Patent ID: 8210536

Claim:
A feed system for feeding playing cards into a card handling system, the feed system comprising: a support frame; a playing card input compartment having a playing card support surface, a front wall, a rear wall and two side walls; the playing card support surface having a slope toward the front wall of between 12 and 22 degrees with respect to the horizontal; the front wall having a slot to allow single playing cards to pass from the playing card support surface through the slot into the card handling system; a playing card moving system associated with the playing card input compartment to advance single playing cards through the slot; wherein playing cards in the playing card input compartment are pressed against the playing card moving system by gravity and without other mechanical pressure; and wherein a blocking element is mounted for pivotal rotation with respect to the support frame, wherein in a first position the blocking element prevent a card from passing through the slot and in a second position the blocking element allows a card to pass through the slot.