Patent Application
20090090641
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gaming devices and accessories, and to coin holding accessories. More specifically, the present invention relates to a scratch lottery coin holder that holds a lucky coin, either real or imitation, which is employed to scratch a lottery ticket of the scratch-off type to expose a prize or winning number.
2. Description of the Related Art
The gaming industry has become a multibillion-dollar empire. Aside from the proliferation of casinos, officially sponsored lottery games bring in millions of dollars to augment state treasuries. Because of the possibility of instantly determining a winner, the scratch-off ticket game has become one of the most popular and high revenue-producing games in the lottery industry. To determine whether a ticket is a winner or not, the player utilizes the edge of a rigid object to scratch and remove the top surface of a ticket to reveal indicia disposed on the ticket underneath the top surface. The rigid object is usually a coin, which coin is conveniently grasped between the forefinger and thumb to scratch the ticket.
Often the player employs a “lucky” coin exclusively to be used for scratch-off tickets. It would certainly be convenient if a device were available that would enhance manipulation of the coin during the scratching process and that would allow the retention of a special coin so that the player would not have to search for a coin when it is desired to play a scratch-off game. Thus, a scratch-off lottery coin holder solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The scratch lottery coin holder is adapted for use when playing a scratch-off lottery game. The coin holder includes a housing fabricated from a pliable material having a recess for removably receiving a coin therein. An edge of the coin protrudes from the recess so that the edge may be utilized to scratch the surface of a scratch-off lottery ticket. As contemplated, the coin holder will have an outer surface inscribed or embossed with desired advertisement indicia or the like. For example, lottery agencies could have game logos disposed on the outer surface of the holder and sell or give away the holder as a tie-in to promote a particular scratch-off game. The coin holder may also be combined with a key chain for convenience and practicality.
Accordingly, the scratch lottery coin holder provides a coin holder especially for use in a scratch-off lottery game. The holder is effective to enhance coin manipulation during the scratch-off process. Advertisement indicia or logos may be disposed on the outer surfaces of the coin holder.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
Attention is first directed to
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Utilization of the coin holder 10 is easy. The coin 16 is inserted in the slot 18 to be retained in the recess 14. The user simply grasps the housing 12 (normally between thumb and forefinger) and employs the edge of the coin 16 to scratch the surface of a scratch-off ticket. The coin 16 may be an actual article of currency, e.g., a coin that the lottery player considers to be lucky for whatever reason, or may be an imitation coin furnished for dedicated use with the coin holder 10.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
