’s release cites both Scientific Games data and the AFJC National Survey, 2025 (n=839) as its sources. The numbers cover a single game in a single state over a defined window, so they show early behaviour rather than a settled trend. Completion and replay rates from a first launch are encouraging signals, but they are not yet a track record across markets.
Where Scientific Games takes Scratch Connect next in the US
The Ohio launch marks the third Scratch Connect game in the US, following Kentucky and Pennsylvania, with more games planned according to Scientific Games. Whether the Ohio completion and replay rates hold as the product rolls into additional markets and titles will be the real test of the connected model, but the early Ohio numbers give the company a concrete data point to take to other lotteries.
Source: Scientific Games
