Meters Resource Elements

While the meters applicable to an EGM as a whole, a game and a jackpot are different in detail, and therefore are captured in separate schemas. Meters resources follow a common pattern of reflecting a set of financial/monetary values some of which are directly used in balancing the entity being metered, and others of which provide a more detailed breakdown (that may not always be up to date or even complete, depending on protocol). In addition meters may include non-monetary occurrence counters. To provide a consistent model across protocols the meters resources contain a protocol specific set of actual meters, with the meters arranged into groups, and each group comprising the following:

The Credit and Debit meter set comprise the balance meters for the group. The meters within the Credit Meter Set can (and should) always be totalled to obtain the total metered credit contribution for that group. Similarly for the Debit Meter Set. For many groups, one or the other of these sets will be empty. The most obvious example of a group comprising both is the game meters, where Wins is a credit meter and Turnover is a debit meter.

Auxiliary meters may allow finer grained breakdowns to be obtained (possibly recording these directly, possibly requiring that an auxiliary meter be subtracted from a Credit or Debit Meter). Such calculations, while allowing derived values to be obtained at a time where the EGM (or at least the entity involved) is inactive, such as for daily reads, are generally unsuitable for “live” data as not all meters are updated at the same time. This can result in apparent transfers of funds from one derived meter to another, as the underlying meters are updated. Such calculations should be avoided and only meters within the Credit or Debit meter set (or a combination of both) should be added/subtracted to derive “live” values.

For most purposes, it is sufficient to treat the sum of each group’s Credit Meters and the sum of each group’s Debit Meters, as the logical, derived meter pair representing the state of that group. These meters are consistent across protocols. It is only for very specific purposes that a finer, protocol dependent breakdown is needed.

EGM Meter Groups

While all EGM protocols meter similar items, there is some variation in how these items are aggregated. To ensure that information is complete and reconcilable against the EGMs themselves, the actual EGM protocol meters are provided via the API. The MAXsys meters model details the meters that are collected and used, along with the meter relationships and balance equations. Note that while it is possible to perform arbitrary transformations from one meter model to another by applying simple arithmetic, there is no guarantee that all meters for a protocol are updated so as to preserve every such relationship. For this reason the direct/native balance equations and meters for a protocol should always be used when performing financial calculations. Failure to do so can result in phantom movements of funds between meters/accounts as the meters are updated.

Meters are grouped according to their usage for a number of reasons:

Terminology

The egm.meters.AnyEGMMeters Avro schema type is capable of containing any of the meters described here, but a given record can contain meters of only one protocol (X, QCOM or G2S). Given an instance of AnyEGMMeters called m, m.protocol contains one of the types:

In the following descriptions a convention of replacing protocol with the protocol name is used. So a meter name such as X.FundsIn.NonElectronic means the meter, that if m contained X series meters, would be the field m.protocol.FundsIn.NonElectronic.

EGM Monetary Meters

Monetary meters measure funds and represent flows of money. Any such flow on an EGM must preserve the equation: money in + money won – money out – money gambled = current credit + hand-paid wins.

Meters that are (part of) a term in the above equation are monetary meters. However, money gambled and money won represent financial aspects of game play. As such, while there must be monetary meters to represent these terms, the EGM/protocol may also maintain more detailed/specific meters regarding game play (e.g. separate meters for different bet types) that are NOT expected to always be consistent/coherent with the machine monetary meters (because updates/delivery of updates to one may lead or lag the other). Typically these more detailed meters are used for game performance purposes, not for accounting purposes.

NOTE: In some jurisdictions it may be possible for an EGM to have “credit” that while it can be played/gambled is not able to be “cashed”. Not all protocols separately meter funds according to such distinctions. G2S does record cashable and noncash amounts separately. G2S also supports separating cashable funds that are “promotional” from other funds. Neither of these facilities are supported by MAX API. All MAX API operations/meters deal with cashable amounts only.

