Abstract: A secure repository is provided for personal medical records of individuals and families. These electronic records, owned and controlled by the individual, may then be made accessible in selected parts over secured lines, to appropriate care providers, insurers and suppliers. The individual can direct that his or her entire file be transmitted to a doctor or to a hospital emergency room through the use of a coded card or they can direct that their medical information can only be supplied in anonymous, summary form along with data of other insured's to employers/health plan sponsors.

Abstract: A wagering system such as a lottery with a central computer communicating with agent terminals at which tickets are issued, for example in convenience stores and the like, has a player-operated win-checking system coupled to the communications network, preferably as a peripheral to the agent terminal but possibly as a separate network terminal. Player choices and game identifications are bar coded on the tickets. A player scans the ticket automatically to trigger comparison of the bar coded data with winning entry data kept in a past game memory, such that the system need not resort to stored data on individual wager transactions to check for wins. This reduces the burden on the agent and the network because most issued tickets need not be checked by attempting to validate them for a payout. A limited number of past games are stored, e.g., the most recent thirty Keno game cycles of a game run at five minute intervals.