Patent ID: 8888098

Claim:
A ball lottery apparatus comprising: a roulette section comprising: a roulette wheel having multiple lottery pockets through which lottery balls can pass, the lottery pockets being arranged along a circumferential direction; and a retention plate located below the roulette wheel, comprising multiple retaining members configured to coincide with the lottery pockets, respectively, for retaining the lottery balls that have entered the lottery pockets without falling, and spaces interposed between neighboring retaining members, the lottery balls being capable of passing through the spaces, the roulette wheel and the retaining members configured to be rotated as a unit; a driver configured to change a relative position of the retention plate with respect to the roulette wheel; a mode selector adapted for selecting either of a first mode or a second mode for the roulette section; a first retrieving section for retrieving lottery balls that have fallen from the lottery pockets at a first area that is a half area of the roulette wheel; a second retrieving section for retrieving lottery balls that have fallen from the lottery pockets at a second area that is another half area of the roulette wheel; a rotation controller adapted for controlling rotation of the roulette section; and a lottery controller adapted for deciding a lottery result depending on which lottery pockets the lottery balls have entered, wherein in case in which the mode selector has selected the first mode, the driver sets the position of the retention plate with respect to the roulette wheel so that the retaining members of the retention plate and the lottery pockets of the roulette wheel are superposed, whereby lottery balls that have entered the lottery pockets are retained by the retaining members below the lottery pockets, and wherein in case in which the mode selector has selected the second mode, the driver sets the position of the retention plate with respect to the roulette wheel so that the spaces between the retaining members of the retention plate and the lottery pockets of the roulette wheel are superposed, whereby lottery balls that have entered the lottery pockets fall through the spaces below the lottery pockets, wherein in case in which the lottery controller executes a lottery, the mode selector selects the first mode, and the rotation controller rotates the roulette section, and wherein after the lottery controller decides the lottery result, the mode selector selects the second mode at a time point at which the difference between a total number of lottery balls entering the lottery pockets in the first area and a total number of lottery balls entering the lottery pockets in the second area is minimum.