Player tracking assembly for complete patron tracking for both gaming and non-gaming casino acvtivity

• US 20030232647A1
• Filed: 06/12/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Moser, Timothy W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,311,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3223 Architectural aspects of a gaming system, e.g. internal configuration, master/slave, wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3237 about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players

Abstract

A player tracking system for tracking customer activity for a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections. The player tracking system includes a plurality of player tracking cards for distribution to respective participating customers that incorporate respective customer accounts associated with respective customer IDs. The system further includes a plurality of gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the gaming activity data of the respective customer, and a plurality of non-gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the non-gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the non-gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the non-gaming activity data of the respective customer. A computer system includes a database of the respective customer accounts associated with respective customer Ids, and each gaming activity player tracking unit and each non-gaming activity player tracking unit coupled to the computer system to process the respective gaming activity data and non-gaming activity data for each respective customer.

Claims

1. A system for tracking customer activity, using player tracking cards issued to respective customers that include respective customer IDs which are associated with respective customer accounts, at a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections, said system comprising:

at least one gaming activity player tracking unit in the gaming section of the casino establishment which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the gaming activity data of the respective customer; and

at least one non-gaming activity player tracking unit in the non-gaming section of the casino establishment which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the non-gaming activity data of the respective customer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

said non-gaming activity player tracking unit includes a wireless interface configured to detect the presence of a respective player tracking card in the local vicinity of the respective non-gaming section of the casino establishment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein

said non-gaming activity player tracking unit is configured for placement proximate an opening into the respective non-gaming section to detect at least one of an entrance and an exit of the respective customer into and out of the respective non-gaming section.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein

said wireless interface is a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein

said non-gaming activity includes the tracking of patron movement in said casino establishment.

6. The system of claim 1, further including:

a computer system having a database of the respective customer accounts associated with respective customer Ids, and each said at least one gaming activity player tracking unit and the at least one non-gaming activity player tracking unit coupled to the computer system to process the respective gaming activity data and non-gaming activity data for each respective customer.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein

said database includes a management program for updating a theoretical win profile for the respective customer as a function of estimated winnings from the betting activity of the customer at the casino establishment over a time period.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein

said at least one gaming activity player tracking unit includes a card reader device coupled to the computer system to read customer identity information from the respective player tracking card and provide the customer identity information to the computer system.

9. A player tracking system for tracking customer activity for a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections, said system comprising:

a plurality of player tracking cards for distribution to respective participating customers that include respective customer IDs which are associated with respective customer accounts;

a plurality of gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the gaming activity data of the respective customer;

a plurality of non-gaming activity player tracking units positioned in the non-gaming section of the casino establishment proximate the non-gaming activity which cooperates with the player tracking cards to monitor the non-gaming activity data of the respective customer; and

a computer system having a database of the respective customer accounts associated with respective customer Ids, and each gaming activity player tracking unit and each non-gaming activity player tracking unit coupled to the computer system to process the respective gaming activity data and non-gaming activity data for each respective customer.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein

said non-gaming activity player tracking unit includes a wireless interface configured to detect the presence of a respective player tracking card in the local vicinity of the respective non-gaming section of the casino establishment.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein

said non-gaming activity player tracking unit is configured for placement proximate the entrances and exits of selected, respective non-gaming sections of the casino establishment to detect at least one of an entrance and an exit of the respective customer into and out of the respective non-gaming section.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein

said non-gaming sections include one or more of the following:

a casino restaurant, a casino shop, a casino theater, a casino bar and a casino showroom.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein

said database includes a management program to update the patron movement of the respective customers in said casino establishment over a time period.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein

said management program is further adapted to update a theoretical win profile for the respective customer as a function of estimated winnings from the betting activity of the customer at the casino establishment over a time period.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

each gaming activity player tracking unit includes a card reader device coupled to the computer system to read customer identity information from the respective player tracking card and provide the customer identity information to the computer system.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein

said respective player tracking card is a Radio Frequency (RF) enabled smart card configured to generate an RF signal, and

said wireless interface is a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver responsive to said RF signal.

17. A method for tracking customer activity, using player tracking cards issued to respective customers that include respective customer IDs which are associated with respective customer accounts, at a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections, at a casino establishment having gaming sections and non-gaming sections, said method comprising:

monitoring at least one gaming activity player tracking unit in the gaming section of the casino establishment for gaming activity data by a respective customer; and

monitoring at least one non-gaming activity player tracking unit in the non-gaming section of the casino establishment for non-gaming activity data by the respective customer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein

said monitoring at least one gaming activity player tracking unit includes detecting the presence of a respective player tracking card in the local vicinity of the respective non-gaming section of the casino establishment through a wireless interface component of the non-gaming activity player tracking unit.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein

said respective player tracking card is a Radio Frequency (RF) enabled smart card configured to generate an RF signal, and

said wireless interface is a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver responsive to said RF signal.

20. The method of claim 18, further including:

placing the non-gaming activity player tracking unit proximate one of an entrance and an exit of a selected, respective non-gaming section of the casino establishment to detect one of the entrance and the exit of the respective customer into and out of the respective non-gaming section.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein

said non-gaming section includes one of the following:

a casino restaurant, a casino shop, a casino theater, a casino bar and a casino showroom.

22. The method of claim 20, further including:

tracking patron movement of the respective customers in the non-gaming sections of the casino establishment through the non-gaming activity data.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein

periodically updating the patron movement of the respective customers in said casino establishment over a time period.

24. The method of claim 23, further including

periodically updating a theoretical win profile for the respective customer, through the gaming activity data, as a function of estimated winnings from the betting activity of the customer at the casino establishment over a time period, and

storing the theoretical win profile in association with the customer account.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein

said monitoring of the gaming activity data includes reading the customer identity information from the respective player tracking card through a card reader device.