Because some protocols include redundant meters the following meter lists indicate meters that are part of the primary financial information (required to balance) in italics. Other meters provide a more detailed breakdown of funds but cannot be relied on to always be up-to-date/consistent with the primary meter set. Any transaction that the EGM performs that causes meters to change should cause a new set of all primary meters updated as part of the transaction to be delivered. There is no assurance that any other meters involved will update at the same time (they may update earlier or later).

Any calculations that produce a “derived meter” and include a term that is subtracted from other meter(s) have the potential to result in a negative movement of the derived meter should a meter update be lost or delayed. Such formulations of derived meters should be avoided wherever possible and a form involving addition is preferred (but only possible if there is sufficient redundancy in meters). In the below the preferred form of any derivation is shown first. Alternate derivations/identities are for reference only and should not be used as the primary method of derivation.

Funds In Meters Group

Funds in meters record the transfer of funds that belong to the patron to the EGM’s credit meter. They do not include any increase in the credit meter from game play outcomes (i.e. wins). Note that in some protocols and for some types of win (such as an externally triggered mystery jackpot) the win itself is metered separately but as an amount that is (at least notionally) paid to the patron, not to the EGM credits. If there is a transfer of that won amount to the EGM electronically, it is, at that point, viewed as the transfer of the (already, separately metered as a win) amount back from the patron to the EGM.

G2S Funds In

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
voucher.G2S_cashableInAmt voucher.cashableInAmt G2S.FundsIn.Debit.Voucher
coinAcceptor.G2S_currencyInAmt coinAcceptor.currencyInAmt G2S.FundsIn.Debit.Coin
wat.G2S_cashableInAmt wat.cashableInAmt G2S.FundsIn.Debit.Electronic
noteAcceptor.G2S_currencyInAmt noteAcceptor.currencyInAmt G2S.FundsIn.Debit.Note

The above includes WAT funds transfers to the EGM (FundsIn.Debit.G2S.Electronic) as these represent transfers from the patron’s account to the credit meter. It does not include any meters that represent payment of winnings to the credit meter (e.g from a linked progressive or mystery) as these are considered part of winnings, not Funds In. The inclusion of G2S.FundsIn.Debit.Electronic in venue liability assumes the venue is holding/liable for the value of the patron accounts.

QCOM 1.6 Funds In

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
05 Total EGM Cents In QCOM.FundsIn.Debit.NonVoucher
09 Total EGM Cash Ticket In QCOM.FundsIn.Debit.Voucher
11 Total EGM Coins In QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Coin
14 Total EGM Cashless Credit In QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Electronic
16 Total EGM Note Acceptor Cents In QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Note

Validation/Balance Check to verify Auxiliary Meters are consistent with balance meters:

The inclusion of QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Electronic in venue liability assumes that all cashless credits are from an account that represents a venue liability (e.g. in house jackpot or a patron account).

X Series Funds In

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
SDB.CashIn SDB Cash In (includes TITO) X.FundsIn.Debit.NonElectronic
SDB.MoneyIn SDB Money In (CCCE In) X.FundsIn.Debit.Electronic
MDB.Total Bills Inserted Dollar Value MDB Notes Meter X.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Note
MDB.Total Ticket Accepted MDB Ticket In Meter X.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Voucher

Note that MDB meters are optional and not always available from the EGM and/or the PIE (GMIC). This impacts on any breakdown of type of funds other than Electronic (CCCE) / Non-Electronic (everything else).

NOTE: Use of the Cash In equation for live data is problematic. X.FundsIn.Debit.NonElectronic and X.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Voucher are not delivered in the same message/at the same time and so cannot be relied on to be coherent/consistent at all times. There are insufficient meters available to form a balance equation to determine when the meters are consistent. Negative derived (Cash In) meter movements are possible.

Funds Out Meters Group

Funds out meters record the transfer of funds that belong to the patron from the EGM’s credit meter to the patron. They do not include any spend to place bets/wager/play (i.e. turnover).

