Charitable gaming provides an important stream of revenue for many charitable organizations. Charity bingo has been traditionally viewed by the public as posing relatively low risk for problem gambling (PG), despite its potential to contribute to PG in some segments of the population, such as young adults, senior citizens, women, and persons with low incomes (Moubarac, Shead, & Derevensky, 2010). In our home jurisdiction of Ontario, Canada, the charitable gaming industry is being modernized in an effort to increase player participation. We visited most of the Charitable Gaming Centres as the revitalization was being rolled out and we examined all of the new games being introduced. We also obtained various forms of publicly available documentation about them, including material from the manufacturers’ websites, patents, and documents from both the lottery corporation and the provincial regulator of gaming. We also scrutinized information obtained from the websites and newsletters of the Ontario Charitable Gaming Association and the Commercial Gaming Association of Ontario. When necessary, we contacted officials to clarify issues that were not obvious from other sources. Through these activities, we learned that the revitalization program includes some traditional paper and electronic bingo games that were present before the revitalization, but we also became aware of some new forms of electronic gambling that we had not seen previously. One of these new forms, the Video Instant Ticket Vending Machine (V-ITVM) is the focus of the present paper. These V-ITVMs have also been licensed for use in in veterans organizations in Maryland, veteran and fraternal clubs in Missouri, and charitable bingo halls and clubs in New Mexico (“Maryland Lottery Awards,” 2015).

This paper is intended to raise awareness among researchers, clinicians and policy makers. Our intention is to explain how the V-ITVM sells lottery tickets, and to illustrate how they provide an experience of continuous play, with structural characteristics that mimic the style and content of multiline slot machine games. These machines sell “break-open“ lottery tickets that are similar to those that have traditionally been sold at bingo halls, but the sale of these tickets is accompanied by audiovisual content similar to slot machines. This novel technology is a form of electronic gambling that is distinct from casino slots, video lottery terminals (VLTs) and online gambling. There is no legal distinction between these various forms of electronic gambling in Canada, and the responsibility for the conduct and management of all forms of electronic gambling falls under the jurisdiction of provincial governments. However, such is not the case elsewhere, most notably in the United States. Under American regulations, the V-ITVM is technically a “Class II device” because it does not resolve the outcome of gambles using an internal random number generator. Instead, the V-ITVM sells pre-made lottery tickets that have predetermined outcomes. Because of this legal difference, they can be offered to the public in settings where traditional “Class III” slot machines are not allowed. This potential for increased access might allow for a considerable expansion in the range of venues that can have this form of electronic gambling. As this new technology is introduced in other jurisdictions, we caution policy makers to consider the nature of the audiovisual entertainment that these machines add to the sale of lottery tickets, and to decide whether permitting their use is consistent with the intended spirit of laws that restrict the placement of slot machines. The potential for increased access to a slots-like electronic gambling experience may be problematic in terms of harm minimization and social responsibility.

Conventional vending machines are commonly used to sell instant-win scratch tickets or break-open tickets (i.e., “Nevada tickets”) without providing any additional entertainment beyond that of the lottery product that they dispense. The V-ITVM platform is substantially different from conventional machines because it presents an entertainment component that gives added value over and above the tickets it sells. The V-ITVM units that we examined were the Diamond Game model LT-3 (Diamond Game, Chatsworth, CA, USA). Here we describe these so-called “TapTix” machines and how they work.

Figure 1 shows our schematic of what the V-ITVM break-open tickets look like. Figure 1a shows that the front of the ticket simply provides the logo of the provincial or state lottery corporation. Figure 1b shows that the back of the ticket has a barcode and a message “Ticket cannot be redeemed for cash.” Once dispensed by the V-ITVM, the ticket can be opened and inside is the result of the game. In this case it is a 3x5 grid of symbols in a fictitious game that we called “Amazing Cards.” There are many games that can be played on a V-ITVM unit (see www.diamondgame.com for examples), and in Figure 2 we show a schematic of a machine running the software. The opened ticket has text informing the player how many credits they have won, if any, and what the credits are worth in currency. In the example ticket in Figure 1c the player has a loss. In the example in Figure 1d, the player has won 20 credits for 4 kings, with each credit being worth $0.05 for a total win of $1.00. In Figure 1e the player has won a bonus for 5 aces. The bonus win is 335 $0.05-credits, worth $16.75.

The V-ITVM unit is housed in a cabinet that is approximately the size and shape of a conventional slot machine. The unit has a computer touchscreen that shows the arrangement of symbols corresponding to a printed ticket. In Figure 2 we show what the machine would look like if it had just dispensed the ticket displayed in Figure 1d. Below the screen, a “Cash In” slot is provided. It is used by the player to insert money, a “Play” button to initiate play, and a “Cash Out” button to print a voucher for the balance of money that is on the machine. The voucher is dispensed in the “Ticket Out” slot. The bottom part of the machine has a bin in which the physical game tickets are dispensed at the end of each play.

