Ball launcher and a ball gaming system including such ball launcher

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to a ball gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus, and in particular to a ball launcher for use in a gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus and to a gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus comprising the ball launcher, wherein the ball launcher includes a ball shuttle for transporting a ball from at least one ball-receiving station to at least one launch tube. According to the present invention, said ball shuttle is configured to move to a reject-ball station in response to a reject-ball signal to transport any old and/or defective ball to said reject-ball station instead of said at least one launch tube.

Claims

1. A ball launcher for launching a ball into a roulette playing area, comprising: at least one launch tube, and a ball gate for gating the ball into the launch tube; said ball gate includes a ball shuttle adapted to be moveable from at least one ball-receiving station to said at least one launch tube to transport the ball from the ball-receiving station to said at least one launch tube; and said ball shuttle is adapted to move to a reject ball station in response to a reject ball signal to transport any ball to be replaced to said reject-ball station instead of said at least one launch tube, wherein said ball shuttle is adapted to be movable to a first ball-receiving station for receiving a used ball coming from the playing area, and to a second ball-receiving station for receiving a new ball from a ball storage connectable to said second ball-receiving station, and wherein, in response to said reject ball signal, the ball shuttle is adapted to move from said first ball receiving station to said reject ball station to sort out said ball to be replaced, and to move from said reject ball station to said second ball receiving station for receiving a new ball from said ball storage, and to move from said second ball receiving station to said at least one launch tube to gate the new ball into said at least one launch tube.

2. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 1, further comprising: a ball quality detector for detecting ball quality and issuing said reject ball signal upon detection of a ball having a quality selected from the group consisting of defective, polluted, unknown quality or combinations thereof.

3. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 2, wherein said ball quality detector includes an optical sensor for optically detecting a ball, and an image evaluator for evaluating an image of said ball provided by said optical sensor.

4. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 3, wherein said image evaluator is configured to determine in said image the outer contour of the detected ball and deviations of the outer contour from a circular contour, and/or configured to detect changes and/or deviations in color and/or in brightness in said image of said detected ball, and said image evaluator is configured to detect changes in color or brightness and pixel pattern in said image to be compared to a predetermined pixel pattern.

5. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 4, wherein said ball quality detector is configured to detect a ball positioned in at least one of: the playing area, the at least one ball-receiving station in said ball shuttle.

6. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 4, wherein user input means are provided for inputting said reject ball signal by a user.

7. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 1, wherein said ball shuttle includes a shuttle rotor having a ball-receiving seat and being rotatably supported about a shuttle rotor axis; at least one of: said ball-receiving seat, an opening of said at least one launch tube, said at least one ball receiving station and said reject ball station are positioned on a circular path around said shuttle rotor axis.

8. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 7, wherein said shuttle rotor axis is horizontal, wherein said reject ball station is positioned in or below a horizontal plane containing said shuttle rotor axis, and wherein said at least one ball receiving station for receiving a new ball from a ball storage or a used ball from the playing area is positioned in or above said horizontal plane containing said shuttle rotor axis.

9. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second ball receiving station and said ball storage are configured and arranged to drive a new ball from said ball storage into or onto said ball shuttle by gravity; said reject ball station is configured and arranged to drive a ball from said ball shuttle into said reject ball station by gravity.

10. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 9, further comprising an electric shuttle motor controllable by a control unit in response to said reject ball signal, wherein said electric shuttle motor is connected to said ball shuttle.

11. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 10, wherein said electric shuttle motor is a stepper motor controlled by said control unit, or said electric shuttle motor is controlled when the ball shuttle reaches a respective position aligned with one of said reject-ball station, said receiving station and said launch tube.

12. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 1, wherein an airflow generator for generating an airflow through said launch tube is connectable to a pair of launch tubes defining different launching directions, wherein said ball shuttle is adapted to be moveable from said at least one ball-receiving station between said pair of launch tubes to each of said pair of launch tubes to transport the ball from the ball-receiving station to one of said launch tubes, wherein said pair of launch tubes have openings each of which, together with said ball-receiving seat of the ball shuttle, is positioned on a preferably circular ball shuttle moving path.

13. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 12, wherein the airflow generated by said airflow generator is controlled by an airflow controller adapted to increase and/or decrease and/or reverse airflow and/or to cause airflow in a direction opposite to the ball moving direction, thereby increasing or decreasing ball speed and/or ball spin.

14. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 13, wherein said airflow controller is configured to control and/or reverse airflow in response to ball speed detected by at least one ball speed detection device in said at least one launch tube or in said playing area, wherein said ball speed detection device preferably includes at least two ball sensors spaced apart from each other along the ball path through the launch tube and/or in the playing area, and furthermore a speed calculator for calculating ball speed from the time difference between signals of said ball sensors.

15. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 13, wherein said airflow generator is adapted to provide for variable airflow mass, speed and airflow pressure, wherein said airflow generator is controlled by said airflow controller which is adapted to control the airflow generator in response to detected ball speed.

16. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 15, wherein said ball shuttle forms a valve adapted to partially and/or entirely open and close the at least one launch tube, wherein said airflow controller is adapted to control the position of the ball shuttle in response to detected ball speed, thereby controlling airflow mass and/or airflow speed and/or airflow pressure in said at least one launch tube.

17. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 13, wherein said at least one launch tube has a non-circular cross-sectional contour, more particularly oval or elliptical contour with a main cross-sectional axis extending upright, for giving spin to the ball along its way through the launch tube, said launch tube providing for an obstacle-free, non-stop passage for the ball from the ball gate into the playing area, wherein said non-circular cross-sectional contour of the launch tube forms a continuous and/or continuously concave surface and/or is formed by an enveloping surface of an inner contour of said launch tube.

18. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 17, further comprising a feeding tube for feeding a ball from the playing area to the ball gate, said feeding tube having an inlet to be positioned directly beneath the playing area, wherein said feeding tube provides for a vertical ball path from said feeding tube inlet to said ball gate to allow said ball to directly fall from said playing area into said ball gate.

19. The ball launcher as set forth in claim 18; wherein said playing area includes a plurality of pockets for receiving the ball launched into the playing area, wherein a detection device is provided for detecting the pocket into which the ball has landed, wherein a position controller is provided for moving the playing area relative to the ball launcher in response to the identified pocket into which the ball has landed such that the identified pocket is brought into registration with the ball launcher and/or with a feeding tube connected to the receiving station of said ball launcher.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following, the present invention is described in further detail on the basis of preferred embodiments in connection with corresponding drawings. In the drawings show:

(2) FIG. 1: a schematic view of a roulette gaming system comprising a ball in which a rotatable roulette wheel is provided, wherein two ball launch tubes for launching the ball into the bowl into opposite directions are shown,

(3) FIG. 2: a perspective, partially cross-sectional view of the roulette gaming system of FIG. 1, wherein the ball launcher positioned beneath the roulette wheel is shown,

(4) FIG. 3: a top view onto the roulette gaming system of the preceding figures,

(5) FIG. 4: a perspective view onto the roulette gaming system similar to FIG. 1, wherein the center of the roulette wheel is shown transparent to allow a view onto the ball launcher beneath the roulette wheel and the positioning thereof,

(6) FIG. 5: a schematic side view of the ball launcher of the gaming system, wherein the blower and the combined ball gate and valve shuttle with the launch tubes and ball storage connected thereto are shown, wherein the shuttle rotor's various stopping positions are shown,

(7) FIG. 6: a top view of the ball launcher of FIG. 5, wherein the ball storage and the reject-ball station are shown on opposite sides of the ball landing,

(8) FIG. 7: a cross-sectional view of the ball launcher along line A-A in FIG. 6, where the valve's rotor plate is shown in a rotatory position where the ball-receiving seat is registered with the first ball-receiving station.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(9) As can be seen from FIG. 1-4, a ball game device 1 may be adapted to play the game of roulette. A gaming area 10 of the ball game device 1 may include a spinning wheel 30 which may be provided with a ring of pockets 31 or landings in which a ball launched into the gaming area 10 may stop. As well-known from roulette games, such pockets 31 or landings may be associated with numbers so that the number of the pocket 31 where the ball stops is the winning number.

(10) The spinning wheel 30 is received in a bowl 32 having a rolling area 33 (cylinder) in which a ball rolls in a random number determination phase and a support rack (not illustrated) that supports the bowl 32 of the roulette game device. The spinning wheel 30 and the surrounding rolling area 33 together form the roulette wheel 38 which is the playing area 10. Preferably the roulette wheel 38 is placed horizontally, where the roulette wheel axis is plumb.

(11) The roulette wheel 38 includes a frame body that is fixed at the support rack, wherein said spinning wheel 30 is rotatably held and supported, by one or more bearings, inside a frame body. The spinning wheel 30 may be caused to rotate in a predetermined direction with respect to the frame body (for example, in a clockwise direction) and at a predetermined speed by a drive motor (not illustrated) provided inside the roulette device. The drive motor, and where present, a drive mechanism or transmission, operate under the control of a control system 35 to rotate the spinning wheel 30 in a selected direction at a selected speed.

(12) The rolling area 33 where the ball actually rolls on the roulette wheel may comprise a single inclined face with a predetermined angle (for example, 15 degrees) formed by a first inclined face that is formed at an outer circumferential edge side of the frame body. The inclined face is inclined upward along the direction from the center to the circumference of the roulette wheel 38.

(13) A bank path 36 is provided at an outer circumferential edge portion of the bowl 32. A first launch tube 6 is arranged to let the ball launch to the bank path 36 in a first launch direction. A second launch tube 7 is arranged to let the ball launch to the bank path 36 in a second launch direction, opposite to the first launch direction. The bank path 36 guides the ball 4 against centrifugal force of the ball rolling on the roulette wheel 38 and is a path that causes the ball to roll so as to follow a circular track. In addition, the bank path 36 is formed in an endless fashion with respect to the roulette wheel 38 by way of a guiding wall 37 which is installed upright in a vertical direction. An upper wall portion may be formed to be continuous with the bank path at an upper edge, which is an outer circumferential portion thereof. The upper wall portion is a member that biases the ball revolving on the bank path inwardly so as not to jump to the outside of the roulette wheel.

(14) As the revolution speed of the ball that has been injected to the bank path 36 decreases gradually and loses centrifugal force, the ball rolls and falls along the inclination of the inclined face toward the inside of the roulette wheel 38 and reaches the spinning wheel 30, which is rotating. Then, the ball falls in any one of the pockets 31 that is formed on the wheel. Thus, a winning number is determined by the roulette device. A number of obstacles or canoes 39 (e.g with rhombus-shaped base) may be provided and arranged on the inclined face to form barriers on which the ball is deflected in random directions by collision, further enhancing the randomness.

(15) The period between the roulette ball being launched into the bank path 36 (ball travels around the upper outer edge of the inwardly sloping rolling area) and the roulette ball beginning its descent towards the wheel is commonly referred to as the spin cycle. The point when the roulette ball begins its descent towards the wheel is commonly referred to as the drop.

(16) The ball game device may be provided with a launching mechanism or ball launcher 3 for launching the ball semi-automatically from outside into the gaming area.

(17) A ball position sensor may be provided to determine the position of the ball in a pocket of the spinning wheel 30, and to provide signals identifying this position to the control system 35. The control system 35 uses these position signals to determine when the ball has come to rest and to identify which one of the landings 31 the ball has come to rest and been retained in. As is well known, in the game of roulette players place various bets which are based on which of the slot compartments the roulette ball is finally retained in, i.e which random number has been determined by the random process of ball spin and drop.

(18) Then, after the pocket 31 in which the ball is retained has been determined, a ball recovery mechanism operates under the control of a control system to remove the ball from the pocket and return it to the ball launching mechanism so that it can be launched again in a later game of roulette.

(19) As can be seen particularly from FIGS. 2 and 4, the ball launcher 3 may be positioned directly beneath the spinning wheel 30 to receive the ball discharged from the respective pocket 31. The pocket 31 in which the ball has landed, may be identified by means of a respective detection device which may include ball sensors associated with the pockets 31. In response to the identification of the pockets 31, the spinning wheel 30 may be rotated under control of the control system to bring the pocket 31 into which the ball has landed into registration with the ball launcher, more particularly into a position directly above the ball launcher 3. More particularly, the ball launcher 3 may include a feeding tube which substantially extends vertically (parallel to the axis of the roulette wheel 38) and has an inlet formed by the upper end of said feeding tube positioned directly beneath the spinning wheel 30. The said feeding tube inlet may have an increased diameter and/or a sort of enlarged collar to allow for some unpreciseness of the position of the pocket from which the ball should be discharged, relative to the feeding tube. To discharge the ball from the pocket 31 into the feeding tube, an inner portion of the roulette wheel 38 may be elevated so that the ball may roll out of the pocket 31. Adjusting said inner portion of the roulette wheel 38 in height may open the inner side of the pockets 31 and thus, a ball discharge opening 23 of gaming area 10.

(20) As can be seen from FIGS. 5 to 7, the lower end of said vertical feeding tube may lead to and/or may be controlled by a ball gate. More particularly, the lower end of said vertical feeding tube is associated with a ball shuttle 9 which has a ball-receiving seat 13 to receive the vertically dropping ball coming from the roulette wheel 38 through the feeding tube, cf. FIG. 7 showing the ball shuttle 9 with its ball-receiving seat 13 being positioned at the first ball-receiving station 11a where the ball coming from feeding tube may drop into said ball-receiving seat 13.

(21) The ball-receiving seat 13 may be formed by a cavity in the body of said ball shuttle 9, wherein such cavity may be formed as a through hole having an additional open side to the outer periphery of the body of the ball shuttle 9.

(22) More particularly, said ball shuttle 9 may be formed as a shuttle rotor 12 that can be rotatorily driven by a shuttle motor 41, which can be a stepper motor. More particularly, the shuttle rotor 12 may be formed as a shuttle plate 16 which may be received within a ball launcher housing and/or rotatably supported on a structural part of the ball launcher 3 about a substantially horizontal axis. It nevertheless should be mentioned that the shuttle rotor axis 14 about which the shuttle rotor may pivot may also extend vertically or at inclinations between vertical and horizontal. However, the shown horizontal shuttle rotor axis 14 is advantageous for launching the ball into opposite directions from said shuttle rotor 12.

(23) The aforementioned ball-receiving seat 13 may be formed by a slot-like recess open to the circumferential side of the shuttle plate 16 and also forming a through hole, i.e. open to opposite main surfaces of the shuttle plate 16. The opening to the circumferential side allows for receiving the ball from above through the feeding tube when the shuttle rotor 12 is in the ball-receiving position where the aforementioned recess is positioned at about 12 o'clock below the feeding tube. The through hole openings to the main surfaces of the shuttle rotor plate 16 allow for launching the ball for into either one of the launch tubes 6, 7 leading away from opposite sides of the shuttle rotor 12. The shuttle plate 16 may be regarded in an embodiment as a cylindrical body with a circumferential side and a first end face and a second end face, the two end faces standing normal to the cylinder axis 14 and opposing each other.

(24) As can be seen from particularly FIG. 5, said launch tubes 6, 7 include endings which are positioned at a circle around the shuttle rotor axis 14, wherein such circle corresponds to the circular path of the ball-receiving seat 13 when the shuttle rotor 12 is rotated respectively rotationally placed in certain position. Advantageously, the launch tubes 6, 7 are positioned/arranged on opposite sides of the shuttle rotor 12, particularly an ending of the first launch tube 6 directed to the first end face and an ending of the second launch tube 7 directed to the second end face of the shuttle plate 16, at different sectors thereof with the feeding tube or the ball-receiving station 11 being positioned therebetween. For example, the first ball-receiving station 11a can be positioned at about 12 o'clock, whereas the first launch tube 6 (i.e. the end of the launch tube into which the ball is blown) may be positioned somewhere between a ten (10) and eleven (11) o'clock position and the second launch tube 7 may be positioned between a one (1) o'clock and three (3) o'clock position. Thus, the rotatory distance from the first ball-receiving station 11a to the chosen launch tube 6 or 7 is very short, for instance less than a quarter turn of the shuttle rotor 12, and a fast launching process can be achieved.

(25) However, when a ball coming from the gaming area to said first ball-receiving station 11a and picked up there by the ball shuttle 9 is no longer of sufficient quality due to, e.g., pollution and/or wear and tear, such ball is not transported to one of the launch tubes 6 and 7, but is transported to a reject-ball station 50 to separate said ball.

(26) As can be seen from FIGS. 5 to 7, such reject-ball station 50 may include a discharge path 51 in terms of, e.g., a discharge channel provided in a housing part surrounding the shuttle rotor, wherein said discharge path 51 may have an entrance neighboring the shuttle rotor 12 so a ball to be discharged may be turned over from the shuttle rotor 12 to said discharge path 51. More particularly, said discharge path 51 may have an entrance immediately adjacent to the outer circumference of the shuttle rotor 12 so that a ball received in the ball-receiving seat 13 may exit the shuttle rotor via the circumferential side thereof to move onto the discharge path 51.

(27) Advantageously, the reject-ball station 50 is aligned with a lower half of the shuttle rotor 12 so that a ball to be discharged may roll or move by gravity from the ball-receiving seat 13 onto said discharge path 51 when the shuttle rotor 12 is in a rotary position where the ball-receiving seat is aligned with said discharge path 51, cf. FIG. 7 in combination with FIG. 5.

(28) Said discharge path 51 may be sloped and/or inclined vis-à-vis a horizontal line so that a ball may roll down onto said discharge path 51 by gravity to be stored on a discharge storage tray 52, cf. FIG. 7. Said discharge path 51, however, may also guide a separated ball to other areas or regions of the gaming device further away from the ball launcher.

(29) When a ball has been discharged at the reject-ball station 50, the shuttle rotor 12 may further rotate back or forth to bring the ball-receiving seat 13 into a position aligned with a second ball-receiving station 11b where a new (another/different) ball may be supplied from a ball storage 60 onto the ball shuttle 9.

(30) As can be seen from FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, such ball storage 60 may be positioned on a side of the shuttle rotor 12 opposite to the reject-ball station 50. More particularly, said ball storage 60 and/or said second ball-receiving station 11b may be aligned with an upper half of the shuttle rotor 12 to allow a ball to be supplied from said ball storage 60 onto the shuttle rotor 12 by means of gravity. More particularly, the ball storage 60 may include a supply path 61 which is sloped or inclined vis-à-vis the horizontal line towards the second ball-receiving station 11b to allow a ball to roll or move into the ball-receiving recess 13 by means of gravity.

(31) Said supply path 61 may have an opening aligned with said second ball-receiving station 11b. More particularly, said discharge opening of the supply path 61 of the ball storage 60 may be positioned immediately adjacent to a circumferential side of the shuttle rotor 12 so that a ball may roll from the supply path 61 onto the ball shuttle 9, more particularly into the ball-receiving seat 13 via the opening of said ball-receiving seat 13 to the circumferential side of the shuttle rotor 12. In other words, supply path 61 and discharge path 51 may be directed radially, i.e. normal to the shuttle rotor axis 14 in radial direction, while the endings of the respective launch tubes 6, 7 being directed to the shuttle rotor 12 may be parallel to the shuttle rotor axis 14.

(32) Rotation of the shuttle rotor 12 is controlled by means of a control unit 90 which is responsive to a reject-ball signal. Particularly, when a “bad” ball needs to be sorted out and a reject-ball signal is given to said control unit 90, the motor 41 is controlled to rotate the shuttle rotor 12 with its ball-receiving seat 13 to be in line with the reject-ball station 50.

(33) Such reject-ball signal may be input manually by a user via an input means 80. Such input means 80 may include a switch or a key or a touch-sensitive button on a control display. Thus, a user who sees a ball that is polluted or in other bad condition, may input a reject-ball signal to sort out such ball.

(34) Furthermore, so as to allow for automatic recognition of bad quality of a ball, a ball quality detector 70 may be associated with the ball launcher 3. More particularly, said ball quality detector 70 may be positioned so as to detect a ball received in said ball-receiving seat 13 of the ball shuttle 9, wherein, more particularly, the ball quality detector 70 may be configured and positioned to detect a ball in said ball-receiving seat 13 when such ball-receiving seat 13 is aligned with the first ball-receiving station 11a, as it can be seen from FIG. 7.

(35) Said ball quality detector 70 may include an imaging sensor 71 and/or a camera for optically detecting the ball and providing an image thereof. An image evaluator 72 may evaluate the image of said ball to determine the quality thereof. More particularly, said image evaluator 72 may be configured to determine in said image the outer contour of the detected ball and deviations of the outer contour from a circular contour, and/or may be configured to detect changes and/or deviations in color and/or in brightness in the image of the detected ball, and/or may be configured to detect a pixel pattern in said image of the detected ball to be compared to a predetermined pixel pattern.

(36) If said image evaluator 72 determines deviations of the detected ball from a desired condition thereof, which deviations exceed a certain threshold, the ball quality detector 70 may issue the aforementioned reject-ball signal in response to which the shuttle rotor 12 with its ball-receiving seat 13 is moved to the reject-ball station 50 to discharge the ball.

(37) Upon discharge of a ball at the reject-ball station 50, the control unit 90 may cause the shuttle rotor 12 with its ball-receiving seat 13 to the second ball-receiving station 11b so as to receive a new ball from the ball storage 60. Upon receipt of a new ball from the ball storage 60, the shuttle rotor 12 may be controlled to transport such new ball to one of the launch tubes 6 or 7.

(38) As further shown by FIGS. 5 to 7, the ball launcher 3 further includes an airflow generator 5 which may include a blower that can be driven by a blower motor (not shown) which may operate under control of the control system 35.

(39) The airflow generator 5 may produce airflow that may be directed through a forked airflow channel and a respective channel leading to a respective one of the launch tubes 6 and 7. However, it also would be possible to provide for two separate airflow generators 5 or separate blowers to produce separate airflows for the respective launch tubes 6 and 7.

(40) Such airflow channels connecting the airflow generator 5 to the launch tubes 6, 7 may extend on the opposite side of the ball shuttle 9 and may end on the opposite side of said ball shuttle 9 so that airflow exiting the respective airflow channels go through the ball shuttle 9 before entering into the launch tubes 6 and 7. In other words, the ball shuttle 9 may be positioned in between the respective ends of the airflow channels and the respective ends of the launch tubes 6, 7. The respective end of the launch tubes 6 and 7 is preferably coaxially positioned with the end portion of the respective airflow channel so that airflow coming from the respective airflow channel may go directly and straightly into the respective launch tube 6 or 7.

(41) The aforementioned shuttle rotor 12 may form a valve plate or control device for controlling the airflow through the launch tubes 6 and 7. More particularly, the shuttle rotor 12 may control the flow connection between said airflow channels and the launch tubes 6 and 7, wherein more particularly the flow connection depends on the rotatory position of the through hole forming the ball-receiving seat 13. When the shuttle rotor 12 is in its ball-receiving position, cf. FIG. 7, both launch tubes 6 and 7 may be disconnected from the airflow as the non-perforated portion of the shuttle plate 16 may block airflow coming from the airflow generator 5 from entering into the launch tubes 6 and 7. So as to nevertheless allow continuous operation of the airflow generator 5, the shuttle rotor 12 may be provided with a discharge opening which may be in connection with the airflow channels when the shuttle rotor 12 is in a non-launching position, such as the receiving-position shown in FIG. 7, and which is connected to an exhaust through which the air can be discharged to the environment.

(42) In order to launch a ball through one of the launch tubes 6 or 7, the shuttle rotor 12 is rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise to bring the ball-receiving seat 13 into registration with one of the launch tubes 6 or 7.

(43) Bringing the ball-receiving seat 13 into registration with one of the launch tubes 6 or 7 may, at the same time, open the flow connection between the airflow channels 24 to the respective launch tubes 6 or 7, as airflow may go through through hole.

