WO1997049469A1

WO1997049469A1 - Improvements relating to lottery and the like tickets

Info

Publication number: WO1997049469A1
Application number: PCT/GB1997/001737
Authority: WO
Inventors: William Victor Benson
Original assignee: Scientific Games International Ltd.
Priority date: 1996-06-27
Filing date: 1997-06-26
Publication date: 1997-12-31
Also published as: GB9613506D0; AU3349797A

Abstract

The invention provides that a lottery ticket which has playing indicia printed on a base layer and covered by rub-off material is constructed so that compromise of the ticket by shining a light through the ticket to read the indicia without removing the rub-off material, is prevented by making the ticket totally opaque. The total opaqueness is achieved by providing a part of the opaqueness by the base layer, and the remainder of the opaqueness by the rub-off material. This enables the use of a lighter and easier produced base layer as compared to the known arrangement wherein the base layer is constructed to be totally opaque.

Description

Improvements Relating to Lottery and the like Tickets

This invention relates to lottery and the like tickets which are of the "instant" type in that when a player uses the ticket, he or she knows instantly whether or not a prize has been won. These tickets can take many forms, but perhaps the most popular are the instant lottery tickets of the "rub-off" or alternatively known as " scratch-off" type. These tickets are provided with a material, typically a latex composition, which is applied to the tickets to cover or conceal what is referred to as the indicia, being the numbers, symbols, letters or the like which are pertinent to the winning of the lottery prizes. In the use of these particular tickets, the user simply rubs off the rub-off material, to reveal the indicia, and depending upon what is revealed, the ticket will either be a winner or a loser.

The top prizes which can be won in these lotteries are now very high, e.g. in the order of £50,000, and therefore it is paramount that the tickets be secure and not open to compromise.

One known method of compromising the tickets is to simply shine a high intensity light on one side of the ticket, and to observe images on the other side. This method with insecure tickets enables the compromiser to read the indicia without removing the rub-off material.

To counter this "see through" method the substrate material which is used for the conventional rub-off instant lottery tickets comprises a paper sheet to which is laminated a metallic foil, usually an aluminium foil, and many tickets of this construction are in wide use today. The use of the foil however brings its own problems, in that special inks which may be volatile and need strong solvents are needed to print on foils, which may represent a workplace hazard. Furthermore, printing on foils may additionally require the use of specially formulated inks which may be cured or dried using Ultra Violet light, thus forming an ink layer which is resistant to the scratching force applied when the ticket is used.

The use of aluminium foil represents an environmental problem as its disposal is difficult, it represents a manufacturing problem as it has to be laminated to the paper, and of course it represents an increase in the cost of the products and their manufacture.

It has been proposed to construct rub-off instant lottery tickets from substrates which are designed to be opaque to high intensity light so as to be secure against see-through, without using metallic foil, and examples of such substrates are set forth in European Patents Nos. 0428489B1, (Tumba Bruk) and 0568814 (Scientific Games). The approach taken by Tumba Bruk is to use a substrate comprising a coloured and totally opaque base paper and a coating composition on both sides of the base paper, whereas the approach used by Scientific Games is to use an opaque coating on paper substrate, and then to apply a confusion pattern coating over the indicia.

The present invention arises out of a difficulty which we have experienced in the production of rub-off instant lottery tickets of which we make many millions each year. Specifically, in order to meet the requirements for the degree of opacity to prevent see through in the lottery tickets, we have used standard paper substrate, and have achieved the security against see- through by the application of sufficient rub-off material during printing of the tickets. However, using the sheet fed and web screen printing machines in our production process, it is necessary to apply the rub-off material in two or three layers. More specifically in the case of the sheet fed production process, the tickets must pass through the machine two times, and the machines are running at or near their maximum design speed. In the case of the web screen printing production method, three layers are applied in a single continuous pass, but the speed of production is limited by the time taken for the individual layers of rub-off material to dry. With the need to increase the speed of the machines to reduce production costs and processing times, these machines become incapable of operating to produce the tickets faster.

We therefore had to consider buying new machines, for example flexographic machines, which would give the appropriate production rates, and apply the rub-off material in thinner layers, but the level of opacity failed to give the tickets the required security against see-through.

Our problem was therefore to find a method of producing the instant rub-off tickets in a way which enabled us to produce the tickets on our existing machinery at a higher rate, without having to increase the speed of running of the sheet fed machinery or the speed of drying of the applied rub-off material, and yet achieve the required degree of see-through security, and the invention achieves this in a manner which is different from either Tumba Bruk or Scientific Games.

In accordance with the invention, the lottery tickets make use of a paper substrate which comprises a coloured base paper, and the ticket is rendered secure against see through by providing that the base paper has an opacity which is substantially greater than conventional paper, but insufficient to provide total opacity to high intensity light, and the ticket has another paper layer or a coating such as a rub-off coating which has sufficient opacity to be complimentary to the base layer, whereby overall the ticket has total opacity to prevent compromise by see- through.

The idea of the invention is that the base paper should be used only partially for the rendering of the ticket secure against see- through, and the remaining opacity should be made up from another layer, which may be similar to the first mentioned layer, or, preferably, by the degree of opacity provided by the rub-off material itself. This is in sharp distinction to the Tumba Bruk method which relies upon the base paper to provide the total opacity of the ticket. It has not been realised in the Tumba Bruk invention that the different parts of the ticket can be complimentary in providing the overall opacity of the ticket.

