GB2349004A - Gaming apparatus with an upwardly displaceable payment enclosure - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaming apparatus has an operating console 6 and an enclosure 72 for receiving payments, the enclosure being displaceable upwardly through an aperture 78 in the console between a first position within the console and a second position outside the console in which the enclosure can be emptied. The enclosure may be lifted by a gas strut 76 which is primed when the enclosure is retracted into the console.

Description

1 2349004 Gaming Apparatus The present invention relates to a gaming

apparatus and more particularly to a gaming apparatus based on the game of roulette.

The game of roulette has, for many years, provided 5 entertainment in casinos and other gaming establishments.

To play the game of roulette, a horizontally-oriented circular wheel, having a peripheral region divided into a plurality of numbered compartments, is spun in either a clockwise or an anti-clockwise direction about its axis. A ball is released onto the surface of the spinning wheel where it is randomly deflected before eventually coming to rest in one or other of the compartments.

Players of the game bet on which compartment or subgroup of compartments the ball is going to fall into by placing tokens or "chips" at appropriate locations on a betting table.

Traditionally, a croupier has been required to manually operate the roulette wheel and to supervise betting. However, with the advent of affordable electronic technology, it has now become possible to provide a fully automated roulette wheel based gaming apparatus and a number of such systems are already in use.

In existing automated gaming apparatus, banknotes are stored in a secure enclosure within an operating console of the apparatus. However, hitherto, a panel or door of the console has had to be opened to empty the enclosure, thereby interrupting use of the console. We have now devised an arrangement which overcomes this limitation. 30 In accordance with the present invention, there is 2 provided a gaming apparatus comprising:

an operating console; and an enclosure which is normally housed within the operating console for receiving items as payment, but which may be extended upwardly through an aperture in the top of the console to be emptied.

Thus, the enclosure may be emptied without interrupting use of the console.

Preferably the apparatus comprises a gas strut for raising the enclosure from the operating console, the strut being primed each time the enclosure is retracted into the console.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of an example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an automated gaming apparatus in accordance with the present invention; and Figures 2 and 3 are two side elevations of a payment receiving sub- assembly of the apparatus, showing an enclosure thereof in an extended and retracted position respectively; Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, an automated roulette-wheel based gaming apparatus is shown comprising a roulette wheel 2 encased beneath a domed canopy 4, a plurality of operating consoles 6, each having a respective touch sensitive screen interface 8, and an elevated screen display 10.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, each of the operating consoles 6 houses an enclosure 72 for receiving bank-notes as payment through a slot 74 at the top of the enclosure. For security reasons, the enclosure 72 is normally contained within the console 6, as shown in Figure 7, but is mounted to a gas strut 76 so that it may be extended upwards, as shown in Figure 6, through an aperture 78 in the top of the console 6, to be I 3 emptied. Thus, the enclosure 72 may be emptied without interrupting use of the console 6.

The apparatus thus described allows an accumulation of bank notes to be removed from a console of a gaming apparatus 5 without interrupting play.

Whilst the invention has been described in relation to an apparatus in the form of a roulette apparatus, it may be used in any gaming apparatus having an operating console including other gaming apparatus having a rotary wheel formed 10 with compartments to receive a ball released onto the wheel.

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Claims (2)

1. Claims

   A gaming apparatus comprising: an operating console; and an enclosure which is normally housed within the operating console for receiving items as payment, but which may be extended upwardly through an aperture in the top of the console to be emptied.
2. 2) A gaming apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, comprising a gas strut for raising the enclosure from the operating console, the strut being primed each time the enclosure is retracted into the console.

   I