Patent ID: 7232371

Claim:
A cashless payment method for a network connected gaming system, comprising the steps of: issuing a two-level limited lifetime payment instrument in exchange for money remitted by a player, the payment instrument including an identification code indexed in a central database in which data associated with the identification code is stored, the data comprising at least a first level lifetime of the payment instrument being set to a first timeout, a second level lifetime of the payment instrument being set to a second timeout, and a balance of credit being set to the money remitted; accepting the payment instrument by a gaming terminal of the gaming system selected by the player; determining from the accepted payment instrument whether the first level lifetime has lapsed, and if the first level lifetime is determined not to have lapsed, carrying out steps of crediting the gaming terminal with a credit amount corresponding to the balance of credit; enabling wagering on the gaming terminal and updating the credit amount while a balance of the credit amount is greater than zero, and whenever the balance of the credit amount is zero, disallowing further wagering and redeeming, and resetting the first level lifetime; if the first level lifetime is determined to have lapsed, carrying out steps of prompting the player to present the issued payment instrument to a re-activation station; resetting the first level lifetime to the first timeout at the reactivation station upon presentation of the issued payment instrument, and prompting the player to present the issued payment instrument to the selected gaming terminal of the gaming system, and enabling redemption of the balance of the credit amount when the player has won a jackpot or has pressed a cash out button on the gaming terminal and has a non-zero balance of the credit amount.