Patent ID: 8616983

Claim:
A controller for a gaming machine, the controller adapted to receive data from a bill acceptor that may represent bill data or ticket data, the controller arranged to process the data and to: (a) output bill data to a game controller in response to a bill being inserted into the bill acceptor, and wherein the game controller is arranged to process the bill data and provides a player with a number of credits that can be wagered on the game; (b) output ticket data to a ticket processing mechanism in response to a ticket being inserted into the bill acceptor, the ticket processing mechanism being separate from the game controller, wherein the ticket processing mechanism is arranged to process the ticket data to: (i) form credit data and send the credit data to the game controller, wherein in response to the credit data the game controller provides the player with a number of credits that can be wagered on the game and (ii) form a remainder data and send the remainder data to the controller, the remainder data representing a monetary value that is less than the denomination of the gaming machine; and (c) in response to receiving the remainder data from the ticket processing mechanism instruct a ticket printer to print a ticket having the monetary value of the remainder value.