IMPROVED METHODS AND ARCHITECTURE FOR CASHLESS SYSTEM SECURITY

A method for communicating with a portable device at a gaming machine in communication with a remote host, the portable device used for performing cashless 5 wager-based gaming, the method comprising: receiving the portable device at an input mechanism of the gaming machine, the portable device being in an online state or an offline state, wherein the offline state corresponds to transactions performed when the portable device is authenticated by the gaming machine, and wherein the online state corresponds to transactions performed 10 when the portable device is authenticated by the gaming machine and by the remote host; interrogating the portable device for unacknowledged transactions that were performed when the portable device was operating in the offline state; responsive to receiving from the portable device information relating to a first unacknowledged transaction, sending the information relating to the first 15 unacknowledged transaction to the remote host; receiving a transaction acknowledgment from the remote host for the first unacknowledged transaction; and sending the transaction acknowledgment to the portable device, thereby allowing play of a wager-based game to proceed.