IES960327A2 - A scratch card device - Google Patents

Abstract

A gaming device using a scratch card of the type which has an exposed sequence of random indicia and an unexposed area covered by a scratch-off material which conceals, in random order, the indicia from the exposed sequence together with other indicia. The User removes portions of the scratch-off material to generate a sequence of indicia. These indicia are compared to the predetermined sequence shown on the device which indicates if any of the defined winning combinations have been generated. The device operates as a betting medium, allowing gambles on the outcome of the selections made by the User. <Fig. 1>

Description

Introduction The present invention relates to gaining devices and in particular to gaining devices using a scratch card of the type comprising a plurality of indicia, covered by light5 impenetrable scratch-off irreplaceable material.

It is well known to provide scratch cards where the user buys the scratch card and at their leisure can scratch off the covered indicia which are then used to claim prizes such as matching a certain number of similar indicia uncovered, for example, if there are six indicia on the card, then anybody who uncovers four similar indicia will obtain a prize which will be much larger than the prize they would get when they uncover two similar indicia. These indicia may in fact relate to the value of the prize or it might be possible to uncover three indicia all with the sum of £10,000 printed thereon, which indicia then entitles the user to claim that sum of money from the people who sold the card. This has been particularly attractive to lottery promoters. However, there are considerable drawbacks with such a card. The user cannot influence the result. The card is a winner or a loser when purchased and thus is not suitable for general betting. The main drawback is that the user is essentially, as it where, betting blind. Indeed when establishing the lottery in, for example, the United Kingdom, the promoters were well aware of the attractiveness for people to bet on the numbers of the lottery. In other words, many people instead of buying a lottery ticket would much prefer to bet on predicting the actual lottery numbers that would be drawn and indeed such people, hereinafter called gamblers, who would prefer to bet in this manner have good sound financial reasons for IE 960327 - 2 doing so. When one considers the enormous sums of money that the National Lotteries in most countries take for (a) running the lottery, which includes a profit element for the lottery promoters and (b) devoting a large percentage of the prize fund, contributed by the gamblers, to causes considered attractive or desirable by the particular national government, this does not take any account of whether the gamblers feel that they wish to contribute to such causes worthy or not. Being aware of this, the National Lottery Act, 1993, for example, in the United Kingdom, specifically prohibits English bookmakers from betting on the U.K. lottery. However, such a prohibition does not apply to, for example, English bookmakers offering odds in respect of numbers on the Irish lottery. However, because there is a lack of widespread dissemination of the Irish lottery numbers on television, radio and press in the United Kingdom, this has always been a relatively minor product for book-makers.

What book-makers require is a product that would be similar and competitive to one in which one could in effect bet on the lottery numbers. It is also necessary to have a product that would in reality make the National Lottery draws irrelevant to such a product.

A further problem with any form of national lottery is that there is a waiting period between the time the purchase of tickets commence for the gamblers and the actual draw takes place. This may be on a weekly or biweekly basis, but there is still as a minimum a three day delay between the first purchase of tickets and the actual draw itself. The fact that people are not particularly anxious to have such delays is evidenced by the frequency with which people purchase tickets at relatively the last moment before the draw takes place.

IE 960327 - 3 What is required both by the gambling public and the bookmakers is a product that would have the advantages of the lottery, namely the picking of numbers and seeing them come up and the betting against the possibility of such numbers coming up.

The present invention is directed towards providing such a product.

Statements of Invention According to the invention there is provided a gaming device using a scratch card of the type comprising a plurality of indicia, covered by light-impenetrable, scratch-off, irreplaceable material, characterised in that the card includes a set of exposed indicia of a lesser number than the unexposed indicia and betting options for the user.

The advantage of this will be immediately apparent to those with any interest in gaming. When the person buys the card, there is a definite number on the card, the card can be purchased at any time and the bet can be made at any time. The important point being that the person making the bet can decide the bet he or she wishes to make and then purchase the card.

Ideally there is more than one betting option.

