Quick Fix?

Scratch-cards remain one of New Atlas’s cheapest little luxuries, promising a few seconds in which rent, work and every other inconvenient fact of life might simply disappear beneath a silver coating. Retailers say sales are strongest among younger buyers and shift workers chasing the possibility of a sudden change in fortune.

The odds remain unfriendly. That has never stopped anyone. A small stake still buys a very large daydream, and sometimes the dream is the product.

Some problems resist being scratched away. Still… worth a try?