Electronic pull tab gaming system

A program product for use in controlling a game played with a number of stored game records, each game record being associated with a game play outcome, the program product being stored on a computer readable medium and including:

• (a) player account program code for creating a player account for a player, the player account having an account balance;
• (b) ticket request program code for receiving a game ticket request from the player, the game ticket request identifying a play quantity, the play quantity comprising a value representing a quantity of game play outcomes to be obtained;
• (c) account comparison program code for determining if the account balance for the player account is sufficient for the play quantity;
• (d) ticket production program code for causing a game ticket dispenser to apply a number of ticket indicia to a ticket substrate to produce a game ticket in the event that the account balance for the player account is sufficient for the play quantity, each ticket indicia being directly identifiable, corresponding to a particular one of game records, and representing the respective game play outcome associated with the particular one of the game records;
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• (e) ticket encoding program code for causing an encoding device to apply game play information to the ticket substrate, the game play information being in machine readable form and directly or indirectly specifying each game record associated with the ticket indicia represented on the game ticket.

A gaming system which utilizes a number of stored game records, each game record being associated with a game play outcome, the gaming system including:

• (a) a player account storage device storing player account data for each game player, the player account data for each player including an account balance for the respective player,
• (b) a player account processing device for controlling the player account storage device and for comparing the account balance for a respective one of the players with a play quantity in response to a ticket request for the respective player, the play quantity comprising a value representing a quantity of game play outcomes defined in the ticket request for the respective player,
• (c) a point of sale component for communicating game ticket requests to the player account processing device;
• (d) a ticket production device associated with the point of sale component, the ticket production device for applying a number of ticket indicia to a ticket substrate to produce a game ticket in the event that the account balance for the respective player account is sufficient for the play quantity specified in a game play request for the respective player, each ticket indicia being directly identifiable, corresponding to a particular one of game records, and representing the respective game play outcome associated with the particular one of the game records;
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• (e) a ticket encoding device for applying game play information to the ticket substrate, the game play information being in machine readable form and directly or indirectly specifying each game record corresponding to the ticket indicia on the game ticket.

A gaming system utilizing a number of stored game records, each game record being associated with a game play outcome, the gaming system including:

• (a) a point of sale component for receiving a game ticket request from a player, the game ticket request identifying a play quantity comprising a value representing a quantity of game play outcomes to be obtained;
• (b) a game ticket dispenser for applying a number of ticket indicia to a ticket substrate to produce a game ticket in response to the game ticket request, the number of ticket indicia applied being equal to the play quantity, each ticket indicia being directly identifiable, corresponding to a particular one of the game records, and representing the respective game play outcome associated with the particular game record;
• (c) a ticket data storage device separate from the game ticket for storing a set of ticket data correlated to a ticket identifier associated with the game ticket, the set of ticket data identifying each game record represented on the game ticket by the ticket indicia;
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• (d) a player terminal operatively connected for communication with the ticket data storage device, the player terminal for communicating ticket usage information to the ticket data storage device in response to each game play input entered by a player at the player terminal.