Electronic gaming systems and methods

1. A gaming system, comprising:

a housing;

at least one display device supported by the housing;

a plurality of input devices supported by the housing;

at least one processor in communication with a random number generator;

and at least one memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the plurality of input devices to:

(a) establish a credit balance in the at least one memory device based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item after one of the input device of the plurality of input devices supported by the housing receives the physical item, the physical item being a ticket associated with the monetary value or currency;

(b) receive through one of the input devices of the plurality of input devices supported by the housing, an indication of a wager being placed on a selected game outcome to initiate play of a wagering game, wherein in response to receipt thereof, the credit balance being decreased by the wager, and wherein the wager is settled by comparing the selected game outcome with a preset winning criteria of at least one of a first game outcome in which a first symbol wins, a second game outcome in which a second symbol wins, a third game outcome in which no symbol wins, a fourth game outcome in which the first and second symbol win;

(c) communicate with the random number generator to cause the random number generator to randomly determine the game outcome of an instance of play of the wagering game, wherein the game outcome includes an amount and position for display on the at least one display device of only a plurality of each of the first and second symbols in a depiction of virtual reels forming an array of multiple rows and multiple columns defining a plurality of cells therein;

(d) determine an award outcome based only on the randomly determined respective amount and position of each of the randomly generated first and second symbols in the cells of the array of the game outcome in comparison with the preset winning criteria, the credit balance being increased by the determined award outcome; and

(e) initiate a payout of the credit balance in response to receipt of a payout request, wherein the credit balance is converted to a second ticket associated with the credit balance.