Virtual ticket-in and ticket-out on a gaming machine

1. An electronic gaming machine comprising:

a cabinet;

a display device mounted to the cabinet;

a wireless interface configured to communicate with a portable electronic device;

a network interface secured within the cabinet and configured to communicate with a validation server;

a bill validator configured to accept bills of currency and printed ticket vouchers; and

a game controller coupled to the bill validator, said game controller including a processor and a memory secured within the cabinet and configured to:

(a) if a printed ticket voucher is received via the bill validator:

(i) modify an electronic gaming machine credit balance at least partially based on a credit amount associated with the received printed ticket voucher; and

(ii) if a wager amount is placed on a first play of a game:

(A) reduce the electronic gaming machine credit balance by the placed wager amount, and

(B) for the first play of the game:

 (I) determine a game outcome,

 (II) display the determined game outcome,

 (III) determine any award associated with the determined game outcome, and

 (IV) display any determined award associated with the determined game outcome, wherein said electronic gaming machine credit balance is increasable based on any determined award; and

(b) if an indication is wirelessly received from the portable electronic device to redeem a virtual ticket voucher displayed by a display device of the portable electronic device:

(i) validate, using a virtual ticket voucher validation number of the virtual ticket voucher, the virtual ticket voucher with the validation server via the network interface;

(ii) modify the electronic gaming machine credit balance at least partially based on a credit amount associated with the virtual ticket voucher;

(iii) notify the validation server that the virtual ticket voucher is redeemed; and

(iv) if a wager amount is placed on a second play of a game:

(A) reduce the electronic gaming machine credit balance by the placed wager amount, and

(B) for the second play of the game:

 (I) determine a game outcome,

 (II) display the determined game outcome,

 (III) determine any award associated with the determined game outcome, and

 (IV) display any determined award associated with the determined game outcome, wherein said electronic gaming machine credit balance is increasable based on any determined award.

2. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to:

receive information from the validation server that the virtual ticket voucher is invalid, and

if the virtual ticket voucher is invalid, output a message indicating the virtual ticket voucher is invalid.

3. The electronic gaming machine of claim 2 , wherein the message is at least one of: communicated to the portable electronic device and displayed by the display device.

4. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , which includes removable cash box including a memory configured to store virtual ticket voucher information.

5. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to render at least a front side image of the virtual ticket voucher and cause the display device to display the rendered image.

6. The electronic gaming machine of claim 5 , wherein the front side image of the virtual ticket voucher is formatted to appear similar to a printed ticket voucher generated by an electronic gaming machine printer.

7. The electronic gaming machine of claim 5 , wherein the game controller is configured to receive formatting data from the portable electronic device and render the front side image of the virtual ticket voucher using the received formatting data.

8. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to update at least one hard meter in response to redeeming the virtual ticket voucher.

9. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to, in response to redeeming the virtual ticket voucher, update a first soft meter that accumulates a number of virtual tickets redeemed and a second soft meter that accumulates a value of the virtual tickets redeemed.

10. The electronic gaming machine of claim 9 , wherein the game controller is configured to enter into an operator mode and output values associated with the first soft meter and the second soft meter.

11. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to enter into a dispute resolution mode and output virtual ticket voucher information associated with the virtual ticket voucher.

12. The electronic gaming machine of claim 11 , wherein the game controller is configured to cause the display device to display a rendered image of the virtual ticket voucher.

13. The electronic gaming machine of claim 1 , which includes a button coupled to the game controller configured to generate a signal to transfer the amount of credits associated with the virtual ticket voucher to the electronic gaming machine.

14. An electronic gaming machine comprising:

a cabinet;

a display device mounted to the cabinet;

a wireless interface configured to communicate with a portable electronic device;

a network interface secured within the cabinet and configured to communicate with a validation server;

a game controller including a processor and a memory secured within the cabinet, said game controller configured to:

(a) if a request to issue a first virtual ticket voucher is received:

(i) request, via the network interface, a validation number from the validation server,

(ii) generate the first virtual ticket voucher including the validation number,

(iii) issue the first virtual ticket voucher by transmitting, via the wireless interface, the first virtual ticket voucher to the portable electronic device;

(b) if a request to accept a second virtual ticket voucher displayed by a display device of the portable electronic device is received:

(i) wirelessly receive information associated with the second virtual ticket voucher from the portable electronic device,

(ii) validate the second virtual ticket voucher with the validation server, and

(iii) when the second virtual ticket voucher is validated, modify an electronic gaming machine credit balance at least partially based on a credit amount associated with the virtual ticket voucher; and

(c) if a wager amount is placed on a play of a game:

(i) reduce the electronic gaming machine credit balance by the placed wager amount, and

(ii) for the play of the game:

(A) determine a game outcome,

(B) display the determined game outcome,

(C) determine any award associated with the determined game outcome, and

(D) display any determined award associated with the determined game outcome, wherein said electronic gaming machine credit balance is increasable based on any determined award.

15. The electronic gaming machine of claim 14 , wherein the request to issue the first virtual ticket voucher is received from a remote server separate from the validation server.

16. The electronic gaming machine of claim 14 , wherein the request to issue the first virtual ticket voucher is received from the portable electronic device.

17. The electronic gaming machine of claim 14 , wherein the request to accept the second virtual ticket voucher is received from a remote server separate from the validation server.

18. The electronic gaming machine of claim 14 , wherein the request to accept the second virtual ticket voucher is received from the portable electronic device.

19. The electronic gaming machine of claim 14 , wherein the game controller is configured to:

receive information from the validation server that the second virtual ticket voucher is invalid, and,

if the second virtual ticket voucher is invalid, output a message indicating the second virtual ticket voucher is invalid.