Background of the Invention Gaming machines have been well known in the state of New South Wales for many years and have more recently gained considerable popularity throughout Australia with quite substantial amounts wagered on these machines. Such machines have also been popular in various casinos throughout the world for many years.

Like most businesses, casinos. clubs or the like. gaming machine venues tend to have quieter periods and busier periods during the day.

Historically, where the regulations of the particular state or country permit, operators of gaming machine venues have run promotions to encourage use of gaming machines during the quieter periods by, for example, offering extra redits, vouchers, discounted food and drink. and the like. More recently, as the price of computing power has fallen, more sophisticated computerised methods of encouraging play, particularly during quieter periods, have been developed.

Targeted promotions are enabled by the provision of a personal card for each member of the gaming machine venue. The card can be inserted into a card reader in the gaming machine when the member is playing one of the venue's gaming machines. A display and key pad or the like are normally associated with the card reader. The card reader display and keypad are usually referred to as a"player marketing module" (PMM), in the art.

Player marketing modules might, for example."greet"the player by name (by displaying a greeting on the display), when a player enters their card in the card reader. If. for example, it is that player's birthday, the module may award them some sort of gift or bonus. The player marketing module may also be linked to a networking and communication module, such as Aristocrat's DACOM"system known in the art as a"Player tracking module'' (PTM). Such systems can gather and store information relating to

that member such as the frequency with which the member plays machines at the venue. the davs and times in which the member plays ! the amount of moI1ey the member typicallv invests in the gaming machine etc.

Player tracking modules and plaver marketing modules tend to be located in the top of a gaming machine cabinet above the machine's video screen display. Because of the location of the plaver tracking module and player marketing module. it is awkward to access the various components which make up the modules and this causes problems when the modules require servicing which may be necessary once everv few months. More significantly. when a new casino is being opened or part of a venue is being refitted. the new gaming machines often require quite substantial amounts of adjustments to their player marketing and player tracking modules and the difficult access makes this time consuming and awkward.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate some of the disadvantages of the prior art discussed above.

Summarv of the Invention In the present invention there is provided a gaming machine including a drawer or the like mounted on rails in an upper part of the gaming machine, in an arrangement such that the drawer may be slid in and out of the gaming machine and wherein the drawer carries a player marketing module for the gaming machine.

The provision of a drawer has two significant benefits. First of all it improves access to the player marketing module and any other communication or related equipment such as a plaver tracking module mounted in the drawer. Secondly. as well as improving access to that equipment. it also enables more equipment to be provided in the space available at the top of the gaming machine since the drawer provides a platform on which the equipment may be fitted and allows a much better access to the equipment. This is significant, since recently the trend has been to use more and more sophisticated player tracking modules and the consequent increase in size of the modules requiring extra space.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only. and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :- Figure 1 is a schematic partly sectioned and partly exploded perspective view of a top of a gaming machine incorporating a drawer receiving a plaver marketing module and player tracking module: and Figure 2 is a section illustrating details of the front of the drawer.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment Referring to the drawings. Figure 1 shows the top of a gaming machine cabinet 10. The cabinet has a rear wall 12 and two side walls 14.16. Only the upper part of the cabinet is shown in Figure 1. A main door. not shown, is hinged to the cabinet and when closed. provides the front of the gaming machine. The roof of the gaming machine is formed by a generally box like roof element 18 having a top and side walls, but no floor. The top element includes depending projections 20 shown in phantom which lock into corresponding slots not shown provided in the upper faces of the rear and side walls of the gaming machine cabinet.

Along the interior faces of the side walls 24 of the roof element (refer to Figure 2), opposed rails or guides 39 are formed.

A drawer or tray 26 is provided on which the player marketing module (PMM) 26a. and player tracking module (PTM) 26b, shown schematically, are mounted. The drawer has a floor 28. side walls 30 which extend from the rear 31 of the drawer to the front 32 of the drawer. A"Z"section plate 34 forms the front of the drawer. Runners 40 are fixed to the outside side walls 30 of the drawers. These slide in the rails 39 to allow the drawer to be slid and out of the gaming machine.

A frame 38 is fixed to the front of the drawer.

At the front of the drawer the central area 42 of the Z section plate 34 defines a number of holes 44 including a slot 46 for a card reader 47 shown schematically. Other control equipment associated with the player marketing/tracking modules, may also be located through slots here such as buttons 48 associated with the card reader and a keypad 50.

The drawer can be slid in and out on the rails. When the drawer is almost fully pulled out to the front of the rails, the drawer can pivot about the pin to allow better access to the components located in the drawer as

illustrated in Figure 22. The rear of the drawer will contact the top of the roof element also as illustrated in Figure 2 and prevent the drawer from pivoting downwardly through greater than a predetermined angle.

The frame 38, drawer 26. PMM and PTM slide as one. When the main door of the gaming machine is closed. the main door overlaps the lower part of the frame and prevents the drawer from being pulled out. Additional locking means may also be provided to prevent unauthorised movement of the drawer.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.