System and method for operating on-line governmental lottery games

• US 20070060284A1
• Filed: 10/12/2006
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eLottery, Inc. (eLOT, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eLottery, Inc. (eLOT, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yacenda, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,946,913 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/17
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3237 about the players, e.g. profiling, responsible gaming, strategy/behavior of players, location of players

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for facilitating governmental lottery games with a screening, a verification, and a subscription play function. A lottery agent system of the present invention includes a plurality of player terminals on which lottery players can play lottery games, including purchasing and receiving lottery tickets, an agent server for facilitating the purchase and screening of players and winning tickets, and a governmental lottery administrator for providing security or serial numbers for verification. The present invention further discloses a method for claiming awards for the winning tickets upon a drawing of winning numbers. Upon receiving information of the winning tickets, the state provides the agent server with claim validation numbers associated with the winning tickets for claims on lottery awards by winning players.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating governmental lottery play over an electronic network, comprising:

an agent server connected via said electronic network for receiving player and ticket information transmitted from a plurality of player terminals, for transmitting said ticket information to a governmental lottery administrator, and for receiving serial numbers issued by said governmental lottery administrator in association with each lottery ticket;

a database in said agent server for storing said player and ticket information and said serial numbers associated with each lottery ticket; and

a screening unit in said agent server, having player geographic location criteria by the governmental lottery administrator pre-stored therein, for verifying that each player satisfies said geographic location criteria prior to transmitting said ticket information to said governmental lottery administrator, wherein said screening unit;

communicates geographic location verification instructions including a verification code;

receives a player telephone number;

determines player geographic location from the received telephone number;

establishes a telephone connection with the received telephone number;

communicates instructions over the telephone connection;

receives the verification code over the telephone connection; and

determines the validity of the verification code.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic network is the Internet.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic location verification instructions are communicated to one of the plurality of player terminals.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic location verification instructions are presented on an Internet web page.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the player terminal is a personal computer (PC), a wired telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless electronic device, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the player geographic location is determined from the received telephone number to be within a known telephone exchange region stored in the screening unit.

7. A method of verifying a geographic location of a participant of a location-based electronic network activity, comprising:

communicating geographic location verification instructions including a verification code;

receiving a telephone number of the participant of the location-based electronic network activity;

determining the geographic location of the participant of the location-based electronic network activity from the received telephone number;

establishing a telephone connection with the received telephone number;

communicating instructions over the telephone connection;

receiving the verification code over the telephone connection;

determining the validity of the verification code; and

displaying a message regarding an authorization or a rejection to participate in the location-based electronic network activity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the location-based electronic network activity takes place over the Internet.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the location-based electronic network activity is lottery game play and the participant of the location-based electronic network activity is a player.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the geographic location verification instructions, and the message regarding the authorization or the rejection to participate in the location-based electronic network activity are communicated on an Internet capable electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the geographic location verification instructions and message regarding the authorization or the rejection to participate in the location-based electronic network activity to be received is displayed on an Internet web page.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the internet capable electronic device is a player terminal, a personal computer (PC), a wired telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless electronic device, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the geographic location of the participant of the location-based electronic network activity is determined from the received telephone number to be within a known telephone exchange region stored in the screening unit.

14. A system for facilitating governmental lottery play over an electronic network comprising:

an agent server connected via said electronic network for receiving player and ticket information from a plurality of players, for transmitting said ticket information to said governmental lottery administrator, and for receiving serial numbers issued by said governmental lottery administrator in association with each lottery ticket;

a database in said agent server for storing said player and ticket information and said serial numbers associated with each lottery ticket, said ticket information includes lottery numbers for subscription play of the lottery numbers for more than one lottery draw; and

a subscription play unit in said agent server for monitoring the subscription play and putting in play the subscription lottery numbers for a pre-specified number of draws until expiration of a subscription time period.

15. The system of claim 14, further including a screening unit in said agent server, having criteria required by the governmental lottery administrator pre-stored therein, for verifying that each player satisfies said criteria prior to transmitting said ticket information to said governmental lottery administrator.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the governmental lottery administrator required criteria is player geographic location criteria and said screening unit:

communicates geographic location verification instructions including a verification code;

receives a player telephone number;

determines player geographic location from the received telephone number;

establishes a telephone connection with the received telephone number;

communicates instructions over the telephone connection;

receives the verification code over the telephone connection; and

determines the validity of the verification code.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the electronic network is the Internet.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the geographic location verification instructions are communicated to one of the plurality of players.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the geographic location verification instructions are presented on an Internet web page.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the player geographic location is determined from the received telephone number to be within a known telephone exchange region stored in the screening unit.