Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A63F3/00—Board games; Raffle games
  • A63F3/06—Lottos or bingo games; Systems, apparatus or devices for checking such games
  • A63F3/065—Tickets or accessories for use therewith
  • A63F3/0665—Tickets or accessories for use therewith having a message becoming legible after rubbing-off a coating or removing an adhesive layer
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • A63F2250/00—Miscellaneous game characteristics
  • A63F2250/58—Antifraud or preventing misuse

Definitions

• the present disclosure relates in general to methodologies for securing scratch-off lottery tickets and commercial tickets/coupons against assisted and unassisted mechanical lifts and reapplication, as well as a method for protecting against the fraud of recycling losing tickets by the reprinting of a
• the term 'mechanical lift' refers to a process that uses a flat blade (e.g., X-Acto chisel blade #17) or other device to peel back a portion of a Scratch-Off-Coating (SOC) to reveal previously hidden indicia. The SOC is then glued back into place such that it is not obvious that the integrity of the coating has been breached.
• a flat blade e.g., X-Acto chisel blade #17
• SOC Scratch-Off-Coating
• Another form of fraud involves completely removing the SOC, viewing the indicia, and then reprinting a new SOC on the non-winning products (via silk screen or other printing methodology) that is similar in appearance to the original SOC such that an unsuspecting customer would purchase the modified product assuming it is pristine.
• a method for deterring and detecting fraudulent removal of a scratch-off coating (SOC) from a substrate having at least one scratch-off area.
• a release layer is applied over the scratch-off area, and a scratch-off coating is applied over the release layer.
• the release layer is modified to have non-uniform release properties over the scratch-off area such that the scratch-off coating cannot be lifted or removed as a single continuous layer, but underlying indicia or images in the scratch-off area are still visually discernable upon removal of the scratch-off coating in a normal intended removal process, for example by scraping the SOC with a coin, fingernail, and so forth. In this manner, attempts at assisted lifting or removal and reapplication of the scratch-off coating results in visually apparent evidence of such attempts.
• the release layer is applied as a discontinuous layer over the scratch-off area, resulting in the scratch-off coating being removed from the substrate in areas where the release layer is present but remaining on the substrate in areas where the release layer is absent.
• the release layer may be applied with a pattern of holes.
• the surface of the release layer is modified to be irregular or non-smooth, wherein the scratch-off coating flows into the irregular surface features upon application thereof and prevents removal of the scratch-off coating as a single continuous layer.
• the thickness of the release layer may be varied such that raised and lowered thickness areas are defined in the release layer.
• the release layer is formed in multiple levels creating a series of raised planes to which the scratch-off coating is applied.
• the surface of the release layer is formed or modified to be rough or irregular such that cavities are created into which the scratch-off coating flows and cures.
• a substrate is provided with a scratch-off area, a release layer over the scratch-off area, and a scratch-off coating applied over the release layer.
• the release layer has a modified non-smooth surface creating non-uniform release properties such that the scratch-off coating cannot be lifted or removed from the release layer as a single continuous layer, while underlying indicia or images in the scratch-off area remain visually discernable upon removal of the scratch-off coating in a normal intended removal process. In this manner, attempts at assisted lifting or removal and reapplication of the scratch-off coating results in visually apparent evidence of such attempts.
• the release layer may be formed with the properties from any of the methods discussed above.
• FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a first representative example of a [ottery-type instant ticket where a mechanical lift has been attempted and the SOC was not reapplied in register;
• FIG. 2 is a front plan view of a first representative example of a lottery-type instant ticket where a Benday-type pattern overprint greatly increases the difficulty of lifting and reapplying or reprinting the SOC;
• FIG. 3 is a front plan view of the first representative example of FIG.2 where a lift/reapplication has been attempted but the miss-registered Benday pattern makes the attempt clearly visible;
• FIG. 4 is a front plan view of the first representative example of FIG.2 where a complete SOC replacement (or reprint) has been attempted but the mis-registered Benday pattern makes the attempt clearly visible;
• FIG. 5 is a front plan view of the first representative example of a non-continuous release coating film application in a typical scratch-off ticket ink film layer;
• FIG. 6 is a cross section view of the second representative example of a release coating film with an irregular surface application in a scratch- off ticket ink film layer;
• FIG. 7 is a cross section view of the third representative example of a release coating film with an irregular surface application in a scratch -off ticket ink film layer.
• FIG, 8 is a front plan view of the first representative example of a scratch-off ticket with a special coating to chemically detect assist agents.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a lottery ticket 100 where the scratch-off area 101 SOC has been mechanically lifted in six places 102, but not reapplied into proper registration with the other graphics on the ticket.
• FIG. 2 illustrates an example of this preferred embodiment.
• the six scratch-off areas 101 of the ticket 100 all include Benday overprints 1 1 that cover both the scratch-off areas 101 as well as a portion of the
