GB2114455A

GB2114455A - Lottery tickets

Info

Publication number: GB2114455A
Application number: GB08232370A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kenneth Naylor; James Denmark
Original assignee: NORTON AND WRIGHT GROUP PLC
Current assignee: NORTON AND WRIGHT GROUP PLC
Priority date: 1982-02-05
Filing date: 1982-11-12
Publication date: 1983-08-24

Abstract

Illustrated are blanks for the lottery ticket in which portions (22, 24, 26 or 114) of an intermediate layer (14, 102), folded between upper and lower layers (16, 18 or 100, 104), can be torn from the remainder of the intermediate layer and then slid relative to the upper and lower layers to bring concealed information eg (112) into register with and viewable through windows (44, 110) in the upper layer. The intermediate portions may bear the information or act as masks. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements relating to lottery tickets This invention relates to lottery tickets of the "instant" type, the tickets being so called because in the use of same, the user knows instantly whether or not the ticket is a winning ticket. The tickets are of the break open variety. That is to say, the tickets are sealed and must be broken open or are in a sealed sachet or bag which must be broken open to reveal otherwise concealed information, which information is an indication as to whether or not the ticket is a winning ticket.

Break open tickets take many forms, and in an extremely simple form, the ticket is a sheet of material folded in two with the edges sealed. The edge region is torn away in orderto enable the ticket to be unfolded to reveal the information which is contained inside the ticket.

In another type of break open ticket, a sheet section is provided with one or more tear-back tabs or windows which are defined by lines of weakening in a section of sheet material. The tabs are torn back from the remainder of the sheet material, the act of tearing back indicating that the ticket has been used, and the tearing back of the tabs reveals the concealed information.

The present invention is concerned with break open lottery tickets or lottery ticket units, but provides a novel concept in the lottery ticket field insofar as when the ticket is broken open or its sachet or bag is broken open and the ticket removed therefrom, one portion of the ticket is adapted to be slidably displaced so as to bring otherwise concealed information into register with a window in a section of the ticket whereby the concealed information can be displayed. The ticket is constructed so that the movement of said portion of the ticket cannot take place unless and until the ticket is broken open in some respect or the sachet or bag is broken open, indicating that the ticket or ticket unit comprising a sachet or bag and ticket has been used.

In one specific form of ticket construction, a blank of sheet material, such as cardboard is folded to define three layers. The centre layer has at least one portion defined therein of which an end is exposed by virtue of an aperture in the sheet material in the region of one of the folds. To displace the said portion, it is torn from the remainder of the sheet section where it is exposed, and this, which comprises the "breaking open" of the ticket, permits said portion to be displaced by pulling on the exposed end, and the displacement of the portion results in information relevant to the lottery on said portion being displayed in a window in a covering layer. The said portion may have shoulders or steps to limit the extent to which it can be moved to ensure that the said information will be displayed in the said window.

The information which is displayed in the window or windows may be any suitable, but in a particularly advantageous example, the ticket is adapted for playing the card game Pontoon, and the said centre layer has three such portions each carrying a representation of a playing card, and respectively registerable with three windows in the cover portion.

The ticket can be utilised to simulate the play of the card game Pontoon insofar as the player would tear and displace the first two portions to reveal two playing card representations in the respective windows, and then he would have the choice either to claim a prize if he has a winning total with only the two playing card representations displayed, or he would have the option of tearing and displacing the third portion to display the third card in an attempt to win a higher prize, but with the possible penalty that if the three card total is higher than 21, then he would forfeit the prize which he could have claimed with only the first two card representations displayed. The breaking open of the ticket to displace the individual portions is irreversible, as it is irreversible in the playing of the card game Pontoon to return cards to the deck after "twisting".

As an additional security feature, the said concealed information which comes into register with the window or windows, may be obscured in whole or in part with irreversibly removable coating material which is removed by the user of the ticket by scraping same away using the edge of a coin or the like.

