Escrowed Probability Ticket Dispensing for Fraud Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Instant probability games in lottery systems face security issues due to fraud attempts like 'pin-prick' and 'mechanical lift' attacks, leading to an imbalance between 'false accepts' and 'false rejects' in security systems, making them commercially unviable.
Innovation Solution
Holding purchased probability tickets in escrow within a gaming machine until the player commits to a selection, ensuring the ticket is only dispensed after the player's choices are locked in, and using mechanisms like pseudorandom shuffling or on-demand printing to enhance security and legitimacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If security systems are made more sensitive to detect fraud attempts, then false accepts decrease, but false rejects increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by printing the probability ticket and holding it in escrow before the player makes selections. This allows the system to establish the ticket's integrity and potential winning combinations in advance, enabling more sensitive fraud detection without impacting player convenience during the actual gaming process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - the escrowed probability ticket with pre-determined winning combinations - that mediates between security requirements and player convenience. The ticket acts as a trusted intermediary that can be verified for fraud without requiring complex real-time checks during gameplay.
2Adaptability or versatility
If instant probability games allow players to select subsets of scratch-off spots, then entertainment value increases, but security vulnerabilities increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines winning combinations in advance by printing them on the probability ticket before the player makes selections. This preliminary establishment of winning patterns allows the game to offer flexible subset selection while maintaining security, as the winning combinations are already fixed and verifiable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses electronic copies of the probability ticket data to verify winning combinations without requiring physical manipulation of the original ticket. This allows players to select subsets of spots and verify results through electronic means, reducing fraud susceptibility while maintaining gameplay flexibility.
3Ease of operation
If probability tickets are dispensed immediately after purchase, then player access is improved, but security control is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by printing and escrowing the probability ticket before dispensing it to the player. This allows the system to establish control measures and verify ticket integrity in advance, then provide immediate player access without compromising security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a process where the probability ticket is quickly printed and escrowed in sequence, then immediately made accessible to the player. This rushed-through preliminary processing maintains security control while minimizing delays in providing player access to the ticket.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system are provided with instant probability tickets combined with gaming machines wherein the win/lose outcome of the probability game is determined by the subset selections the player makes from a superset comprising a multiplicity of possible game element spots. The gaming machines hold the purchased probability ticket in escrow in an internal region of the gaming machine such that the player cannot gain physical access to the probability ticket until he or she commits to a selection of subset game elements.