Method and apparatus for monitoring casinos and gaming

• US 20050119048A1
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walker Digital Table Systems LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming International Incorporated (Light & Wonder Incorporated)
• Inventors: Soltys, Richard, Huizinga, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,316,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/242 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00157 Casino or betting games horse races A63F3/00082
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3202 Hardware aspects of a gaming system, e.g. components, construction, architecture thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/322 Casino tables, e.g. tables having integrated screens, chip detection means
• 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 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3251 involving media of variable value, e.g. programmable cards, programmable tokens

Abstract

A system automatically monitors playing and wagering of a game, including the gaming habits of players and the performance of employees at least partially by tracking the movement of chips bearing identifiers. A chip tray reader images the contents of a chip tray, while a table reader images chips on the gaming table. Chip identifiers may be associated with customer or player identifiers, the customer'"'"'s or player'"'"'s names may or may not be known. The system detects customer or player behavior such as prohibited playing and wagering patterns, and determines the win/loss percentage of the players and the dealer, as well as a number of other statistically relevant measures. The measurements provide automated security and real-time accounting. The measurements also provide a basis for automatically allocating complimentary player benefits.

Claims

1. A method of tracking players in a casino gaming environment, the method comprising:

automatically associating a unique identifier of a wagering piece presented by a patron with a patron identifier;

determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior; and

storing information regarding the determined at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the patron identifier with a patron'"'"'s name.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a patron'"'"'s name from information encoded on a card presented by the patron; and

associating the patron identifier with the patron'"'"'s name.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a patron'"'"'s name from information encoded on a card that permits the patron to participate in a complimentary program offered in the casino gaming environment; and

associating the patron identifier with the patron'"'"'s name.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the wagering piece is placed as a wager by the patron at a game operated in the casino gaming environment.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein associating a unique identifier of a wagering piece comprises associating a serial number encoded by the wagering piece with the patron identifier.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein associating a unique identifier of a wagering piece comprises associating a serial number machine-readably encoded by the wagering piece with the patron identifier.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein associating a unique identifier of a wagering piece comprises associating a serial number encoded in a machine-readable optical symbol carried by the wagering piece with the patron identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a patron at a first gaming location in the casino gaming environment via facial characteristics of the patron;

identifying the same patron at a second gaming location in the casino gaming environment via facial characteristics of the patron that match the facial characteristics at the first gaming location; and

associating the same patron identifier with the patron at the first and the second gaming location.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining a probability of whether the patron is employing a suspect playing pattern.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining a probability of whether the patron is employing a prohibited behavior.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining an amount wagered by the patron.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining a wagering success rate of the patron.

14. A method of tracking players in a casino gaming environment, the method comprising:

from time-to-time, automatically associating a unique identifier of at least one of a number of wagering pieces presented by a patron at one or more locations in the casino gaming environment with a patron identifier;

from time-to-time in response to the automatically associating of the unique identifier of at least one of the number of wagering pieces presented by the patron with the patron identifier, determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior at the respective location in the casino gaming environment; and

from time-to-time, storing information regarding the determined at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior in a database.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining a name of the patron subsequent to the storing information regarding the determined at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior in the database.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

identifying a patron'"'"'s name from information encoded on a card that permits the patron to participate in a complimentary program offered in the casino gaming environment; and

associating the patron identifier with the patron'"'"'s name.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining a probability of whether the patron is employing a prohibited playing strategy during play of a game.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein determining at least one aspect of the patron'"'"'s behavior comprises determining at least one value on which an award of a complimentary benefit is based.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

electromagnetically detecting the unique identifier carried by the at least one wagering piece.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein electromagnetically detecting the unique identifier carried by the at least one wagering piece comprises optically detecting light reflected from a machine-readable barcode symbol carried on a perimeter of the wagering piece.