Removable coatings of the type referred to are now in common use in the field of lottery tickets.

It is to be stressed that the tickets can be used for any suitable information to be displayed and it is not envisaged that the irivention should be limited to the adaptation of the ticket for playing the card game Pontoon.

The accompanying drawings show examples of the invention, and said examples will now be described with reference to the drawings, wherein: Figure I is a blank of a ticket according to a first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows how the blank of Figure 1 is folded to form the ticket construction; Figure2A is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 2 showing a modification of the ticket of Figure 2; Figure 3 shows the ticket of Figure 2 in fully constructed form, with one of the displaceable portions displaced; Figure 3A is a fragmentary view of the modified form of ticket of Figure 2, the view corresponding to the view of Figure 3; Figure 4 illustrates a plan view of a ticket according to a second embodiment; Figure 5 illustrates the ticket of Figure 4 after two of the portions thereof have been torn and displaced;; Figure 6 is a perspective elevation of a ticket according to another embodiment of the invention; Figure 7 shows the ticket of Figure 6 in condition for use; and Figure 8 shows how a ticket may be contained in a sealed sachetforextra security.

Referring to the drawings, the blank shown in Figure 1 is elongate and is provided with two transverse creases 10 and 12 dividing it into three sections 14, 16 and 18. The section 14 is provided with cut lines 20 defining three displaceable portions 22, 24 and 26 the said portions being of rectangular form and extending from the free edge 28 of section 14to a position short of the crease line 10. Each portion 22, 24 and 26 has shoulders 30 adjacent the said edge 28 to define tab ends 32,34 and 36 and the tab ends are connected by skip cut lines 38 to the remainder of section 14, and the ends of the portions 22,24 and 26 adjacent crease line 10 are also connected by skip cut lines 39. The portions 22, 24 and 26 are connected in this manner for a purpose which will shortly be explained.

On the reverse side of that shown in Figure 1, the portions 22,24 and 26 are provided with three numbers as indicated at 40 in Figure 2 in the locations shown. There are three access apertures 42 bridging crease line 12 and finally, the section 18 is provided with display apertures 44 arranged in pairs in alignment with the portions 22, 24 and 26 and apertures 42 as clearly indicated in the drawings.

In order to assemble the ticket, the section 14 is folded over about crease line 10 onto section 16, and then section 18 is folded over onto section 14, the sections being sealed together by adhesive except in those areas over which the portions 22,24 and 26 lie.

It will be seen from Figure 3, that when the ticket is folded and sealed in this fashion, the tab ends 32,34 and 36 are exposed through the apertures 42.

To use the ticket, the tab ends 32,34 and 36 are torn along skip cut line 38 and then each tab end is grasped by the fingers and pulled outwardly as indicated by the arrow 46. This pulling will cause breakage of the catch points of skip cut line 39 whereby the associated portion 22, 24 and 26 becomes free to slide between the inner and outer sections 16 and 18, the shoulders 30 limiting the extent of outward movement of the tab end 36, and the shoulders 30 being arranged in relation to the three numerals 40 so that the numerals respectively become displayed, as indicated in Figure 3, in the aligned apertures 44 and the fold line aperture 42.

