Smart bin lottery ticket dispenser with calibrated ticket feed

A lottery ticket dispenser array, comprising:

• a plurality of separate bins, each bin defined by a housing having a front side that faces a purchaser in operational use of the dispenser bin, an opposite back side, and an internal space for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets;
• each bin having an electronic drive mechanism that dispenses the lottery tickets therefrom;
• a slot defined in the back side of each bin through which the lottery tickets are dispensed from the internal space;
• a separation device configured adjacent the slot;
• a calibration field defined in a member internal to the housing and located relative to the slot such that the lottery tickets pass alongside the calibration field in a travel path of the lottery tickets through the slot, the calibration field defined by one or slots in the member through which detectable light passes;
• a receiver disposed internal to the housing opposite to the calibration field to receive light that passes through the calibration field;
• a control system, the receiver and the drive mechanism in communication with the control system;
• and
• wherein, based on a position of a forward edge of a leading ticket in the calibration field and an amount of light passing through the calibration field and incident on the receiver, the control system is configured to determine an adjustment to a predefined length of the leading ticket to advance in a subsequent dispense cycle so that a separation line between the leading ticket and an attached trailing ticket is brought by the drive mechanism to a desired position relative to the separation device.