GB2075918A - Lottery ticket - Google Patents

Abstract

A lottery ticket has three playing card representations concealed by means of scratch or rub-off material. On top of or alternative to the scratch or rub-off material there are printed alternative playing card representations, covered by a sheet having lines of weakening defining tear back tabs. Each alternative playing card representation can be destroyed or invalidated by abrading the coating over a concealed playing card representation. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to tickets for use in lotteries gaming and amusement This invention relates to tickets for use in lotteries, gaming and/or amusement, and such tickets will be referred to hereinafter collectively in the interests of simplicity, simply as "lottery tickets".

The invention has reference to lottery tickets of the type known as instant lottery tickets. With such tickets a user knows instantly whether or not he or she has won a prize by opening or using the lottery ticket in the manner described on the ticket itself.

There are various forms of such instant lottery tickets currently in use in the United Kingdom, and such tickets include the so-called window tickets.

These tickets are provided with tear-back windows, and when the windows are turned back certain game information is revealed, and if the elements of the game information revealed are in a particular combination, a prize can be claimed instantly from the seller of the tickets. In another form of instant lottery ticket, elements of the game are concealed by an irreversibly removable coating, which is scratched or rubbed away to reveal the elements of the game information. Again, if a predetermined combination of elements is revealed on removing the coating, the participant can instantly claim a prize from the promoter.

There is a constant search to make these instant lottery tickets, which are commercially successful, more interesting to the participants in terms of giving the participants better and more choice possibilities, and the present invention has this objective in mind. The invention is unique however, in achieving excellent choice possibilities by utilising the property of the said rub-off or scratch-off coating material that it is destroyed when removed.

The purpose of ensuring that the said coating is destroyed when it is removed is to ensure that participants using a lottery ticket will not be able to allege that the coating was unintentionally removed, and tampering with the ticket is made extremely difficult. Use is made, in the present invention, of the said coating material. The participant in using a lottery ticket in accordance with the present invention has greater choice possibility as regards achieving a possible winning ticket, but in addition once the participant has made a certain choice then he cannot go back on that choice, because the making of the choice will involve the removal of the said coating material which is destroyed in its removal.

Specifically, in the present invention, the lottery ticket has scratch or rub-off material which is destroyed upon its removal, and under that material is game information related to the play of the lottery, and in addition, the ticket carries game information relative to the lottery which is alternative in terms of the users choice, to the concealed information. The said alternative informtion is preferably superimposed on the coating material, but this is not necessary because the alternative information could be applied on another part of the ticket. The game information on top of the coating, or the game information concealed by the coating may in itself constitute the entire game information which decides whether or not the participant wins a prize, or it may constitute only an element of a possible combination which determines whether or not a prize is won.In the latter case, there may be a number of elements of game information concealed by the said coating material, and above each said elements is printed an alternative element. In such a case, there would be a combination of elements of game information on the upper surface of the coating, and an alternative combination concealed.

The ticket is preferably for use in a lottery in which various grades of prizes are available. By this arrangement, when a combination of elements make up the information in deciding whether or not a prize is won, it will be readily understood that the participant can vary combinations of elements by selectively scratching or rubbing off sections of coating covering elements of the game information which the participant wishes to alter.

Specifically, if for example the ticket conceals three elements of information by means of the said coating, and above the said three elements in the upper surface of the coating material are three alternative elements, if the three elements of the game information on top of the coating material constitute a winning combination, the user may claim a prize without removing any region of coating.If the three elements do not constitute a winning combination, or if the user wishes to endeavour to achieve a winning combination giving a higher value prize, he can selectively remove regions of the coating displaying the upper elements and concealing the lower elements of the game information, and the significant advantage and inventive step in the present invention is constituted by the fact that when the user removes the coating covering any particular element, he destroys the coating and therefore irreversibly removes from any doubt the ticket has been used.

The embodiment of the invention which is described with reference to the drawings will show how a multitude of possible combintions can be achieved in the utilisation of a ticket according to this example, and the destruction, during further possible play using the ticket, of the element of information which was on the upper surface of the coating.

In recent times, window games based on the card game pontoon have shown themselves to be extremely popular. The present invention is adaptable for use in connection with a simulated pontoon card game. Three elements, representative of three playing cards are concealed by regions of rub-off material, and printed on top of the rub-off material are three further game elements, being representations of playing cards. To add to the realism of playing pontoon, preferably all of the playing cards are different ones of a pack of playing cards. The upper playing cards can be visible on the ticket when purchased, but we prefer to cover the coating material and the upper playing cards thereon by means of a cover sheet.The cover sheet will have perforations or other lines of weakening defining tear-back windows respectively covering the playing cards on the upper surface of the coating material, the coating material in turn concealing the playing cards to the underside thereof.