The user can therefore see the numerals displayed, and can ascertain immediately if these displayed numerals constitute a winning combination. The displacement of each of the portions 22,24 and 26 may constitute a "go", or game in the lottery giving the user three possible chances of winning, or in the alternative all displayed numerals may be involved in a single game, as for example where the ticket is used as a bingo ticket. The information displayed and the numbers of pieces of information displayed, will depend upon the rules of the lottery.In the modification indicated in Figures 2A and 3A, which figures have the same reference numerals as Figures 2 and 3 where appropriate, the numbers 40 are concealed by irreversibly removable coating material 41 (of known type) which can be scratched away using a coin edge or the like, in order to reveal the numbers 40 as shown in the case of one of the numbers 40 in Figure 3A. The use of a coating material which gives extra security to the ticket can be employed in any embodiment of the tickets of this invention.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 4 and 5 shows how diverse the invention may be and the, lottery ticket shown in these figures is constructed essentially as described in relation to Figures 1 to 3, but there are only three of the said apertures 44 and the ticket is designed for simulating the play of the card game Pontoon. Each item of concealed information is a playing card, as can be seen from Figure 5, which shows the ticket with the first two displaceable portions in the displaced positions, and it will be seen that in fact the information displayed in each case is a representation of a playing card, the cards displayed in fact being eight of diamonds and 9 of spades.In using this ticket to play the card game Pontoon, it may be that the ticket will indicate that in accordance with the lottery rules, the display of 17 is a winning combination, but combinations totalling 18 to 21 attract higher prizes, and the user then has to decide whether or not to reveal the third item of information by tearing and displaying the third displaceable portion with the knowledge that if he achieves a higher total, a higher prize can be won, but similar to the rules of the card game Pontoon, if he exposes the third card then all three cards will count in computing the total displayed, and if the total is higher than 21 then the prize which could havebeen claimed by displaying only the first two cards will be forfeited.

An extremely entertaining and novel form of ticket results in this particular embodiment, because the ticket has the inbuilt irreversibility of having to break and displace the individual displaceable portions, thereby destroying the integrity of the ticket, and this inherent irreversibility is extremely similar to the taking of a twist in the card game Pontoon.

It is appreciated of course, that the ticket may be adapted for the play of other lottery games, and indeed the ticket may be constructed differently from the specific embodiments described. For example, one can envisage the same principle of breaking open and displacing in a ticket construction wherein the displaceable portion is moved in a rotary sliding manner as opposed to a linear sliding manner as illustrated in the two embodiments. Also, instead of the printed matter appearing on the displaceable portions the printed matter could be on the static portions of the ticket, with the displaceable portions simply acting as displaceable masks.

Figures 6 and 7 show another form of ticket construction specifically for playing the card game Pontoon. This ticket also can be used for other games.

The ticket comprises essentially three sections 100, 102 and 104, hingedly interconnected along lines 106 and 108. The sheet material may be of card or the like and it is to be mentioned that the sections could in fact be separate individual sheets.

Section 100 in Figure 6 is shown as having three apertures 110, and section 104 is provided as shown in Figure 6 with three playing card representations 112 which respectively register with apertures 110 when the ticket is sealed.

The intermediate section 102 is provided with displaceable portions 114 defined by cut lines 116 and lines of weakening 118. The sections 114 extend in to the section 100 as shown at 120 and the ends of these sections 114 are defined in sections 100 and 102 by cut lines 122 and lines of perforations 124.

Finally, section 104 has tear out tabs 126 defined by cut lines 128 and lines of perforations 130 in section 104. To seal the ticket it is simply a matter of glueing the layers together, to permit the portions of sections 114 between the cut lines 116 to be displaceable as will be explained.

When the ticket is sealed by means of adhesive applied around the periphery thereof and between the layers, the sections 126 and 120 will be exactly superimposed and between them are those portion of sections 114 between lines of perforation 118.

Thus to expose the playing card representations 112, the user tears through the three superimposed layers up to the cut lines 122 and 128 and then he pulls on the tabs of three layer thickness so as to fracture the intermediate section 102 along the line of perforation 114 so that the displaceable portion 114 can be pulled out of the ticket in order to expose the playing card, as shown in Figure 7. The second and third playing cards are revealed in a similar manner. This ticket is used in the same manner as is the ticket of Figure 5, but has a number of significant advantages over the said ticket, in that the sections 114 serve simply as masks covering the playing card representations and the ticket is therefore much more secure. Additionally, it is much easierto adhere the respective layers together in that the adhesive can extend across the lines of weakening 118, 120 and 130. The tickets can be produced readily in large quantities and in large sheets which are subsequently cut into individual tickets. The tickets can also be produced by bringing together webs of material to define the three layers on a continuous basis.

