Abstract: An automatic gaming system employing a plurality of gaming cards used by the players including a card dispensing unit having a card reader for reading from a gaming card a coded representation of the gaming indicia format on the card; a storage device; a circuit for verifying a coded representation; and control generator circuitry responsive to a verified coded representation for assigning a control identification to that card and storing the coded representation and control identification in the storage device and a printer for printing the assigned control identification on the card; and a gaming unit including an input device for entering selected gaming indicia in the storage device; input elements for entering the control identification of an alleged winning card; and a comparator for comparing the entered selected gaming indicia with the gaming indicia format of the alleged winning card to determine if a predetermined pattern of the selected indicia is present on the card format, indicating a winning ca