In using the ticket, the purchaser would tear back the three windows defined in the cover sheet, removing the upper three playing cards. If these playing cards reveal a winning combination, the participant can claim his prize without further utilisa- tion of the ticket. If the elements do not define a winning combination, however, or if the participant wishes to endeavour to achieve a winning combination yielding a higher prize, he can scratch off the coating material revealed by tearing back any one or more (up to three) of the windows, thereby to reveal the concealed playing card, and at the same time to destroy and remove from the game in an irreversible fashion, the playing card which was disclosed initially upon tearing back of the window.The example with reference to the example illustrated, will show how the present invention adds considerably to the choice of possibility and therefore participant entertainment in utilisation of the ticket.

At the same time, the ticket is inherently an effective means of preventing compromise or tampering.

The ticket according to the present invention will of course be printed with the information relevant to the play of the game using the ticket.

The ticket also includes a base sheet for receiving the concealed elements of the game, and the rub-off coating, and where a cover sheet is provided as is preferred, the cover sheet and base sheet may be separate sheets adhered together around their peripheries, or may be formed from a single sheet folded in two.

The actual elements of the game information which are concealed and those which are present on the upper surface of the coating, are preferably printed on the ticket, but the actual information need not be playing cards or representations of playing cards, and the principle of the invention can be adapted for the play of any lottery ticket type game.

Embodiments of the present invention, as applied to tickets comprising a base sheet and a cover sheet, the cover sheet being provided with windows, and the tickets being adapted for simulating the play of the card game pontoon, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the ticket prior to the use thereof; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the ticket shown in Figure 1, after the step of tearing back the windows in the cover sheet; Figure 3 illustrates how the playing card representations revealed may be altered in the utilisation of the ticket; and Figure 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention with the flaps in the open position.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the ticket comprises essentially a base sheet 10 and a cover sheet 12, of any suitable construction.

The base sheet may comprise for example, cardboard coated with metallic foil, and the upper sheet may be simply of cardboard.

The upper sheet is provided with perforations defining lines of weakening 14, and the lines of weakening 14 in turn define three tear-back tabs 16, 18 and 20, which the user tears back after purchase of the ticket in the fashion shown in Figure 2.

The tear-back tabs 16,18 and 20 may be numbered 1 2 and.3 respectively to indicate the order in which they are torn back, and the third tear-back tab 20 may, depending upon the rules of play as printed on the ticket, be a choice tab which the user can keep concealed, as will be explained hereinafter.

As shown in Figure 2, the tearing back of each of the tabs 16,18 and 20, reveals a playing card 22,24 and 26, in this case ace of diamonds, three of clubs and two of spades, each of said playing cards 22, 24 and 26 being printed on a layer of scratch or rub-off material 28, 30 and 32. The said rub-off material is currently used in connection with instant lottery tickets based on the irreversible removal of an opaque coating.

Let it be assumed for the present that in the play of the game using this ticket, in accordance with the instructions, the user must tear-back all three tabs 16,18 and 20. Figure 3 shows all of the possible combination alternatives which a user can achieve, when the ticket is used in this fashion. The ticket is based on the play of the card game pontoon, and therefore the user adds up the value of the cards revealed in orderto achieve a hand total. If for example the winning hand totals are 16 to 21, and anything under 16 is a loser and anything over 21 is not only a ioser but also the hand is "burst", then the possibilities illustrated in Figure 3 will be readily understood.

Combination (a) shown in Figure 3 is the hand which is displayed when the tabs 16, 18 and 20 are torn back, and the hand is 6 or 16. If a prize can be claimed for 16, then the participant need make no further use of the ticket and can claim his prize for a hand totalling 16. If however, he wishes to endeavourto achieve a higher winning hand, then he can change his hand by scratching away the rub-off material 28,30 and 32, and with it the playing card image 22,24 and 26 on the top surface thereof.

In Figure 3 (b) the result is shown when the user has scratched away the coating 32. The image 26 has been removed with the coating 32, and the playing card previously concealed is now revealed. In this example, the card is the five of hearts, and therefore the player has now achieved a hand totalling 19, and therefore can claim a higher prize.

If the player had selected to remove the coating 30 and image 24, the result shown in Figure 3 (d) would have been achieved, and the user would have achieved a hand of 10 or 20, and could have claimed a still higher prize. In fact, as will be shown, for the card selected for this example, 20 is the highest prize which a participant can achieve, and if he therefore selected to remove image 24 and coating 30, to achieve the result shown in Figure 3 (d), and had decided to "stick" at that stage, he would have achieved the best result possible in the use of the ticket.

