Section 380. Bill acceptors

A. An electronic pull-tab device may have a mechanism that accepts U.S. currency and provides a method to enable the electronic pull-tab device software to interpret and act appropriately upon a valid or invalid input.

B. An acceptance device shall be electronically based and be configured to ensure that it only accept valid bills and rejects all others in a highly accurate manner.

C. A bill input system shall be constructed in a manner that protects against vandalism, abuse, or fraudulent activity. In addition, a bill acceptance device shall only register credits when:

1. The bill has passed the point where it is accepted and stacked; and

2. The bill acceptor has sent the "irrevocably stacked" message to the machine.

D. A bill acceptor shall communicate to the electronic pull-tab device using a bidirectional protocol.

E. A bill acceptor shall be designed to prevent the use of cheating methods such as stringing, the insertion of foreign objects, and any other manipulation that may be deemed as a cheating technique.

F. If a bill acceptor is designed to be factory set only, it shall not be possible to access or conduct maintenance or adjustments to that bill acceptor in the field, other than:

1. The selection of bills and their limits;

2. Changing of certified EPROMs or downloading of certified software;

3. The method for adjustment of the tolerance level for accepting bills of varying quality should not be accessible from the exterior of the electronic pull-tab device. Adjustments of the tolerance level should only be allowed with adequate levels of security in place. This can be accomplished through lock and key, physical switch settings, or other accepted methods approved on a case-by-case basis;

4. Maintenance, adjustment, and repair per approved factory procedures; and

5. Options that set the direction or orientation of bill acceptance.

G. An electronic pull-tab device equipped with a bill acceptor shall have the capability of detecting and displaying an error condition for the following events:

1. Stacker full (it is recommended that an explicit "stacker full" error message not be utilized since this may cause a security issue);

2. Bill jams;

3. Bill acceptor door open. If a bill acceptor door is a machine door, a door open signal is sufficient;

4. Stacker door open; and

5. Stacker removed.

H. An electronic pull-tab device equipped with a bill acceptor shall maintain sufficient electronic metering to be able to report the following:

1. Total monetary value of all bills accepted;

2. Total number of all bills accepted;

3. A breakdown of the bills accepted for each denomination; and

4. The value of the last five items accepted by the bill acceptor.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 29, Issue 03, eff. November 7, 2012.

Statutory Authority

§ 18.2-340.15 of the Code of Virginia.