G2S Funds Out

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
handpay.G2S_cashableOutAmt handpay.cashableOutAmt G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Handpay
voucher.G2S_cashableOutAmt voucher.cashableOutAmt G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Voucher
cabinet.G2S_egmDispensedCashableAmt cabinet.egmDispensedCashableAmt G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Cash
wat.G2S_cashableOutAmt wat.cashableOutAmt G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Electronic

Venue Liability Out includes WAT funds transfers from the EGM as these represent transfers to the patron’s account from the credit meter. The inclusion of the amount in venue liability assumes the venue is holding/liable for the value of the patron accounts.

QCOM 1.6 Funds Out

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
03 Total EGM Cancel Credit QCOM.FundsOut.Credit.Handpay
04 Total EGM Cash Ticket Out QCOM.FundsOut.Credit.Voucher
06 Total EGM Cents Out QCOM.FundsOut.Credit.CashAndElectronic
12 Total EGM Coins Out QCOM.FundsOut.Auxiliary.Coin
15 Total EGM Cashless Credit Out QCOM.FundsOut.Auxiliary.Electronic

Validation/Balance Check to verify Auxiliary Meters are consistent with balance meters:

X Series Funds Out

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
SDB.CancelCredit SDB Cancel Credit (includes Ticket Out) X.FundsOut.Credit.HandpayAndVoucher
SDB.CashOut SDB Cash Out X.FundsOut.Credit.Cash
SDB.MoneyOut SDB Money Out (CCCE Out) X.FundsOut.Credit.Electronic
MDB.Total Ticket Printed MDB Total Ticket Out Meter X.FundsOut.Auxiliary.Voucher

Note that MDB meters are optional and not always available from the EGM and/or the PIE (GMIC).

Funds Accumulation Meter Group

Funds accumulation meters deal with the physical accumulation/flow of funds within the gaming machine, along with any metering of venue operations that add or remove accumulated funds from the gaming machine (hopper fills and cash clearances) without affecting the current credit on the EGM. They do not form part of any credit equations. These meters can be used to determine the value of funds accumulated in the EGM as part of operation/play, but accurate calculation of current levels will typically require additional information (not collected via the monitoring system/protocol) on actual clearances and fills performed.

G2S Funds Accumulation

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
coinAcceptor.G2S_currencyToDropAmt coinAcceptor.currencyToDropAmt G2S.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.ToDrop
coinAcceptor.G2S_currencyToDispAmt coinAcceptor.currencyToDispAmt G2S.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.ToHopper

G2S does not meter hopper refills or otherwise attempt to provide a hopper level gauge. It does provide hopper high water (hopper full) and hopper low water events that can be used to manage hopper levels. G2S can use currencyToDrop and currencyToDisp meters to report notes to a note-stacker vs a note dispenser similarly to the way coins to drop vs dispenser (hopper) are metered. However, no note dispenser support is required in NSW, so these meters are not listed/supported at this time.

QCOM 1.6 Funds Accumulation

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
10 Total EGM Hopper Refills QCOM.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.HopperRefill
13 Total EGM Coins to Cash box QCOM.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.ToDrop
1D Total EGM Coins Cleared QCOM.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.CoinCleared
1E Total EGM Notes Cleared QCOM.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.NoteCleared

X Series Funds Accumulation

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
SDB.Cashbox Meter Coins to Cashbox (includes notes in and tickets in) X.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.NotToHopper

While the SDB Cashbox meter is described as such, the inclusion of notes and TITO vouchers in the total essentially serves to record the cash in that does not go to the hopper. This is useful as part of managing hopper levels by using the following measure for coins that have gone to the hopper:

Game Play Meters Group

Game Play meters record the game-play on the EGM as funds gambled (turnover) and won. However, only wins to the credit meter are recorded here. Wins that are directly hand-paid are reported in the separate Hand-Paid Wins Group.

