Cashless instrument based table game promotional system and methodology

• US 20050266919A1
• Filed: 06/15/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Original Assignee: IGT (International Game Technology)
• Inventors: Durst, David C., Rowe, Richard E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,602,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3248 involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3251 involving media of variable value, e.g. programmable cards, programmable tokens
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3255 Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3281 wherein game attributes are transferred between players, e.g. points, weapons, avatars
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/025 by means, e.g. cards, providing billing information at the time of purchase, e.g. identification of seller or purchaser, quantity of goods delivered or to be delivered

Abstract

Systems and methods for transacting ticket vouchers and other suitable cashless instruments at gaming tables are disclosed. A network interface to a cashless instrument transaction clearinghouse can facilitate communications across disparate units and gaming properties to enable the automated validation, acceptance and tracking of cashless instruments at both a given site and across a WAN. Cashless instrument transactions at gaming tables can include ticket to gaming chip and gaming chip to ticket conversions, and can be made involving automated validation, acceptance, storage and tracking of cashless instruments having associated monetary and/or promotional values. Softcount procedures are adjusted to include more readily traceable cashless instruments. Cashless instrument promotional values can include courtesy “roundups” of monetary amounts, as well as general and specific gaming table promotions to encourage play across many different casino gaming venues.

Claims

1. A system adapted for use in conjunction with live table games involving the acceptance of monetary wagers, the play of games based on said monetary wagers and the grant of monetary awards based on the outcomes of said wager based games, said system comprising:

a cashless instrument transaction clearinghouse adapted to facilitate the use of cashless instruments at one or more gaming properties adapted to generate and accept cashless instruments, said cashless instrument transaction clearinghouse including

at least one network interface allowing the cashless instrument transaction clearinghouse to communicate with each of said one or more gaming properties,

a processor configured to receive via said network interface cashless instrument validation requests and send information via said network interface regarding approvals, rejections, or both with respect to said cashless instrument validation requests, and

a transaction database containing cashless instrument transaction information; and

a plurality of cashless interface devices at a plurality of live gaming tables, said plurality of live gaming tables being used to host live table games involving the acceptance of monetary wagers, the play of games based on said monetary wagers and the grant of monetary awards based on the outcomes of said wager based games, wherein each of said plurality of cashless interface devices is in communication with said cashless instrument transaction clearinghouse and is adapted to

validate one or more cashless instruments thereupon,

communicate cashless instrument information to said clearinghouse,

facilitate a conversion of said one or more cashless instruments to gaming chips at said plurality of live gaming tables,

facilitate the redemption of one or more promotional offers made with respect to at least one of said live table games, said one or more promotional offers being presented on a machine readable medium, and

facilitate the offering and tracking of a table game roundup promotion, wherein said table game roundup promotion comprises providing a player with gaming chips having a monetary value greater than the monetary value set forth on a cashless instrument tendered by said player.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said system comprises a wide area network situated across multiple gaming establishments.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more cashless instruments include at least one cashless instrument selected from the group consisting of a smart card, a magnetic stripe card, a debit card, a printed ticket, a bar-coded ticket and an EZ Pay®

ticket voucher.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of cashless interface devices is further adapted to facilitate the conversion of gaming chips to at least one cashless instrument at said plurality of live gaming tables.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said at least one cashless instrument reflecting a conversion from gaming chips is separate from said one or more cashless instruments resulting in a conversion to gaming chips.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of said plurality of cashless interface devices is adapted to generate a first cashless instrument reflecting a conversion from gaming chips to said first cashless instrument.

7. The system of claim 6, said at least one cashless interface device adapted to generate a first cashless instrument comprises a ticket printer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said transaction database comprises a partitioned database containing cashless instrument transaction information separated with respect to one or more classifications selected from the group consisting of ownership of gaming properties, gaming machine cashless instrument transactions, gaming table cashless instrument transactions, overall gaming table promotional transactions and gaming table promotional roundup transactions.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said live table games includes at least one live player and at least one live employee of the gaming establishment providing said live table game.

10. A system adapted for use in conjunction with live gaming venues, comprising:

a processor configured to receive validation requests regarding cashless instruments issued by one or more cashless instrument generating devices and to send information regarding approvals, rejections, or both with respect to said cashless instrument validation requests, said cashless instruments having cash values;

a transaction database in communication with said processor and containing cashless instrument transaction information; and

a plurality of cashless interface devices at a plurality of non-gaming machine based live gaming venues, said plurality of live gaming venues being used to host live gaming events involving the acceptance of monetary wagers, the display of games or sporting events based on said monetary wagers and the grant of monetary awards based on the outcomes of said wager based gaming events, wherein one or more of said plurality of cashless interface devices is in communication with said processor and is adapted to

