Method and apparatus for facilitating the play of fractional lottery tickets utilizing point-of-sale terminals
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating the purchase of fractional lottery tickets using a point-of-sale terminal, comprising:
- using a point-of-sale terminal to determine a monetary value based on an amount of change due for a purchase;
allocating a portion of a ticket, the portion being based on the monetary value,in which the ticket is associated with a predetermined price, andin which the predetermined price is greater than the monetary value;
outputting a ticket identifier that identifies the ticket and a portion identifier that identifies the allocated portion of the ticket; and
storing the ticket identifier and the portion identifier.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A store controller determines a monetary value, such as an amount of spare change due to a customer, and allocates a portion of a lottery ticket for the customer. The portion is based on the monetary value, and may be, for example, equal to the monetary value, or may be the monetary value rounded to the nearest nickel. The store controller outputs a ticket identifier that identifies the lottery ticket (e.g. a serial number) and a portion identifier that identifies the allocated portion of the lottery ticket (e.g. $0.34 of a $2.00 lottery ticket). Typically, the store controller outputs the identifiers to a POS terminal, which prints a fractional lottery ticket redeemable for a portion of the lottery ticket'"'"'s prize. The store controller also stores the ticket identifier and the portion identifier, to assure that fraudulent tickets will be detected. After a drawing date of the lottery ticket, the customer redeems the fractional lottery ticket, typically at a POS terminal. The POS terminal communicates with the store controller, which receives the ticket identifier and the portion identifier therefrom. From the received identifiers, the store controller may determine a prize value of the lottery ticket. The customer is in turn provided with a portion of the prize value based on the allocated portion of the ticket.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating the purchase of fractional lottery tickets using a point-of-sale terminal, comprising:
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using a point-of-sale terminal to determine a monetary value based on an amount of change due for a purchase; allocating a portion of a ticket, the portion being based on the monetary value, in which the ticket is associated with a predetermined price, and in which the predetermined price is greater than the monetary value; outputting a ticket identifier that identifies the ticket and a portion identifier that identifies the allocated portion of the ticket; and storing the ticket identifier and the portion identifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for facilitating the purchase of fractional lottery tickets using a point-of-sale terminal, comprising:
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a storage device; and a processor connected to the storage device, the storage device storing a program for controlling the processor; and the processor operative with the program to; determine a monetary value; allocate a portion of a ticket, the portion being based on the monetary value, in which the ticket is associated with a predetermined price, and in which the predetermined price is greater than the monetary value; output a ticket identifier that identifies the ticket and a portion identifier that identifies the allocated portion of the ticket; and store the ticket identifier and the portion identifier in the storage device, in which the processor is further operative with the program to; determine a monetary value based on an amount of change due for a purchase. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification