To provide an automatic ticket gate shortening a conveying distance of tickets after release of retention as to all the retained tickets for reducing a time required for post-processing after determination of permission of passage for improvement in ticket checking efficiency.

In this automatic ticket gate 1, when it is determined that there is a retained ticket in a retention part 10 while no ticket is retained by a stopper 11a, the stopper 11a in a released condition is returned to a retaining condition, and then, the stopper 11 holding a ticket closest to an outlet of the retention part 10 among the tickets held in the retention part 10 at this time is shifted from the retaining condition to the releasing condition. In this way, a conveying distance of the ticket after release of retention in the retention part 10 can be shortened, and consequently, processing time required for processing of the inserted ticket can be reduced.