Variable payout wager games

• US 20070167235A1
• Filed: 01/12/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cork Group Trading Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Waterleaf Limited
• Inventors: Naicker, Theo
• Granted Patent: US 7,946,916 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards

Abstract

A central gaming server communicates with a gaming workstation over a network, such as a local area network or wide area computer network. The gaming server makes an initial determination of payout percentage for an instance of a game engaged in by the workstation, and generates results of turns of the game in accordance with the initial payout percentage. In one embodiment, the payout percentage is dynamically changed by the gaming server, and it generates additional results of turns of the game using the new payout percentage. Triggers for determining a new payout percentage could be that a predetermined number of turns of play at the initial payout percentage have occurred, the elapsing of a certain amount of time, or the player logging off the game and then logging back on. In further embodiments, the gaming workstation includes a processor and instructions for locally determining an initial payout percentage, the results of play, and dynamically changing the payout percentage without requiring communication with a central gaming server.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating play of a variable payout game on a workstation having a display, comprising the steps of:

(a) at a gaming server, making an initial determination of a payout percentage for an instance of the variable payout game;

(b) generating one or more results of turns of play of the variable payout game instance at the gaming server in accordance with the initial determination of a payout percentage and transmitting said result(s) of play to the workstation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

(c) at the gaming server, dynamically re-determining the payout percentage for the instance of play; and

(d) generating one or more further results of turns of play of the variable payout game at the gaming server in accordance with the re-determination of the payout percentage and transmitting said further result(s) of play to the workstation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (c) is performed after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than or equal to 1.

4. The method of claim 3, where N is between 1 and 1000, inclusive.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein step (c) is performed after the elapsing of a period of time T when consecutive turns of game by the workstation are occurring, wherein T is a configurable parameter.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein there are M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game, and wherein the determining in steps (a) and (c) comprises a random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts, and wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game are associated with a weighting factor, and wherein the random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts in steps (a) and (c) occurs with reference to the weighting factors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein step (c) is performed after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than or equal to 1, and wherein N is not the same for each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the gaming server transmits the results of play to the workstation over the Internet.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the gaming server transmits the results of play to the workstation over a local area network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the workstation comprises an electronic gaming terminal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable payout game comprises a slots game.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable payout game comprises a virtual scratch ticket game.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein in at least one of steps (b) and (d) the gaming server transmits results of a second instance of a variable payout game occurring substantially simultaneously on a second workstation to the workstation, whereby the workstation may simultaneously display on its display the results of play of the instance of the variable payout game being engaged in by both the workstation and by the second workstation.

15. A gaming server facilitating play of a variable payout game on a workstation, comprising:

a processor and a software process coded as a set of instructions for execution by the processor, the software process causing the gaming server to perform the following functions;

(a) making an initial determination of a payout percentage for an instance of the variable payout game; and

(b) generating one or more results of turns of play of the variable payout game instance in accordance with the initial determination of a payout percentage and transmitting said result(s) of play to the workstation.

16. The gaming server of claim 15, wherein the gaming server software process further comprises processes for:

(c) dynamically re-determining the payout percentage for the instance of play; and

(d) generating one or more further results of turns of play of the variable payout game in accordance with the re-determination of the payout percentage and transmitting said further result(s) of play to the workstation.

17. The gaming server of claim 16, wherein operation (c) is performed after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than or equal to 1.

18. The gaming server of claim 16, where N is between 1 and 1000, inclusive.

19. The gaming server of claim 16, wherein process (c) is performed after the elapsing of a period of time T when consecutive turns of game by the workstation are occurring, wherein T is a configurable parameter.

20. The gaming server of claim 16, wherein there are M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game, and wherein the determining in processes (a) and (c) comprises a random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts, and wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

21. The gaming server of claim 20, wherein each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game are associated with a weighting factor, and wherein the random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts in processes (a) and (c) occurs with reference to the weighting factors.

22. The gaming server of claim 21, wherein step (c) is performed after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than 1, and wherein N is not the same for each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts.

23. The gaming server of claim 15, wherein gaming server transmits the results of play to the workstation over the Internet.

24. The gaming server of claim 15, wherein the gaming server transmits the results of play to the workstation over a local area network.