Figure 8 shows how a ticket 140 may be contained in a sealed sachet or wallet 142 to define a ticket unit.

The security of the unit is provided in that the sachet or wallet is sealed and must be broken open to gain access to and to use the ticket. The sachet may, but need not be, transparent.

Claims

1. A ticket for use in lotteries, gaming or amusement comprising a portion which is adapted to be slidably displaced so as to bring otherwise concealed information into register with a window in a section of the ticket whereby the concealed information can be displayed.

2. A ticket according to claim 1, wherein the ticket is adapted to be broken open before said portion can be displayed.

3. A ticket according to claim 1, wherein the ticket is contained in a sealed sachet or bag which must be broken open before the ticket can be removed.

4. A ticket according to claim 3, wherein the ticket is adapted to be broken open before said portion can be displayed.

5. A ticket according to claim 2, wherein the ticket comprises a top section having the said window, an intermediate section having said displaceable portion and a lower section, an end of said portion which being located so that it can be grasped by the fingers and pulled to displace said portion.

6. A ticket according to claim 5, wherein the said portion is connected to the remainder of the intermediate section by tear lines which break or tear when said portion is pulled.

7. A ticket according to claim 6, wherein the upper and lower sections have regions adhered to said end of said portions, which become detached from from the remainder of the upper and lower sections when said portions is pulled.

8. A ticket according to claim 6, wherein said upper and lower sections have cut away portions exposing said end of said portion for grasping and pulling.

9. A ticket according to claim 5, wherein the concealed information is on the inside of the cover section.

10. A ticket for use in lotteries gaming or amuse ment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference in the accompanying drawings.

10. A ticket according to claim 5, wherein the concealed information is further concealed by means of an irreversibly removable coating which can be removed by scraping with the edge of a coin or the like.

11. A ticket according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the three sheet sections are formed by folding a sheet in three and adhering the sheets by adhesive or the like.

12. A ticket according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the three sheet sections are separate sheet sections adhered by adhesive or the like.

13. A ticket according to claim 5,6 or 7, wherein there are three windows in the top sheet section and three of said displaceable portions displaceable individually to reveal three pieces of information.

14. Aticketaccordingto claim 13, wherein the ticket is for playing the card game "Pontoon" and the concealed information is playing cards.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 5 May 1983 Superseded claims 1-14 New or amended claims:

1. A ticket for use in lotteries gaming or amusement comprising a top section, a lower section and a portion between the top and lower sections which can be slidably displaced so as to bring information on the lower section into view through a window in the top section, the said portion being embodied in the ticket or the ticket being in a sealed sachet so that the ticket or the sachet must be torn or broken open, indicating, irreversibly, that it has been used, before the said portion can be slidably displaced.

2. A ticket according to claim 1, including an intermediate section between the top and lower sections, said intermediate section having said displaceable portion and an end of said portion which being located so that it can be grasped by the fingers and pulled to displace said portion.

3. A ticket according to claim 2, wherein the said portion is connected to the remainder of the intermediate section by tear lines which break or tear when said portion is pulled.

4. A ticket according to claim 3, wherein the upper and lower sections have regions adhered to said end of said portion, which become detached from from the remainder of the upper and lower sections when said portion is pulled.

5. A ticket according to claim 3, wherein said upper and lower sections have cut away portions exposing said end of said portion for grasping and pulling.

6. Aticket according to claims 2,3,4 or 5, wherein the three sheet sections are formed by folding a sheet in three and adhering the sheets by adhesive or the like.

7. A ticket according to claims 2,3,4 or 5, wherein the three sheet sections are separate sheet sections adhered by adhesive or the like.

8. Aticket according to any preceding claim, wherein there are three windows in the top sheet section and three of said displaceable portions displaceable individually to reveal three pieces of information.

9. A ticket according to claim 8, wherein the ticket is for playing the card game "Pontoon" and the concealed information is playing cards.