ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,444,267, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to IGT (Las Vegas).
"Virtual ticket-in and ticket-out on a gaming machine" was invented by Dwayne R. Nelson (Las Vegas), Steven G. LeMay (Reno, Nev.), Jim A. Vasquez (Carson City, Nev.) and Scott T. Gowin (Reno, Nev.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electronic gaming machine includes a cabinet, a display mounted to the cabinet, a wireless interface for communicating with a portable electronic device, a network interface for communicating with a validation server, a bill validator coupled to a game controller configured to accept bills and printed ticket vouchers, and a removable cash box. The gam...