Scratch card printer and method of printing information on a scratch card

A scratch card printer comprising:

• a conveying section which conveys a card;
• a first printing mechanism which has a printing head;
• a printing control section which controls the printing head of the first printing mechanism, causing the thermal head to perform thermal printing to print information on the card;
• a second printing mechanism which has a thermal head located downstream of the first printing mechanism, in a direction of conveying the card by the conveying means;
• and
• a thermal transfer control section which controls the thermal head of the second printing mechanism, causing the thermal head to transfer ink from a thermal transfer ribbon to the card, thereby to conceal the information printed on the card by the first printing mechanism,
• wherein the thermal transfer control section controls the thermal head such that printing energy applied to achieve solid printing at least at a final printing portion of a printing area to conceal the information printed by the first printing mechanism is greater than printing energy applied to print information on the remaining portion of the printing area.

A scratch card printer comprising:

• a conveying section which conveys a card;
• a first printing mechanism which has a printing head;
• a printing control section which controls the printing head of the first printing mechanism, causing the printing head to print information on the card;
• a second printing mechanism which has a thermal head located downstream of the first printing mechanism, in a direction of conveying the card by the conveying means;
• and
• a thermal transfer control section which controls the thermal head of the second printing mechanism, causing the thermal head to transfer ink from a thermal transfer ribbon to the card, thereby to conceal the information printed on the card by the first printing mechanism,
• wherein the thermal transfer control section controls the thermal head such that printing energy applied to achieve solid printing an outer marginal contour portion of a printing area to conceal the information printed by the first printing mechanism is greater than printing energy applied to print information on the remaining inside portion of the printing area.