Method and system for enhanced lottery ticket accounting and sales with smart bin dispensers at a retail establishment

• US 10,672,234 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2015
• Issued: 06/02/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scientific Games LLC (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Scientific Games International Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Behm, William F., Ghia, Ajay J., Mejenborg, Sten Hallundbaek, Thompson, Mark Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Champagne, Luna
• Application Number:
  US14/802,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20170018148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: 705 21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/34 Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

A system and associated method are provided for dispensing lottery tickets at retail establishments. A lottery ticket terminal is in communication with a retail POS register and accepts a request for purchase of a particular lottery ticket selected from a plurality of different lottery tickets. A dispenser array is in communication with the terminal and includes a plurality of separate bins having a different respective lottery tickets stored. The lottery tickets have a machine readable code printed thereon and each bin includes a scanner disposed to read the code as the tickets are dispensed from the bin by an electronic drive mechanism. The lottery ticket terminal transmits a purchase signal for dispensing a particular lottery ticket that is routed to the respective bin containing the particular lottery ticket. The bin transmits a signal that is routed to a central lottery server for each lottery ticket dispensed from the bin, the signal identifying the lottery ticket from the scanned code.

Claims

1. A system for dispensing lottery tickets at a plurality of retail establishments, comprising:

a plurality of retail establishments, each of the retail establishments further comprising;

a retail point-of-sale (POS) register;

a lottery ticket terminal in communication with the retail POS register and configured to accept a request for purchase of a particular lottery ticket selected from a plurality of different lottery tickets;

a lottery ticket dispenser array in communication with the lottery ticket terminal, the dispenser array comprising a plurality of separate bins having a different respective lottery ticket stored therein, the lottery tickets containing a machine readable code printed thereon;

each bin having an electronic drive mechanism that dispenses the lottery tickets therefrom;

each bin comprising a scanner that reads the code on lottery tickets dispensed from the bin;

the lottery ticket terminal transmitting a purchase signal for dispensing a particular lottery ticket that is routed to the respective bin containing the particular lottery ticket;

a central lottery server in communication with the lottery ticket dispenser array of each of the retail establishments, each bin transmitting a signal that is routed to the central lottery server for each lottery ticket dispensed from the respective bin, the signal identifying the lottery ticket from the code read by the scanner;

the central lottery server operating to activate individual lottery tickets dispensed from the bins upon receipt of the signal identifying the lottery ticket dispensed from the bin;

the central lottery server operating to generate accountability and billing reports based on the individual lottery tickets activated by the central lottery server for each of the plurality of retail establishments during defined time periods; and

a central retail server in communication with the central lottery server and each of the plurality of retail establishments such that the accountability and billing reports for the retail establishments are collectively transmitted from the central lottery server to the central retail server and individually transmitted from the central lottery server to the retail establishments.

2. The system as in claim 1, wherein the lottery ticket terminal is configured to directly transmit a purchase code for the lottery ticket to the retail POS register, wherein a patron pays for the lottery ticket at the POS register along with other goods purchased at the retail establishment in a single transaction.

3. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a bin controller that routes the purchase signals from the lottery ticket terminal to the respective bin containing the particular lottery ticket.

4. The system as in claim 1, further comprising a retail back office server at each of the plurality of retail establishments in communication with the retail POS register, the central lottery server providing accountability information to the back office server based on lottery tickets dispensed during defined time periods.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the lottery ticket terminal directly transmits the purchase signal to the bin for dispensing the lottery ticket.

6. The system as in claim 1, wherein the retail POS register is in communication with the bin and transmits the purchase signal to the bin for dispensing the lottery ticket.

11. The system as in claim 1, wherein the retail POS register is configured to directly transmit a purchase code for the lottery ticket to the lottery ticket terminal once a patron pays for the lottery ticket at the retail POS register.

7. A method for dispensing lottery tickets at a plurality of retail establishments, comprising:

at each of the plurality of retail establishments, inputting a request for a particular lottery ticket from a plurality of different tickets into a lottery terminal at the retail establishment;

transmitting a signal to a lottery ticket dispenser array to dispense the requested lottery ticket from one of a plurality of separate bins configured in the dispenser;

dispensing the particular lottery ticket from one of the bins and scanning a code on the lottery ticket as it is being dispensed with a scanner configured with the bin;

transmitting a signal to a central lottery server routed from the bin that identifies the lottery ticket from the scanned code such that each lottery ticket dispensed from the bins is individually identified to the central lottery server;

at the central lottery server, activating the individual lottery tickets dispensed from the bins upon receipt of the signal identifying the lottery ticket dispensed from the bin; and

from the central lottery server, generating accountability and billing reports based on the individual lottery tickets activated by the central lottery server during defined time periods and transmitting the accountability and billing reports individually to the retail establishments and collectively to a central retail server at scheduled times, the central retail server in communication with the central lottery server and the lottery ticket dispenser array at each of the plurality of retail establishments.

8. The method as in claim 7, further comprising directly transmitting a purchase code for the lottery ticket from the lottery terminal to a retail POS register for payment of the lottery ticket at the POS register, wherein a patron pays for the lottery ticket at the POS register along with other goods purchased at the retail establishment in a single transaction.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the signal to the lottery ticket dispenser is generated from the lottery ticket terminal.

10. The method as in claim 7, wherein a retail back office server is in communication with the retail POS register at each of the plurality of retail establishments, the method further comprising providing accountability information from the central lottery server to the retail back office server based on lottery tickets dispensed during defined time periods.

12. The method as in claim 7, further comprising directly transmitting a purchase code for the lottery ticket from a retail POS register to the lottery terminal once a patron pays for the lottery ticket at the retail POS register.