G2S Game Play

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
cabinet.G2S_wageredCashableAmt cabinet.wageredCashableAmt G2S.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover
cabinet.G2S_egmPaidGameWonAmt cabinet.egmPaidGameWonAmt G2S.GamePlay.Debit.GameWon
cabinet.G2S_egmPaidProgWonAmt cabinet.egmPaidProgWonAmt G2S.GamePlay.Debit.ProgressiveWon
bonus.G2S_cashableInAmt bonus.cashableInAmt G2S.GamePlay.Debit.MysteryWon

G2S does not meter SAP jackpots via the spc device (it does maintain some “meter-like” attributes, per SAP level). Each spc device is associated with (owns) a progressive device, which will consequentially result in the progressive win meters being updated for SAPs identically to LPs.

Any wins awarded via the bonus class (used for mystery jackpots) are always via the EGM, even though the credit meter may not change as a result of the transaction. This is because, if the bonus payment is directed to a destination other than the EGM credits, it will result in a transaction that also increments the relevant funds out meters (e.g. handpay).

QCOM 1.6 Game Play

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
01 Total EGM Turnover QCOM.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover
02 Total EGM Wins (includes SAP wins) QCOM.GamePlay.Debit.GameAndSAPWon
0C Total EGM Stand Alone Progressive Wins QCOM.GamePlay.Auxiliary.SAPWon
18 Total Residual Credit Removal Turnover QCOM.GamePlay.Auxiliary.ResidualCreditTurnover
19 Total Residual Credit Removal Wins QCOM.GamePlay.Auxiliary.ResidualCreditWon

X Series Game Play

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
SDB.Turnover Total EGM Turnover X.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover
SDB.Wins Total EGM Wins (includes SAP wins) X.GamePlay.Debit.GameAndSAPWon
PDB2.Wins SAP Total of all jackpots won level n (n=1..4) X.GamePlay.Debit.SAPLevel1
X.GamePlay.Debit.SAPLevel2
X.GamePlay.Debit.SAPLevel3
X.GamePlay.Debit.SAPLevel4

Hand Paid Wins

Game Play meters record wins that are paid to the credit meter. Wins that are not directly paid to the credit meter are recorded here. These wins, while they form part of the return to player, do not form part of the EGM credit equation.

Wins in this category depend on the EGM protocol, EGM/game types and configuration. Examples of such wins include particularly large game or stand-alone progressive wins. At least some linked progressive wins (above a threshold that can be paid to the credit meter) will be recorded here. In addition some protocols do not automatically pay progressive wins to the credit meter (even if they are not large). In such cases these wins are recorded as hand-paid wins, with the subsequent, actual transfer to the credit meter recorded as electronic funds in. This list is not exhaustive - there may be other cases where a win cannot be paid to the credit meter and is recorded here.

G2S Hand Paid Win

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
cabinet.G2S_handPaidProgWonAmt cabinet.handPaidProgWonAmt G2S.HandPaidWin.Debit.ProgressiveWon
cabinet.G2S_handPaidGameWonAmt cabinet.handPaidGameWonAmt G2S.HandPaidWin.Debit.GameWon

Note that any wins awarded via the bonus class (used for mystery jackpots) are always via the EGM, even though the credit meter may not change as a result of the transaction. This is because, if the bonus payment is directed to a destination other than the EGM credits, it will result in a transaction that also increments the relevant funds out meters (e.g. handpay).

QCOM 1.6 Hand Paid Win

Linked (mystery or EGM triggered linked progressive) jackpot wins are always treated as-if they are hand-paid in QCOM. Any transfer to the credit meter that may occur is via a separate cashless transfer of the notionally already hand-paid funds onto the EGM as funds in.

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
08 Total EGM Linked Progressive Wins QCOM.HandPaidWin.Debit.ProgressiveWonHandpay
0D Total Mystery Jackpot Wins QCOM.HandPaidWin.Debit.MysteryWonHandpay

NOTE: Mystery/externally triggered jackpot wins are not actually metered by the QCOM EGM. However the MID maintains a pseudo-meter per EGM for recording mystery wins and reports this as if it were QCOM meter 0D.

