Method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer
First Claim
1. A method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer comprising:
- associating each gaming device with a card reader;
issuing a card to a gaming device player;
creating a player account accessible by the host computer;
associating the card with the player account;
applying a predetermined credit to the player'"'"'s account;
debiting the account responsive to insertion of the card into one of the card readers; and
crediting the gaming device associated with said one card reader with the amount debited from the account.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for providing incentive to players of networked slot machines includes a card reader associated with each machine and a card associated with each player. A player account accessible by a host computer on the network is created which associates the player'"'"'s card with the account. A predetermined credit is applied to the player'"'"'s account. In a complementary incentive, credit from the player'"'"'s account is applied to the coin-in meter of a slot machine responsive to insertion of the player card into a card reader associated with the machine. In a matching incentive also implemented by the present invention, each time the player inserts a coin into the slot machine, an equal credit is debited from the player'"'"'s account and applied to the coin-in meter of the machine. In both cases, the credit can only be used by the player to play the machines and cannot be cashed out by the player.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer comprising:
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associating each gaming device with a card reader;
issuing a card to a gaming device player;
creating a player account accessible by the host computer;
associating the card with the player account;
applying a predetermined credit to the player'"'"'s account;
debiting the account responsive to insertion of the card into one of the card readers; and
crediting the gaming device associated with said one card reader with the amount debited from the account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer comprising:
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associating each gaming device with a card reader;
issuing a card to a gaming device player;
associating the card with the player account;
creating a player account accessible by the host computer;
applying a predetermined credit to the player'"'"'s account;
accessing information in the player account responsive to insertion of the card into one of the card readers;
debiting the account;
crediting the gaming device associated with said one card reader with the amount debited from the account; and
paying to the player any jackpots which result from gaming device play utilizing credit from the player account. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer comprising:
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associating each gaming device with a card reader;
issuing a card to a gaming device player;
creating a player account accessible by the host computer;
associating the card with the player account;
applying a credit to the player'"'"'s account;
accessing information in the player account responsive to insertion of the card into one of the card readers; and
applying credit from the player account to the gaming device associated with said one card reader responsive to a coin inserted into the gaming device. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification