Gaming machine accounting and ticketing system with cashier station

Abstract

A gaming system includes multiple gaming machines and one or more cashier stations. The gaming machines are configured to issue value tickets, such upon cash-out. Cashier stations may be configured to validate tickets and cash them out by paying the player equivalent value in money, such as bills or coins, or credit financial accounts or cards. The cashier stations may also be configured to accept monies and issue tickets which may be used at gaming machines. The cashier stations may collect player identification information and interface with external governing bodies, such as taxing entities.

1 . A gaming system comprising:
 at least one gaming machine configured to present at least one wagering game based upon a wager, said gaming machine configured to accept money from a player for use in placing said wager and configured to generate and issue a ticket to said player, said ticket having information associated therewith representing a monetary value; and   at least one cashier station, said cashier station configured to read said information from said ticket presented by said player and, in response to verification of said monetary value represented by said ticket, credit an electronic financial account associated with said player.   
     
     
         2 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said financial account is represented by a magnetic stripe card and said cashier station is configured to read said magnetic strip of said card to identify said financial account. 
     
     
         3 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 2  wherein said card comprise a bank issued debit card. 
     
     
         4 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said at least one cashier station comprises a ticket reader configured to read said information from said ticket. 
     
     
         5 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said gaming machine further comprises at least one currency acceptor for accepting said money from said player, at least one controller configured to generate game information and at least one video display configured to present game information generated by said at least one controller. 
     
     
         6 . The gaming system in accordance with  claim 5  wherein said gaming comprise further comprises a ticket printer. 
     
     
         7 . A method of operating a gaming system comprising:
 accepting monetary funds from a player at a gaming machine for use in placing a wager;   presenting at least one game to said player at said gaming machine;   generating a ticket at said gaming machine, said ticket having an associated record reflecting a monetary value;   accepting said ticket at a cashier station;   reading information from said ticket at said cashier station;   validating said monetary value of said ticket; and   crediting said validated monetary value to a financial account of said player.   
     
     
         8 . The method in accordance with  claim 7  wherein said step of validating comprises comparing information read from said ticket to said ticket record. 
     
     
         9 . The method in accordance with  claim 7  wherein said financial account is represented by a physical card. 
     
     
         10 . The method in accordance with  claim 9  wherein said card comprises a bank-issued debit card having a magnetic stripe encoded with an account number of said financial account. 
     
     
         11 . The method in accordance with  claim 7  further comprising the step of receiving a financial card of said player at said cashier station and reading an account number from said card. 
     
     
         12 . The method in accordance with  claim 7  wherein said step of accepting monetary funds comprises accepting at least one bill into a bill validator of said gaming machine.