Secure substrate for scratch-off products

A method for manufacturing a secure Scratch-Off-Coating (SOC) protected document, wherein the document is composed of a separately manufactured secure substrate comprised of at least one lower opacity layer covering the entirety of the substrate that does not penetrate the substrate and at least one lower background layer applied on top of the lower opacity layer also covering the entirety of the substrate, a separate manufacturing process applies a printed indicia to the separately manufactured secure substrate with a series of secure SOC ink film layers also printed, the method comprising:

• (a) printing at least one indicia on the secure substrate;
• (b) printing at least a protect and release layer, an upper opacity layer, and an upper background layer, together comprising the secure SOC ink film layers, that are printed on top of the separately manufactured secure substrate and at least one indicia;
• and
• (c) measuring the transmission optical density of the composite separately manufactured secure substrate and secure SOC ink film layers to determine whether the measured transmission optical density meets or exceeds the defined minimum transmission optical density, such that the measured optical density is a function of both the separately manufactured secure substrate and the SOC ink film layers.