Lottery ticket vending machine

An instant lottery ticket vending machine comprising:

• a machine housing;
• a plurality of ticket pack drawers in the machine housing, each of the ticket pack drawers configured to hold a pack of instant lottery tickets;
• and
• a ticket burster positioned in the machine housing, the ticket burster comprising:
• a burster housing defining a ticket inlet, a ticket outlet, a ticket movement path extending from the ticket inlet to the ticket outlet, a code reader support area, and a code reader scan area extending from the code reader support area,
• a code reader positioned in the code reader support area and positioned to emit light waves through the code reader scan area to read a code on each instant lottery ticket as that instant lottery ticket moves in the ticket movement path of the ticket burster and through the code reader scan area, and
• a ticket cutter supported by the burster housing,
• wherein the ticket burster is movable to a plurality of different ticket receipt positions, each different ticket receipt position associated with and in alignment with a different one of the ticket pack drawers, and
• wherein in each ticket receipt position, the ticket inlet of the burster housing is configured to receive from the ticket pack drawer associated with that ticket receipt position an instant lottery ticket that is attached to a next instant lottery ticket, and the ticket burster is configured to separate the instant lottery ticket from the next instant lottery ticket.

An instant lottery ticket vending machine comprising:

• a machine housing;
• a plurality of ticket pack drawers in the machine housing, each of the ticket pack drawers configured to hold a pack of instant lottery tickets;
• and
• a ticket burster positioned in the machine housing, the ticket burster comprising:
• a burster housing that defines a code reader scan area, the ticket burster movable to a plurality of different ticket receipt positions, each different ticket receipt position associated with and in alignment with a different one of the ticket pack drawers, wherein in each ticket receipt position, the burster housing is configured to receive from the ticket pack drawer associated with that ticket receipt position an instant lottery ticket and part of a next instant lottery ticket that is attached to the instant lottery ticket, and
• a code reader configured to emit light waves to read a code on each instant lottery ticket as that instant lottery ticket moves through the code reader scan area and before the ticket burster separates the instant lottery ticket from the next instant lottery ticket.