Further it is envisaged that more than one betting option may be combined on any one card. For example, it is envisaged that the card may combine inter alia betting options for single; double; treble; accumulators; Patent; Yankee; Super Yankee or Canadian; Goliath?; Super Huns; Huns; Lucky Fifteen; Lucky Thirty-One; Lucky Sixty-Three; Heinz; Super Heinz; Jackpot bets. - 4 IE 960327 The attractiveness of this product is obvious. For example, in a particular scratch card it may have an exposed area showing a seven digit number, it will also have a covered area with the numbers one to forty-nine arranged thereon in random order and each card would have these numbers printed randomly thereon. The book-maker will offer odds for the gambler to uncover one or more numbers that correctly match those numbers in the exposed area. As explained above, any of these bets may be used. The gambler then places the bet recorded on a pre-designed betting slip to which the book-maker or book-maker's clerk adds the serial number of the scratch card and puts the bet through a normal security system.

Thus, the present invention provides a unique gaming device in that it introduces the idea of a scratch card as a betting medium, the introduction of the control of the event on the scratch card by the user or gambler and the introduction of various forms of card with numbers and with various betting options.

It is also envisaged that the one scratch card may be used to carry out a number of bets which bets will be indicated on the betting slip, or, alternatively, separate scratch cards may be provided to provide different bets.

Detailed Description of the Invention The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig. 1 is a scratch card for a specific bet prior to use; IE 960327 - 5 Fig. 2 is a copy of the scratch card of Fig. 1 after use; Fig. 3 is a copy of a scratch card for a smaller prize; Fig. 4 is a scratch card for a different prize; Fig. 5 is a scratch card adapted for taking a Yankee bet; Fig. G is a scratch card for taking a patent bet; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of an alternative scratch card for making general bets.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof there is illustrated a scratch card identified by the reference numeral 1 having the numbers 1 to 49 printed thereon in random order and covered by a lightimpenetrable, scratch-off, irreplaceable material indicated in the drawings by cross-hatching and identified by the reference numeral 2, together with a betting instruction shown at 3 and the winning numbers 4. When the user buys the card and effectively makes the bet, presuming the particular bet which is for a jackpot at odds of a million to one, the user then, subject to the rules, uncovers the numbers and as can be seen from Fig. 2 where the uncovered numbers are shown without crosshatching has won the prize by matching all six winning numbers from seven scratch-off panels.

Fig. 3 shows an alternative match four bet for substantially the same card 10, with parts similar to those previously described identified by the same IE 960327 - 6 reference numerals with different numbers and this scratch card is identified by the reference numeral 10. With this bet, seven panels are scratched off to match the four winning numbers 4 given on the card 10.

Fig. 4 shows a smaller bet and a different card 20. With this card seven panels are scratched off to match the three winning numbers 4.

Fig. 5 illustrates a scratch card 30 for making a Yankee bet, Fig. 6 shows a scratch card 40 for aaking a Patent bet and Fig. 7 shows a scratch card for making a multiplicity of bets on a separate sheet. This scratch card is known as a Roll-Up bet. In this embodiment, the gambler goes to the book-maker and at the desk makes a bet that by scratching off one of the panels he will match one of the seven winning numbers. The odds for this will be 5 to 1. If he is successful he may double up his bet by attempting to match another of the winning numbers by removing a further panel, etc.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

CJ\B:\SPECl-96\M400e.APR CRUICKSHANK & CO IE 960327

Claims (5)

1. A gaming device using a scratch card of the type comprising a plurality of indicia, covered by light impenetrable, scratch off, irreplaceable material, characterised in that the card includes a set of exposed indicia of a lesser number than the unexposed indicia and 5 betting options for the user.

2. A gaming device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each of the exposed indicia has a counterpart, randomly arranged with other indicia, in the unexposed section of the scratch card.

3. A gaming device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 wherein the User removes a 10 number of portions of the scratch-off material, referred to in Claim 1, to generate a sequence of indicia which determines success or failure.

4. A gaming device as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 and Claim 3 wherein the sequence generated by the user, as described in Claim 3, can be used in a number of predefined winning combinations derived from the exposed indicia. 15

5. A gaming device as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3 and Claim 4 wherein the device as described in Claim 1, can act as a betting medium with which the User gamble on the probability of the user selecting a predefined sequence of indicia from the unexposed section.