Organizing Device for Gaming Tickets

Abstract

The present invention is an organizing device for gaming tickets and a method of organizing gaming tickets using the organizing device. The organizing device includes a pouch configured to hold and store gaming tickets. The pouch further includes at least one divider within the pouch, which creates at least two pockets. The dividers may be customized to accommodate gaming tickets of varying dimensions and the dividers may be removable from the pouch. Each pocket may be labeled temporarily or permanently as a certain category of gaming ticket, sub-categories of single game's tickets, or custom labels defined by the user.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/720,060 filed Oct. 30, 2012. The entire contents of the above application are hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein.

FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of organization devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to an organization device for gaming tickets.

1. Background

When using gaming tickets, such as scratch off lottery tickets, greyhound racing tickets, horse racing tickets, vegas style gaming tickets and printed lottery tickets, a user may want to store the ticket in various ways. Currently, gaming ticket holders on the market only include a single pocket. When handling multiple gaming tickets, especially those with multiple play purposes, the singe pocket holder is inefficient for storage and leads to disorganization. Therefore, a user may have difficulty finding the ticket they are looking for within the holder. As such, there is a need for an organization device to organize and store a user's gaming tickets.

2. Prior Art

There have been attempts in the prior art to organize and store gaming tickets, but none that are as efficient and useful as the present invention. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,379 to Parks discloses a single fold wallet for storing lottery tickets with transparent faced pockets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,383 to Gross discloses a lottery ticket holder having two compartments for organizing and storing lottery slips. U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,137 to Holt discloses a lottery organizer device with pockets attached to an inside cover. The present invention is distinguishable from these patents in that the present invention has multiple folds with multiple pockets for organizing multiple types of gaming tickets together.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the present invention to address several challenges in previous attempts to store and organize gaming tickets. Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides an organizing device for gaming tickets. The organizing device includes a pouch configured to hold and store gaming tickets. The pouch further includes at least one divider within the pouch, which creates at least two pockets. The dividers may be customized to accommodate gaming tickets of varying dimensions and the dividers may be removable from the pouch. Each pocket may be labeled temporarily or permanently as a certain category of gaming ticket, sub-categories of single game's tickets, or custom labels defined by the user.

By providing a compartmentalized holder with multiple label tabs, the device includes multiple sections for users to place their gaming tickets. The gaming tickets may include scratch off lottery tickets, greyhound racing tickets, horse racing tickets, vegas style gambling tickets, printed lottery tickets, and the like. The users may store pre and post played tickets into labeled sections with customized or pre-printed inserts. The device allows for labeling of the various sections and allows the user to categorize their tickets into an organized sequence.

The device may further comprise a flap that extends vertically from one side of the pouch and can be folded over in order to substantially cover the opposite side of the pouch. The flap can be closed to secure tickets within the pouch using magnets, Velcro, rubber bands, snaps or other means to secure the flap.

The device may have the dimensions of about 9¼″×4¼″×⅛″. However, it is envisioned that the device may be of any convenient size for a user to organize and store various ticket sizes. In certain embodiments, the pouch may be a holder having a single fold, bi fold, tri fold and multiple folds. The pouch may include dividers to create multiple pockets within the folds of the pouch.

The pouch and dividers of the pouch can be made from a variety of materials, including but not limited to, polymeric material, plastics, cardboard, paper, leather, cloth or mixtures thereof.

The pockets may be labeled using removable or permanent labels. For example, the pouch may come with preprinted labels or a user may customize the labels. The labels are used to organize the tickets. Once the pockets have been labeled, each pocket may be populated with the appropriate contents, such as the specific lottery ticket. In certain embodiments, the tickets may be placed in appropriate sections based on the phase of a ticket's lifecyle. For example, winning tickets may be placed in a pocket labeled “winning tickets” until redeemed. For the purposes of this application, “gaming tickets” may also represent the playslip that contains the input used to create the gaming ticket. For example, playslips may be completed to contain numbers that are used for repeated use to create a lottery ticket.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a method to organize and store gaming tickets is disclosed using the device disclosed herein and wherein gaming tickets that are pre-paid for consecutive drawings are filed in the first pocket that can be labeled “advance play”, gaming tickets that require validation are filed in the second pocket that can be labeled “pending validation”, gaming tickets that are held for special lottery promotions until the draw date are filed in the third pocket that can be labeled “special promotions”, gaming tickets that are prefilled with numbers for repeated use are filed in a fourth pocket that can be labeled “prefilled playslips”, and scratch off gaming tickets and other miscellaneous gaming tickets are filed in a fifth pocket that can be labeled “miscellaneous.”

