Lottery ticket bar code

Abstract

Security can be provided for lottery tickets having data printed thereon in a bar code or other machine readable media by covering only a portion of the bar code with a scratch-off material. Removing the scratch-off material, or in some cases only a portion of the scratch-off material, can permit machine validation of the lottery tickets. For bar codes having a specified level of redundancy, it is desirable to cover at least enough of the bar code to prevent the machine reading of ticket validation data encoded in the bar code. Also, a lottery ticket can include a bar code printed on the ticket having both inventory and validation data along with a bar code printed on the front of the ticket including the validation data. All or part of the bar code printed on the front of the ticket can be covered by a scratch-off material. Also, the validation and redemption process can be expedited by having a player ticket checker read a ticket identifier printed on the lottery ticket so that this information can be checked and automatically entered in an agent terminal.

1 - 41 . (canceled) 
   
   
       42 . A lottery ticket comprising:
 a substrate having a first side and a second side;   a play area on of said sides;   a first bar code containing first validation data printed on said first side, at least some of said first validation data being at least partially covered by scratch-off material;   a second bar code containing second validation data printed on said second side; and   wherein said first bar code and said second bar code are configured so that validation of the lottery ticket requires during a validation process, reading all of said first validation data in said first bar code and reading said second validation data in said second bar code.   
   
   
       43 . A lottery ticket as in  claim 42 , wherein said second bar code and said scratch-off material are configured and disposed so that validation of said lottery ticket requires during a validation process, reading said first bar code after removal of said scratch-off material.