In other respects, the present invention may be similar to the Tumba Bruk invention in that the base paper may be coated in a manner similar to that disclosed in the Tumba Bruk specification, and the use of a semi-opaque paper has all the advantages of the invention disclosed by Tumba Bruk, but in addition the present invention has the advantage that as far as our production is concerned, the existing machines can be used, as the amount of rub-off material which we need to use is reduced, or the tickets can be passed only twice through the sheet fed machines and web screen printing machines can apply thinner layers allowing the machines to run at higher speeds. In both cases the same and required opacity can be attained, which is incidentally the same as that referred to in the Tumba Bruk specification. Although the invention is particularly applicable to rub-off instant lottery tickets, it can also be used in the so called "break open" tickets wherein there are two layers of base paper sealed together and the indicia is on the inside of the ticket, and it needs to be "broken open", by tearing or the like, which shows that it has been used, to reveal the indicia, to indicate whether or not the ticket is a winner. In this case, the two layers are each of the semi-opaque paper.

In another embodiment, the base paper is made during the manufacture of the paper, by bringing together the sides of two layers (suitably of equal thickness) one of which is more opaque than the other, the opposite sides of the paper layers being coated, and by using the resulting base paper for the instant rub- off tickets, with the indicia printed on the coating of the more opaque layer. This embodiment provides that the coating which is used for the less opaque layer may be lighter, or less dense, or thinner to reduce the costs, and in the event of an attempt at compromise by de-laminating the layers is made, then the more opaque layer stays with the indicia, and that layer may be designed to be of such opacity that, along with the opacity of the rub-off material of the ticket, will still be sufficient to prevent compromise by see-through.

In addition to the advantages of efficiency and cost of production realised by the invention, the environmental hazards through the use of solvents in the formulation of the rub-off material may be reduced by the invention. Proposed legislation concerning air quality in areas where volatile solvents are in use requires that the concentrations of particular solvents are below prescribed levels. The reduction in the thickness of the rub-off material applied to the tickets concomitantly reduces the amount of solvent contained in the rub-off material formulation which is released into the atmosphere, and it is hoped that overall solvent concentrations in the workplace may be reduced below the maximum levels required by future and existing legislation. The expense of installing air purification and conditioning systems may therefore be avoided.

A further advantage of the invention relates to the coated paper or board to which rub-off material is applied. Conventional boards, as disclosed in the Tumba Bruk specification usually contain a pigment, such as carbon black, to ensure the total opacity of the board. Such a pigment also has the detrimental effect of increasing the ability of the board to absorb heat. In machinery where heat is applied to the layers of rub-off material for drying purposes, such heat absorption by the board reduces the amount of heat available for drying the rub-off material, hence slowing the production process appreciably, and in extreme cases may even shrink the board. These difficulties are avoided by the present invention on account of the reduced heat absorption qualities of the modified board.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing of which the single figure shows, in greatly enlarged section, and neither to scale nor with the respective components in proportion to one another, a sectional elevation of a ticket constructed according to the embodiment.

Referring to the drawing, shown therein is a sectional view of a lottery ticket of the instant rub-off type, and it will be seen to comprise a substrate 10, of paper (board or card) which is coloured, specifically grey, and has a thickness in the order of 0.25mm. To each side of the base paper is applied a coating 12, 14 which may be of the material described in the Tumba Bruk specification (i.e. any paper coating), and which makes the base paper suitable for printing using conventional printing techniques, such as offset printing and silk screen or flexographic techniques, and gives it a generally white appearance. The coatings 12, 14 may comprise a pigment, a filler, a binder solution, and a viscosity regulating agent, as set forth in the Tumba Bruk specification.

On top of the coating 14 is printed the ticket indicia 16, and on top of that is printed, as is conventional, a transparent or translucent varnish 17 which prevents the removal of the indicia 16 when the ticket is subjected to the abrading action required to use the ticket.

On top of the varnish layer 17 is applied the opaque rub-off material 18 which is applied in such amount, by as many passes as are required, so as to provide that the combined opacity of the ticket (but not any one of the components on its own) made up of the opacity of the base paper 10, the coatings 12, 14, the opacity of the rub-off material 18, and the opacity of any other printed layers renders the ticket totally opaque to high intensity lamps such as to make the opacity of the ticket non measurable by conventional opacity measuring methods, such as the SCAN- PB mentioned in the Tumba Bruk specification. There may be overprints 20 applied to the top of the rub-off material 18, which is conventional.

The extent to which the rub-off material and the base paper contribute to the total opacity can be any selected amount, but if for example the amount of rub-off material which is used provides only 67% of total opacity, the base paper would be required to provide 33%. By experimenting and testing, the most appropriate ratio for most economic production can be achieved, having regard to the equipment being used and the speeds of production required.

Claims

Claims.

1. A lottery ticket having a paper substrate (10, 12, 14) which comprises a coloured base paper (10), and the ticket is rendered secure against see through by providing that the base paper (10) has an opacity which is substantially greater than conventional paper, characterised in that the opacity of the paper (10) is insufficient to provide total opacity to high intensity light, and the ticket has another paper layer or a coating (18) such as a rub- off coating which has sufficient opacity to be complimentary to the base layer (10), whereby overall the ticket has total opacity to prevent compromise by see-through.

2. A lottery ticket according to claim 1 , wherein the base paper is coated on each side with a coating which makes the paper suitable for printing using conventional printing techniques, giving the coated surface a generally white appearance.

3. A lottery ticket according to claim 2, wherein each coating comprises a pigment, a filler, a binder solution and a viscosity regulating agent.

4. A lottery ticket according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the base paper is made during the manufacture of the paper, by bringing together the sides of two layers (suitably of equal thickness) one of which is more opaque than the other.

5. A lottery ticket according to claim 3, wherein the indicia of the lottery ticket is printed on the more opaque layer.