If he had elected to remove the coating 28, and image 22 the result achieved would be as shown in Figure 3 (e), in which the newly revealed card is the Queen of spades and the hand now totals 15, and therefore would be a loser. However, subsequent removal of either coating 32 or coating 30 would achieve a winning combination, totalling 18 or 19, as shown in Figure 3 (f) and Figure 3 (g). If the player tries to go on further and achieve a higher winning hand and removes all three coatings 28, 30 and 32, as shown Figure 3 (h), then in fact he will achieve a hand totalling 22 and he will be burst. It will be appreciated that in reaching this stage the participant may well have gone through the stages of having two or more winning totals.

In the example described, the worst position for the participant to find himself in, is in fact in the position illustrated by Figure 3 (c), in which the total is 13 and he is forced to remove covering 28. The removal of that card 28, will of course lead to the hand illustrated in Figure 3 (h), which totals 22 and is a loser.

It will be readily understood that player participation is increased considerably with a ticket according to the example described.

In a modified form of the ticket, there may be instructions to the effect that the third window 20 can remain closed or opened at the player's option.

In this case, the player would make his decisions on the basis of the playing cards revealed by tearing back tabs 16 and 18 and, at the player's option, the selective removal of the covers or masks 28 and 30.

Referring to Figure 3 it can be seen that the utilisation of the first two windows can achieve hands totalling 18, Figure 3(c) and 17, Figure 3 (g). If, after examining the possibilities of the achievable hands with two cards by tearing back windows 16 and 18, and selectively removing the coatings 28 and 30, the player decides that he would like to bring the third window 20 into the game, he can tear this window back, but having done so the rules will provide that the third card which is revealed either simply by tearing back the window 20, or by tearing back the window 20 and removing the coating 32, will count in adding the cards together to decide on the value of the hand, and whether or not a prize has been won.

Modifications of the invention may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, and as mentioned herein the principle of the invention can be adapted for other games suitable for lottery tickets.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, the printing of the playing cards 22, 24 or 26 which are revealed when the tabs 16,18 and 20 are torn back, is to the underside of the tabs 16 to 20 and this printed information is not abradable away as in the previous embodiment. This embodiment shows that it is not necessary that the first set of information relative to the lottery should be printed on top of the coating material 28, 30 and 32. In the use of the ticket shown in Figure 4, the same basic rules as applied to the tickets shown in Figures 1 and 2, would apply in that if the player elects to abrade an rub away any of the coating areas 28, 30 and 32, that card which is revealed supercedes the card which is printed to the underside of the adjacent tab 16, 18 and 20 in computing the hand displayed by the ticket. It will be appreciated that other forms of the invention based on the principle as indicated by Figure 4 in which the game information is not superimposed in the coating material, can be adopted.

Claims (9)

1. A lottery ticket having scratch or rub-off material which is destroyed upon its removal, and underneath that material is game information relating to the play of the lottery, and in addition, the ticket carries game information relative to the lottery which is alternative, in terms of the user's choice, to the concealed information.

2. A lottery ticket according to claim 1, wherein the said alternative information is superimposed on the scratch or rub-off material.

3. A lottery ticket according to claim 2, wherein the game information concealed by the scratch or rub-off material constitutes the entire game information which decides whether or not the participant wins a prize.

4. A lottery ticket according to claim 2, wherein there are several elements of game information concealed by the scratch or rub-off material, and above each of said elements is printed an alternative element.

5. A lottery ticket according to claim 2, in which there are various grades of prizes available in the use of the ticket, and the participant can vary the combination of elements by selectively scratching or rubbing off sections of the scratch or rub-off mate rival,

6. A lottery ticket according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the ticket conceals three elements of information by means of the scratch or rub-off material, and the above said three elements on the upper surface of the material are the alternative elements.

7. A lottery ticket according to claim 6 wherein the elements concealed are representations of playing cards, and the elements superimposed on the scratch or rub-off material are playing card representations, and the ticket is for use in the play of the card game Pontoon.

8. A lottery ticket according to claim 7, wherein the ticket comprises a base sheet carrying the concealed elements and the scratch or rub-off material with the alternative components superimposed thereon, and a cover sheet having tear-back tabs defined by lines of weakening, which tear-back tabs in use of the ticket are turned back in order to reveal the regions of scratch or rub-off material, and the superimposed elements of the game thereon.

9. A lottery ticket substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to Figure 1 to 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.