(44) When reaching such one of the launching positions, i.e. the ball-receiving seat 13 into registration with one of the launch tubes 6, 7, the entire airflow goes into the respective launch tube 6,7 and thus, launching becomes very effective.

(45) When a ball is launched through one of the launch tubes 6, 7—which may have an oval or elliptical cross-section as described in more detail above—, a speed detection device may detect ball speed, preferably at the end portion and/or exit of the launch tubes 6 and 7 and/or along the bank path 36 of the roulette bowl. The ball speed detection device may include a plurality of ball sensors 19 positioned preferably in the vicinity of the respective exits of the launch tubes 6, 7 and/or in the launch tubes and/or along the aforementioned bank path 36, wherein the speed sensors may be spaced apart from each other at predetermined distances so that a speed calculator 20 may calculate ball speed from the time difference of the sensor signals. Such speed calculator 20 may be part of the control system 35 to which the ball sensors 19 are connected in a communicative way.

(46) In response to determined ball speed, the control system 35 may adjust airflow, for example by means of adjusting current and/or voltage supply to the blower motor and/or adjusting the position of the ball shuttle 9, thereby adjusting airflow connection into the launch tubes 6 and 7. In a preferred embodiment the ball shuttle 9 is positioned such that the through hole of the ball-receiving seat 13 is only partially aligned with the respective launch tube. By this the cross-sectional area for the airflow may be continuously changed/adapted from zero to maximum (i.e. where the ball-receiving seat 13 is in registration with the respective launch tube).

(47) To adjust the relevant parameters of airflow, the control system 35 may include an airflow controller 17 which may be responsive to ball speed.

(48) According to an embodiment, the control system 35 may include a calibration and/or self-adaption component, which may calibrate and/or self-adapt the settings of the airflow generator 5 and/or of the ball shuttle 9 and/or of additional airflow components such as valves, so as to achieve a desired ball speed and/or a desired rolling path of the ball in the playing area 10. Such calibration may be effected prior to using the gaming system and/or self-calibration may be effected during gaming operation taking into account the detected parameters such as ball speed of a plurality of gaming rounds or launching processes.

(49) Although the aforementioned ball launcher 3 has been described in combination with a roulette game, it may be used for launching balls into the playing areas of other types of games such as table football, wherein the feeding tube for feeding the ball from the playing area to the ball gate may be provided in the areas behind the goal-line, or a pinball machine where said feeding tube may be arranged in an area below the flipper arms.

(50) In an embodiment the control system may provide signals to the betting apparatus indicating, or based upon, the timing of the launching of the ball into the roulette wheel 38. The betting apparatus may use these signals to determine when to stop taking new bets on a game of roulette from users. The stopping of taking new bets on a game of roulette is generally referred to as closing the game. A roulette game may be closed after the roulette ball has been launched into the roulette wheel bowl, during the spin cycle.

(51) Each gaming terminal may be provided with a display device which may include a monitor, preferably in terms of a touch screen so as to display information relative to the ball game and/or information relative to placing bets and/or making predictions depending on whether the gaming system is playable with money or free of money.

(52) In an embodiment, a display device may be provided and adapted to display a wagering field, sometimes referred to as the betting layout. Such wagering field may include a template which specifies a grid of numbers and betting options, wherein the numbers in the grid may correspond to the numbers in the pockets of the spinning wheel. Each graphical wagering layout enables a player to select desired numbers and betting combinations for their wagers. For example, a touch screen may allow for identifying a desired amount of credit by means of touching the respective coin symbol and, e.g., in a second step to place such amount of money on a specific number, e.g., by means of touching the respective number in the grid of numbers.

(53) Furthermore, the display device also may be used so as to display further information such as, e.g., the time frame for placing bets which, e.g., may include the invitation “Game over—place your bet”.

(54) In addition to such input means, the input device, which may be implemented by the aforementioned touch screen, may include start signal input means which may be implemented by a respective display symbol on the aforementioned touch screen. Such start signal input means allows for inputting a start signal at the touch screen of the gaming terminal.

(55) Although a gaming system in terms of a roulette game has been illustrated, the ball launcher may be used in other gaming systems such as table soccer.