validate one or more of said cashless instruments thereupon,

communicate cashless instrument information to said database, and

facilitate a conversion of said one or more cashless instruments to one or more other forms of gaming credit at one or more of said plurality of live gaming venues.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of said cashless instrument generating devices comprises a gaming machine.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said one or more cashless instruments include at least one cashless instrument selected from the group consisting of a smart card, a magnetic stripe card, a debit card, a printed ticket, a bar-coded ticket and an EZ Pay®

ticket voucher.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said one or more other forms of gaming credit are selected from the group consisting of one or more gaming chips, keno tickets, credits stored on a smart card, credits stored on a magnetic stripe card, credits stored on a debit card, a bar-coded ticket and an EZ Pay®

ticket voucher.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said live gaming venues comprise one or more gaming tables having one or more of said plurality of cashless interface devices.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said one or more gaming tables comprise gaming tables adapted to play one or games selected from the group consisting of blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, pai-gow poker, pai-gow tiles, Carribean Stud, Spanish 21, and Let It Ride.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said one or more of said plurality of cashless interface devices is further adapted to facilitate the redemption of one or more promotional offers made with respect to at least one of said live gaming events, said one or more promotional offers being presented on a machine readable medium.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein said one or more of said plurality of cashless interface devices is further adapted to facilitate the redemption of a roundup promotion, wherein said roundup promotion comprises accepting a cashless instrument having a first monetary value tendered by a player and providing said player with one or more other forms of gaming credit having a second monetary value, wherein said second monetary value is greater than said first monetary value.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said first monetary value comprises a monetary value that requires the use of coins for a full conversion to currency, and wherein said second monetary value comprises a monetary value that does not require the use of coins for a full conversion to currency.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein said one or more other forms of gaming credit comprises gaming chips acceptable for play at a gaming table.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said one or more of said plurality of cashless interface devices is further adapted to facilitate the conversion of said gaming chips to at least one cashless instrument at said plurality of live gaming venues.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said at least one cashless instrument reflecting a conversion from gaming chips is separate from said one or more cashless instruments resulting in a conversion to gaming chips.

22. The system of claim 10, wherein said transaction database comprises a partitioned database containing cashless instrument transaction information separated with respect to one or more classifications selected from the group consisting of gaming machine cashless instrument transactions, gaming table cashless instrument transactions, overall gaming table promotional transactions and gaming table promotional roundup transactions.

23. A wide area gaming network adapted for use in conjunction with table games involving the acceptance of monetary wagers, the play of games based on said monetary wagers and the grant of monetary awards based on the outcomes of said games, the wide area gaming network comprising:

a central processor configured to receive validation requests regarding printed tickets issued by one or more printed ticket generating devices and to send information regarding approvals, rejections, or both with respect to said printed ticket validation requests made at one or more gaming tables adapted to host said table games, said printed tickets having discrete cash values;

a central transaction database in communication with said central processor and containing printed ticket transaction information; and

a plurality of printed ticket interface devices at said one or more gaming tables, wherein each of said plurality of printed ticket interface devices is in communication with said central processor, and is adapted to validate one or more of said printed tickets thereupon, communicate printed ticket information to said central processor, and facilitate a conversion of said one or more printed tickets to one or more gaming chips for the play of games at said one or more gaming tables, wherein said plurality of printed ticket interface devices are distributed across multiple gaming properties.

24. A method of providing a cashless instrument related promotion at a gaming table, comprising:

accepting a cashless instrument from a player at said gaming table, said gaming table adapted to host at least one table game involving the acceptance of monetary wagers, the play of games based on said monetary wagers and the grant of monetary awards based on the outcomes of said games;

reading said cashless instrument using an automated cashless interface device located at or in close proximity to said gaming table, wherein said reading step includes reading a machine readable portion of said cashless instrument;

validating said cashless instrument based on said machine readable portion of said cashless instrument using said automated cashless interface device;

assigning a promotional monetary value to said cashless instrument, said promotional monetary value being in addition to any actual negotiable cash value that may be attributable to said cashless instrument; and

providing to said player at said gaming table one or more items or gestures reflecting said promotional monetary value.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said one or more items or gestures reflecting said promotional monetary value also comprise at least a portion of any actual negotiable cash value that may have been attributable to said cashless instrument.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein said one or more items or gestures reflecting said promotional monetary value comprises the placement of said cashless instrument at said gaming table to reflect a particular form of promotional offer or wager.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein said promotional monetary value comprises a promotional roundup value with respect to an actual negotiable cash value attributable to said cashless instrument.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein said validating step includes establishing a network connection and comparing said machine readable portion of said cashless instrument with information stored on an associated network component.

29. The method of claim 24, further including the step of:

providing at said gaming table one or more gaming chips reflecting a buy in with respect to an actual negotiable cash value of said cashless instrument.

30. The method of claim 24, further including the step of:

capturing with an RFID reading device gaming chip RFID data of at least one player, at least one activity or a combination thereof at said gaming table.