BE1021390B1 - GAME OF CHANCE ANTI-FRAUD - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for preventing fraud in games of chance in which at least one ball moves almost randomly on a slightly inclined plane, said device comprising: a window preventing the user to intervene on the movement of the ball; means for detecting the presence of the window at a predetermined position; control means prohibiting the validation of gains when the presence of the window at said predetermined position is not detected.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a gambling device comprising fraud prevention means.

STATE OF THE ART [0002] The present invention relates to games of chance of the "bingo" or "one-lease" type in which one or more balls move in a quasi-random manner on a slightly inclined plane comprising target zones. These target areas will be for example in the form of cavities formed in the slightly inclined plane. In these games, a protective glass prevents the user from directly intervening on the movement of the balls.

The objective of this type of games for the user is to place his balls at a position or in a combination of predetermined positions, the success of the user being rewarded with financial winnings or free spins.

Since the origin of this type of games, users have sought to change the trajectory of the balls so as to increase their gains compared to the purely random factor. In response, increasingly efficient devices in machines have made it possible to limit these forms of fraud. Examples include accelerometers, stopping the game in case of detection of significant shock on the game (tilt), magnetic field detectors, to detect attempts to influence the movement of the balls by means of powerful magnets, ...

These systems are unfortunately ineffective when the person authorized to intervene on the device (technician, owner, cashier, ...) and who has the keys and codes is itself complicit.

Indeed, when the device is opened and the protective glass is removed, nothing prevents the user to place the balls at will, ensuring substantial gains. When it comes to the owner of the game, his goal will for example be to reduce his official winnings, in order to evade taxes.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION [0007] The present invention aims to prevent fraud in games of chance where a ball moves under a protective glass by preventing playing remuneratively when the glass is not in place. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] The present invention relates to a device for preventing fraud in games of chance in which at least one ball moves almost randomly on a slightly inclined plane, said device comprising: - a window preventing the user from interfering with the movement of the ball; means for detecting the presence of the window at a predetermined position, the window preventing access by the user to the ball when it is at said predetermined position; control means prohibiting the validation of gains when the presence of the window at said predetermined position is not detected.

According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the device of the invention further comprises one or a combination of at least two of the following characteristics: the means for detecting the window include: at least one means of coded marking fixed to the window immovably without visible degradation or integrated into said window; means for reading the coded marking fixed irremovably without visible degradation to the frame of the device and connected to said control means, the coded marking means and the reading means are arranged in such a way that the coded marking can not be read by the reading means only when the window is at said predetermined position, said control means for prohibiting validation gains when the coded marking means is not read or does not correspond to the device considered; The coded marking means is constituted by a code engraved in the form of one, two or three dimensional bar code (QR-code) and the reading means are optical means, the etching being preferably an internal etching; The optical reading means determine the depth of the etched code in addition to reading the engraved code itself; The marking means is coded in an electronic memory, which can only be read when said marking means is placed at the position corresponding to the predetermined position of the window, said electronic memory preferably comprising reading means by electromagnetic communication without contact, such as advantageously an RF-ID device; At least two coded marking means are arranged at distinct positions of the pane so as to prevent rotation of the pane without displacement of at least one of the two marking means; The coded marking means is a unique coded marking means, each pair of unique coded marking means / reading means corresponding to a unique identifier; The device comprises a resonant cavity formed by the pane, the internal walls and the slightly inclined plane on which the ball moves to define an acoustic signature of said device and the means for detecting the presence of the pane at a predetermined position comprise means for measuring said acoustic signature, the means for measuring the acoustic signature being preferably adapted to ultrasound; The device comprises a light source and an optical detector optically coupled to the glazing when it is at said predetermined position, said glazing allowing in use a confining effect of the light wave guiding light from the source to the detector, the source light source is preferably an infrared source.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for preventing fraud in games of chance in which at least one ball moves almost randomly on a slightly inclined plane, said ball moving under a window preventing the user to intervene on the movement of the ball, said method comprising the following steps: - checking the presence of the glass at a predetermined position on said game of chance; - prevent further play if the window is not in the predetermined position.

Advantageously, the verification of the presence of the window is made by reading a coded mark permanently affixed to the window, the reading being made by reading means fixed irremovably to said game of chance, the reading can only be made if the window is placed at the predetermined position.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the presence of the window is performed by acoustic means measuring the characteristics of the resonant cavity formed by the window, the slightly inclined plane and the walls of the device.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the presence of the window is determined by the transmission from one side to the other of the play of an optical signal through the glazing forming a waveguide between both sides of the game

Of course, the three embodiments of the method of the invention may advantageously be combined to improve the reliability of the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0015] The present invention relates to a system tending to prevent fraud by preventing normal use of the game in the absence of the window in its normal position. In particular, the present invention aims to prevent the validation of gains when the game is operated without the protective glazing.

A first way to achieve this end is to measure the signature of the resonant cavity formed by the glass, the slightly inclined plane and the side walls of the game. The characteristics of this cavity will, for example, measured by measurements. acoustic, by means of an acoustic transmitter / receiver pair, the measurement being carried out before each part. Preferably, this measurement will be performed at inaudible frequencies corresponding to ultrasound. The frequency used will preferably be greater than 25 kHz.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the waveguide properties of the glazing will be used to check its presence. For example, a laser beam coupled to the glazing on one side of the game must be detected on the other side of the game so that the winnings of the game can be validated. In this case, the laser beam will be modulated in a coded manner, so that conventional lighting can not be interpreted as the presence of the window.

Finally, according to a third embodiment of the invention, one or more pairs of coded marking in or on the glass / immovable reader on the game are placed so that the reading of the marking by the irremovable reader does not can be performed only if the glass is in place. The player being connected to the central logical unit of the game, it prevents saving gains when the marking coded on the glass can not be read.

In order to prevent the user from distorting the system despite everything, the marking must be irremovable from the glass, or at least its movement must leave indelible traces. For example, if the mark is in the form of a glued pastille, it should not be possible to remove it without apparent tearing.

In the same way, the coded marking reading system must also be immovably fixed without visible degradation of the game device.

Among the coded marking systems, it will be advantageous to use optical systems such as bar codes or two-dimensional codes (QR-codes) etched directly in or on the surface of the glazing. In this case, an optical drive will be immovably integrated into the frame of the game.

In order to make the copy of the coded marking more complex and to make the system more dissuasive, the etching will be an internal etching of the glass, such as that carried out by means of power lasers focused under the surface of the glass, inducing the appearance of microcracks producing a visible optical effect comparable to surface etching processes, but located in the volume of the glass.

Alternatively, the coded marking will include an electronic chip comprising a permanent memory (and possibly encryption means) in which is stored the code. The reading means will then comprise, for example, electrical contacts connected by pressure when the glazing is in place.

More advantageously still, the reading of the code stored on the chip fixed on the glazing will be done without contact, preferably by means of radio frequencies, for example, according to RF-ID technology.

Preferably, each code / reader marking pair will have a unique code, the marking of a machine can not replace the marking of another machine.

Claims (18)

1. Device for preventing fraud in games of chance in which at least one ball moves almost randomly on a slightly inclined plane, said device comprising: a window preventing the user from interfering with the movement of the ball ; means for detecting the presence of the window at a predetermined position, the window preventing access by the user to the ball when it is at said predetermined position; control means prohibiting the validation of gains when the presence of the window at said predetermined position is not detected. 2. Device according to claim 1 wherein the window detecting means comprise: - at least one coded marking means fixed to the glass irremovably without visible degradation or integrated into said pane; means for reading the coded marking fixed irremovably without visible degradation to the frame of the device and connected to said control means, the coded marking means and the reading means being arranged in such a way that the coded marking can not be read by the reading means only when the window is at said predetermined position, said control means for prohibiting the validation gains when the coded marking means is not read or does not correspond to the device. 3. Device according to claim 2 wherein the coded marking means is constituted by a code engraved in the form of one, two or three dimensional bar code (QR-code) and the reading means are optical means. 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the engraved code is an internal etching. 5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the optical reading means determine the depth of the etched code in addition to reading the same code etched. 6. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the marking means is encoded in an electronic memory, which can be read only when said marking means is placed at the position corresponding to the predetermined position of the pane. 7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that said electronic memory comprises reading means by electromagnetic communication without contact. The device of claim 7 wherein the single coded marking means is an RF-ID device. 9. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 8 wherein at least two coded marking means are arranged at different positions of the window so as to prevent the rotation of the window without moving at least one of the two means marking. Apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 9 wherein the coded marking means is a unique coded marking means, each pair of single coded marking means / reading means corresponding to a unique identifier. 11. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a resonant cavity formed by the glass, the inner walls and the slightly inclined plane on which the ball moves to define an acoustic signature of said device and in that the means for detecting the presence of the window at a predetermined position comprise means for measuring said acoustic signature. 12. Device according to claim 11 wherein the means for measuring the acoustic signature are adapted to ultrasound. 13. Device according to claim 1 comprising a light source and an optical detector optically coupled to the glazing when at said predetermined position, said glazing allowing in use a confining effect of the light wave guiding light from the source to detector. 14. Device according to claim 13 wherein the light source is an infrared source. 15. Method for preventing fraud in games of chance in which at least one ball moves almost randomly on a slightly inclined plane, said ball moving under a window preventing the user from interfering with the movement of the ball said method comprising the steps of: - checking the presence of the glass at a predetermined position on said game of chance; - prevent further play if the window is not in the predetermined position. 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the verification of the presence of the glass is made by reading a coded mark fixed immovably to the glass, the reading being made by reading means fixed irremovably said game by chance, the reading can only be made if the window is placed at the predetermined position. 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the verification of the presence of the glass is performed by acoustic means measuring the characteristics of the resonant cavity formed by the glass, the slightly inclined plane and the walls of the device. 18. The method of claim 15 wherein the presence of the glass is determined by the transmission from one side to the other of the play of an optical signal through the glazing forming a waveguide between the two sides of the game. .