X Series Hand Paid Win

There is no provision in X for recording hand-paid wins as distinct from wins to the credit meter. Large wins (or simply a large value of the credit meter) may cause a large win lockup, but does not prevent the credit meter and other meters incrementing. When the large win lockup is cleared/the large win is paid, the credit meter and the hand pays meter are updated accordingly.

Both linked progressive and mystery jackpot wins are not metered by the EGM. Instead, at least for overall venue metered win purposes, the total wins for the link are obtained from the LPJS Controller.

Balance Equations & Credit Meter

The Credit Equation (for all protocols) where Credit.* or Debit.* is the sum of all meters within that meter set is: Credit = FundsIn.Debit.* + GamePlay.Debit.* – GamePlay.Credit.* – FundsOut.Credit.*

G2S Balance and Credit

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
cabinet.G2S_playerCashableAmt cabinet.playerCashableAmt G2S.Credit.Credit.Cashable

QCOM Balance and Credit

QCOM has no actual credit meter and the standard credit equation MUST be used to obtain the current credit value if required. Broken down into individual QCOM meters this is: Credit = QCOM.FundsIn.Debit(NonVoucher + Voucher) – QCOM.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover + QCOM.GamePlay.Debit.GameWon – QCOM.FundsOut.Credit(Handpay + Voucher + CashAndElectronic)

X Series Balance and Credit

Protocol Meter ID Protocol Meter Name Common Meter Model ID
SDB.Credit EGM Credit X.Credit.Credit.Cashable

Mapping to X

Wherever possible the native protocol meter model should be used. Using a model with meters mapped to X has the following issues:

SDB Field Common Meter Model X Common Meter Model G2S Common Meter Model QCOM
SDB.Stroke X.GamePlay.NonMonetary.GamesPlayedCount G2S.GamePlay.NonMonetary.GamesPlayedCount QCOM.GamePlay.NonMonetary.GamesPlayedCount
SDB.CashIn X.FundsIn.Debit.NonElectronic G2S.FundsIn.Debit(Voucher + Coin + Note) QCOM.FundsIn.Debit.Voucher + QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary(Coin + Note)
SDB.MoneyIn X.FundsIn.Debit.Electronic G2S.FundsIn.DebitElectronic QCOM.FundsIn.Auxiliary.Electronic
SDB.CancelCredit X.FundsOut.Credit.HandpayAndVoucher G2S.FundsOut.Credit(Handpay + Voucher) QCOM.FundsOut.Credit(Handpay + Voucher)
SDB.CashOut X.FundsOut.Credit.Cash G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Cash QCOM.FundsOut.Auxiliary.Coin
SDB.MoneyOut X.FundsOut.Credit.Electronic G2S.FundsOut.Credit.Electronic QCOM.FundsOut.Auxiliary.Electronic
SDB.Turnover X.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover G2S.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover QCOM.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover
SDB.Wins X.GamePlay.Debit.GameAndSAPWon G2S.GamePlay.Debit(GameWon + ProgressiveWon + MysteryWon) QCOM.GamePlay.Debit.GameAndSAPWon
SDB.Cashbox Meter X.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.NotToHopper G2S.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.ToDrop + G2S.FundsIn.Debit(Voucher + Note) QCOM.FundsAccumulation.Auxiliary.ToDrop + QCOM.FundsIn.Debit (Voucher + Note)
SDB Credit Meter X.Credit.Credit.Cashable G2S.Credit.Credit.Cashable QCOM.FundsIn.Debit(NonVoucher + Voucher) – QCOM.GamePlay.Credit.Turnover + QCOM.GamePlay.Debit.GameWon – QCOM.FundsOut.Credit(Handpay + Voucher + CashAndElectronic)

egm.meters.XGamePlayNonMon