The manner in which the V-ITVM machine functions is as follows. The player inserts money and their credit balance is then continuously displayed. The player presses “Play” to purchase a ticket and play the game. The machine selects the next ticket from a roll inside the cabinet and scans the barcode printed on the back of it. From this barcode the machine knows what layout of symbols to display and what prize to deliver. The machine then animates the matrix of 3x5 symbols on the screen for approximately three seconds, with accompanying sounds, and when the symbols stop animating the layout of symbols shown on screen will match what is shown on the paper ticket. If it is a loss, as in Figure 1c, no celebratory sounds or celebratory animations are then provided. If it is a win, as in Figure 1d, a celebratory sound is then made, the symbols forming any wins animated, and the balance and win displays are updated. If it is a bonus win, as in Figure 1e, the game will display a series of several animated “free plays” and then the total from all of the free plays is the amount won. In all three cases (1c, 1d and 1e) at the end of the play, one ticket is dispensed into the Ticket Bin. It is notable that, even for the bonus win where there are multiple animated plays, still only one ticket is dispensed, and the total won on all of the plays are fully encoded in the barcode of a single paper ticket. At any time the player can press “Cash Out” and a voucher is printed with the player’s balance. That voucher can be redeemed for cash by an attendant, or it can be inserted into another machine to transfer the balance to the second machine. Paper break-open tickets are not redeemable and have no value once they have been played. The paper tickets are quite redundant in this system, as stated in the manufacturer’s patent for these machines (US Patent 5,941,771):

At about the same time that the ticket is dispensed, the indicia information retrieved from the memory module is displayed in the video display for the convenience of the game player. The player can then view the contents of the ticket without having to remove the cover from the purchased ticket.

This arrangement begs the question of what is the true source of the entertainment being sold by these break-open ticket dispensers: is it the gamble encoded on the paper tickets, or is it the audiovisual experience that accompanies their purchase?

For the player, the experience of purchasing break-open tickets through a V-ITVM is similar to the fast and continual gaming experience of playing a VLT or slot machine, and with similar audiovisual content. In our opinion, this combination of features makes the TapTix machine essentially equivalent to a VLT, both in terms of its purpose of selling gambles in a lottery scheme as well as the subjective effects it is likely to have on players and their behaviour. The primary reason for selling instant lottery tickets using V-ITVMs rather than selling them over-the-counter or through non-video enhanced vending machines is explicitly stated. The patent (US Patent 5,941,771) for the Diamond Game V-ITVM indicates that “a desirable attribute of such machines is that they should outwardly resemble gaming machines of the type known as ‘slot machines’, ‘slots’, or ‘one-armed bandits’,” and that “game indicia may emulate any of a variety of games of chance, including, but not limited to indicia that are displayed in conventional slot machines.” The V-ITVMs are housed in cabinets that look like conventional slot machines and they can play animations that appear similar to the games played on slot machines and VLTs.

A patron who purchases break-open tickets through a V-ITVM then enjoys the gamble of the ticket, which they could also obtain by simply buying a similar ticket from a store counter or conventional vending machine. With the V-ITVM they were also able to experience the anticipation and excitement of watching animated symbols similar to a slot machine. Of particular concern for responsible gambling is the nature of these entertainment components and the increased access to a slots-like gaming experience. Play consists of a series of small ticket purchases that are resolved quickly, but which can be made continually over an extended period of time to foster an immersive experience in the player (Schüll, 2012). The software running on these machines also allows for some other slots-like game features that are not available with conventional paper tickets and that may promote irresponsible gambling behaviours. These machines have four features that may make them risky in terms of promoting problem gambling: (1) losses disguised as wins, (2) near misses, (3) deceptive bonus rounds, and (4) promotion of the gambler’s fallacy. Each respective feature is described immediately below.

The V-ITVM platform raises serious concerns about potential risk for increasing the prevalence of PG. This is true in any jurisdiction where games of this type are to be introduced in settings that did not previously include electronic gambling machines. The games are similar enough to multiline slots games that players may not make a distinction between the experience of purchasing V-ITVM tickets and playing a slot machine. Both forms of electronic gambling machine misrepresent losses as wins, and create frequent reinforcement and near-miss outcomes. Bonus rounds in V-ITVMs are inherently deceptive to consumers and present superfluous audiovisual content designed to give the impression of separate gambles even though the final outcomes have been predetermined by the printed ticket. Furthermore, the apparent possibility of predicting game outcomes from a predetermined series may foster distorted beliefs that typify problem gamblers, perhaps making these games somewhat more problematic for consumers who are vulnerable to PG. Co-location of these electronic gaming machines, along with other forms of gambling in established bingo locations, may increase potential for harm among existing and new bingo enthusiasts. Clinicians, gambling researchers and policy makers should be aware of the potential risks that these new machines pose to the public.