Patent ID: 7674177

Claim:
A method of accepting a value ticket having an associated value at a gaming machine of a system including a plurality of gaming machines at which tickets are dispensed comprising: accepting a ticket at a reader of a first gaming machine; reading information from said ticket; transmitting ticket information from said reader to an accounting controller of said first gaming machine; determining if said ticket was generated at said first gaming machine and, if so, determining if said ticket is valid and, if so, determining a value of said ticket and sending a signal to said reader regarding said value; if said ticket was not generated at said first gaming machine, sending ticket information to at least the gaming machine at which said ticket was generated, determining if said ticket is valid and, if so, determining a value of said ticket and sending a signal to said reader regarding said value; and transmitting at least one signal from said reader to cause a gaming controller of said first gaming machine to credit said value of said ticket.