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the invention

FIG. 4 is a front view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second alternate embodiment of the invention illustrated in an open condition.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second alternate embodiment of the invention illustrated in a closed condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 6, the device may be a pouch that includes dividers 12. The dividers 12 create pockets 10 that may be labeled with pre-printed or customized tabs 14. The number of pockets 10 and labels 16 may vary in size. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the labels 16 may include 2nd play, winning tickets, scratch-offs, advance play and the like. As can be seen, a user may customize the labels 16 to their desired organizational and storage preferences.

The device may include a different amount of pockets 10. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the device may include four or five pockets. The particular gaming ticket 18 may be stored in the properly labeled 16 pockets. In certain embodiments, the device may have a single flap 20, in which the device may be opened and closed. The flap 20 extends vertically from one side of the pouch and folds such that the opposite side of the pouch is substantially covered by flap 20 when flap 20 is in the closed position, as shown in FIG. 6. This allows the device to be easily stored as well as properly contain the gaming tickets within.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, this specific language intends no limitation of the scope of the invention, and the invention should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the invention in any way. For the sake of brevity, conventional aspects of the method (and components of the individual operating components of the method) may not be described in detail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in the various figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships, physical connections or logical connections might be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An organizing device for gaming tickets comprising:

a pouch configured to hold and store gaming tickets of varying dimensions; and

at least one divider housed within said pouch to create at least two pockets to separate said gaming tickets into categories.

2. The device according to claim 1 wherein the divider may be customized to accommodate gaming tickets of varying dimensions.

3. The device according to claim 2 wherein the divider is removable from the pouch.

4. The device according to claim 1 wherein the pouch is constructed to be single fold.

5. The device according to claim 1 wherein the pouch is constructed to be multiple fold.

6. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a flap that extends vertically from one side of the pouch.

7. The device according to claim 6 wherein the flap is folded onto the opposite side of the pouch in order to substantially cover the opposite side of the pouch.

8. The device according to claim 7 wherein the flap is secured using magnets, Velcro, rubber bands, snaps, or other means to secure the flap such that when the flap is closed the gaming tickets remain securely within the pouch.

9. The device according to claim 1 wherein the dividers are labeled with removable labels.

10. The device according to claim 1 where in the dividers are labeled with permanent labels.

11. The device according to claim 1 wherein the pouch is made from a material selected from the group consisting of polymeric material, plastics, cardboard, paper, leather, cloth, or a mixture thereof.

12. The device according to claim 1 wherein the pouch is about 9¼ inches long, about 4¼ inches in height and about ⅛ inches in depth.

13. A method for organizing gaming tickets using an organizing device for gaming tickets comprising:

a pouch configured to hold and store gaming tickets of varying dimensions; and

at least one divider housed within said pouch to create at least two pockets to separate said gaming tickets into categories;

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the divider may be customized in shape and dimension to accommodate gaming tickets of varying dimensions; and

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the divider is removable from the pouch.

16. The method according to claim 13 wherein gaming tickets that are pre-paid for consecutive drawings are filed in a first pocket.

17. The method according to claim 13 wherein gaming tickets that require validation are filed in a second pocket.

18. The method according to claim 13 wherein gaming tickets that are held for special lottery promotions until the draw date are filed in a third pocket.

19. The method according to claim 13 wherein gaming tickets that are prefilled with numbers for repeated use are filed in a fourth pocket.

20. The method according to claim 13 wherein scratch off gaming tickets are filed in a fifth pocket.