• FIG. 3 provides an illustration of how the Benday patterns 11 1 provide a ready visual indication 1 15 that a mechanical lift/reapplication has been attempted in the six scratch-off areas, even to someone that is not necessarily aware of the technique.
• FIG. 4 illustrates how the same Benday patterns 1 1 1 would also protect against reprinting of the entire SOC in the six scratch-off areas, by readily showing a registration failure 260 between the replacement SOC and the ticket substrate 103 that is not apparent in non-tampered tickets.
• protection of the integrity of the SOC can be provided by alterations to the release material associated with the SOC rather than by an elaborate overprint.
• Scratch-off tickets typically employ a release coating layer beneath the SOC opaque and decorative layers.
• the release layer causes any coatings placed over it to easily scratch-off.
• the physical nature of the scratch-off coating varies from manufacturer to manufacturer (e.g., wax base, UV coating, etc.) and has been documented in numerous other patents as well as many public domain documents and is not essential to the present description, in known applications, however, the release layer is specified as a continuous film providing a foundation from which all subsequent layers of ink film will scratch-off, allowing for the one-time reveal that is typical of scratch-off tickets.
• the problem with this homogeneous continuous release film is that it provides an excellent base for SOC mechanical lifts and/or replacement of the SOC by devious means.
• a release film with partial coverage causes the SOC to release easily from some areas and not at all from others, thereby making it difficult if not impossible to lift or reprint the SOC even with mechanical assists.
• the release film 200 is applied as illustrated in FIG. 5 with a pattern of dots (holes) 201 in which no release film is present.
• the dots 201 are small enough they will not hinder the normal scratching process or obscure the imaged indicia.
• the presence of a non-continuous release film with holes large enough to prohibit lifting of the SOC will greatly hinder or render impossible mechanical lifting of the SOC due to the dotted areas with no release that would effectively block a sharp X-Acto or razor blade from raising a smooth film.
• the pattern of dots (holes) 201 would also make it extremely difficult to reapply a new SOC to the scratched off area(s) due to registration problems with the SOC overprint and the multiplicity of dots.
• the dot pattern is described in for this particular embodiment.
• FIG. 6 illustrates an irregular or rough SOC film 202, printed on a ticket substrate 103, above the win or lose indicia 252, with opaque and decorative overprints 253 printed on top of the irregular release film 202.
• the irregular release film surface 202 when initially applied and not completely cured allows for subsequent SOC ink film layers to flow into the irregular surfaces forming a homogeneous and opaque covering 253,
• the irregularities in the release film may be generated by planned deformities in the Flexographic printing plate (or other type of printing) that applies the release film to the ticket substrate 103.
• the rough/irregular surface of the release film 202 is not so irregular that it significantly impacts removal of the SOC by normal consumer scratching with a relatively blunt coin or other object.
• the rough/irregular surface of the release film 202 functions as a series of 'speed bumps' that repeatedly catch the sharp edge of the X-Acto or razor blade typically used in mechanical lifts causing the blades to jerk and not lift a continuous patch.
• the irregular release film surface 202 does allow removal of the majority of the SOC 253 with blunt coins and other objects (e.g., fingernail), it does allow for microscopic parts of the SOC 253 to remain.
• the release film coating thickness can be varied, producing a series of plateaus, which halt or disrupt any mechanical lifting attempts.
• the release film 203 is applied in multiple levels, resulting in a series of planes to which the SOC ink film(s) 253 are applied.
• the multiple levels of release coating could be achieved by altering the line screen on a single Flexographic printing plate or by the application of multiple printing plates.
• Krylon clear spray contains keytones, petroleum distillates, toluene, naphthalene, acetone, and ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate. Dyes exist that responds to one of these ingredients. These dyes could be applied as an overcoat to the ticket's scratch area and serve as an obvious indication of attempted "assisted lift" tampering.
• FIG. 8 provides an exemplary illustration of this embodiment.
• the lottery ticket 100 has special dyes 255 that are sensitive to one of the key ingredients in the assisted lift medium ⁇ e.g., Krylon).

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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• Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)
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• Image Input (AREA)

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• 2010
  • 2010-11-30 WO PCT/IB2010/055511 patent/WO2011117687A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-11-30 CA CA2793803A patent/CA2793803C/en active Active
  • 2010-11-30 CA CA2793804A patent/CA2793804C/en active Active
  • 2010-11-30 ES ES10801274.1T patent/ES2555392T3/es active Active
  • 2010-11-30 CA CA2793802A patent/CA2793802C/en active Active
  • 2010-11-30 EP EP10801275.8A patent/EP2550072B1/de active Active
  • 2010-11-30 ES ES10801275.8T patent/ES2551385T3/es active Active
  • 2010-11-30 WO PCT/IB2010/055513 patent/WO2011117688A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-11-30 EP EP10805505A patent/EP2550073A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 2010-11-30 EP EP10801274.1A patent/EP2550071B1/de active Active
  • 2010-11-30 WO PCT/IB2010/055514 patent/WO2011117689A1/en active Application Filing

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