A method and apparatus for a vending promotional printer for use within a vending machine are disclosed. A vending promotional printer includes a coupon database describing a stack of coupons that are specified using a template based couponing printer language. A coupon is selected for creation and issued to the customer based on a matrix of event-based triggers involving factors or parameters known to the vending promotional printer directly or supplied by master promotional controller. Triggers may include the time of day, the date or amount of a cash-out voucher to be issued to a customer, the duration of play on a vending machine, a customer classification, the amount of money or credits added to a game, or a random frequency of coupon issuance having satisfied any or all of the aforementioned factors. The vending promotional printer may further include the ability to store all of the coupons, trigger conditions, and related information resident in the vending promotional printer in a non-volatile fashion thus enabling a host system to download a promotional environment into the vending promotional printer which will run promotional campaigns on behalf of the hosting system.