25. The gaming server of claim 24, wherein the workstation comprises an electronic gaming terminal.

26. The gaming server of claim 15, wherein the variable payout game comprises a slots game.

27. The gaming server of claim 15, wherein the variable payout game comprises an electronic scratch ticket game.

28. The gaming server of claim 16, wherein in at least one of steps (b) and (d) the gaming server transmits results of a second instance of a variable payout game occurring substantially simultaneously on a second workstation to the workstation, whereby the workstation may simultaneously display on its display the results of play of the instance of the variable payout game being engaged in by both the workstation and by the second workstation.

29. A gaming workstation for playing a variable payout game comprising:

1) a display;

2) a processing unit;

3) a memory storing a gaming application for execution by the processing unit,

wherein the gaming application;

a) communicates with a central gaming server to receive datagrams containing outcomes of play of a variable payout game, the outcomes of play in accordance with an initial determination of a payout percentage for the variable payout game;

b) presents the outcomes of play on the display; and

c) provides data to the central gaming server for purposes of enabling the central gaming server to automatically re-determine a percentage payout for the game.

30. The gaming workstation of claim 29, wherein the data provided in aspect c) of the application comprises at least one of:

i) the elapsed time of play of the variable payout game, ii) the number of consecutive instances of play of the variable payout game occurring using the workstation, iii) the length of time elapsed since an instance of play last occurred on the workstation, and iv) a log-on or log-off event occurring on the workstation.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein gaming workstation comprises an electronic gaming terminal and wherein the electronic gaming terminal is connected to the central gaming server over a computer network.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the variable payout game is selected from the group of games consisting of a slots game and an electronic scratch ticket game.

33. A gaming workstation for playing a variable payout game comprising:

1) a display;

2) a processing unit;

3) a memory storing a gaming application for execution by the processing unit,

wherein the application

a) determines outcomes of play of the variable payout game in accordance with an initial determination of a payout percentage for the variable payout game;

b) presents the outcomes of play on the display; and

c) re-determines a payout percentage for the variable payout game based on at least one of;

i) the elapsed time of play of the variable payout game, ii) the number of consecutive instances of play of the variable payout game occurring using the workstation, iii) the length of time elapsed since an instance of play occurred on the workstation, and iv) an event occurring on the workstation either terminating an instance of the variable payout game or selecting a new instance of the variable payout game.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the variable payout game is selected from the group of games consisting of a slots game and an electronic scratch ticket game.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the application re-determines the payout percentage after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than or equal to 1.

36. The apparatus claim 33, where N is between 1 and 1000, inclusive.

37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the application re-determines the payout percentage after the elapsing of a period of time T when consecutive turns of game by the workstation are occurring, wherein T is a configurable parameter.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein there are M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game, and wherein the determining in processes (a) and (c) comprises a random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts, and wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game are associated with a weighting factor, and wherein the random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts in processes (a) and (c) occurs with reference to the weighting factors.

40. The gaming server of claim 39, wherein the re-determination in process (c) is performed after N turns of play, where N is a configurable integer parameter greater than or equal 1, and wherein N is not the same for each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts.

41. A method of facilitating play of a variable payout game on a workstation having a display, comprising the steps of:

(a) at a gaming server, making an initial determination of a payout percentage for an instance of the variable payout game;

(b) generating one or more results of turns of play of the variable payout game instance at the gaming server in accordance with the initial determination of a payout percentage and transmitting said result(s) of play to the workstation;

(c) receiving a datagram at the gaming server indicating that the instance of the variable payout game has been terminated;

(d) receiving a datagram at the gaming server indicating that a new instance of the game has been selected;

(e) determining anew the payout percentage for the new instance of play; and

(f) generating one or more further results of turns of play of the variable payout game at the gaming server in accordance with the determination anew of the payout percentage and transmitting said further result(s) of play to the workstation.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein there are M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game, and wherein the determining in steps (a) and (e) comprises a random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts, and wherein M is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein each of the M predetermined available percentage payouts for an instance of the game are associated with a weighting factor, and wherein the random selection of one of the M predetermined available percentage payouts in steps (a) and (e) occurs with reference to the weighting factors.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of dynamically re-determining the payout percentage of the instance of play prior to the receipt of the datagram in step (c).

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the re-determining prior to receipt of the datagram in step (c) occurs based on at least one of:

i) the number of turns of the instance of the game, and ii) the amount of elapsed time of play of the instance of the game.