System and Method for Tracking Patrons Non-Gaming Casino Spend

• US 20090264188A1
• Filed: 04/17/2009
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konami Gaming Incorporated (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Konami Gaming Incorporated (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Cohn, Jeffrey, George, Jeffrey, Sutherland, Steve, Soukup, Thomas E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,425,310 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/34 Betting or bookmaking, e.g. Internet betting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3239 Tracking of individual players
• 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 17/3255 Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking

Abstract

A system and method for tracking patron events at a plurality of devices is provided. The plurality of devices include electronic gaming machines and non-gaming machines. Each game device has a value associated therewith. The system includes a plurality of player tracking devices and a server or computer. Each player tracking device is associated with one of the electronic gaming machines. The player tracking devices identify patrons interacting with the system, track wagers made by the patrons on the electronic gaming machines and record wager data associated with each wager made by the players and a respective electronic gaming machine in a database. The server receives the wager data and stores the wager data in a database and receives transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the patrons use of the non-gaming devices and stores the transaction data in the database, and establishes a player rating associated with each player as a function of the wager data and the transaction data.

Claims

1. A system, for tracking patron events at a plurality of devices, the plurality of devices including electronic gaming machines and non-gaming machines, each game device having a value associated therewith, the value associated with the electronic gaming machines being a theoretical hold of the respective electronic gaming machine, and the value associated with the non-gaming machines being an estimated profit of the respective non-gaming machine, comprising:

a plurality of player tracking devices, each player tracking device being associated with one of the electronic gaming machines, the player tracking devices for identifying patrons interacting with the system, for tracking wagers made by the patrons on the electronic gaming machines and for recording wager data associated with each wager made by the players and a respective electronic gaming machine, the wager data including a device type associated with respective gaming machine, an electronic gaming machine identifier, the theoretical hold percentage associated with the respective gaming machine, and an amount of the respective wager; and

,

a server in communication with the player tracking devices and the non-gaming machines for receiving the wager data associated with the one of the patrons and the respective gaming machine from the player tracking device and storing the wager data in a database and, for receiving transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the patrons use of the non-gaming devices and storing the transaction data in the database, and for establishing a player rating associated with each player as a function of the wager data and the transaction data.

2. A system, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transaction data includes a device type of the non-gaming machine, an identifier of the non-gaming machine, and the estimated profit of the non-gaming machine,

3. A system, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the wager data and the transaction data are stored in a table in the database.

4. A system, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the wager data is stored in a first table in the database and the transaction data is stored in a second table in the database.

5. A system, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the wager data includes a player ID and a date/time stamp and the transaction data includes a patron ID and a date/time stamp.

6. A system, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the server, in establishing the player rating, performs the following steps:

(a) establishes a first percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a first predetermined time period in each of a plurality of criteria, and

(b) establishes a first valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and a plurality of predetermined weighting factors.

7. A system, as set forth in claim 6, wherein the server, in establishing the player rating, performs the following steps:

(a) establishes a second percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a second predetermined time period in each of the plurality of criteria, and

(b) establishes a second valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and the plurality of predetermined weighting factors.

8. A system, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the server combines the first and second valuation numbers into an overall valuation number.

9. A system, as set forth in claim 6, wherein the criteria includes recency, frequency, monetary value, and profit margin.

10. A system, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first predetermined time period is a previous month and the second predetermined time period is a previous 3 months.

11. A method, for tracking patron events at a plurality of devices, the plurality of devices including electronic gaming machines and non-gaming machines, each game device having a value associated therewith, the value associated with the electronic gaming machines being a theoretical hold of the respective electronic gaming machine, and the value associated with the non-gaming machines being an estimated profit of the respective non-gaming machine, comprising:

identifying patrons interacting with the gaming machines and tracking wagers made by the patrons on the electronic gaming machines;

recording wager data associated with each wager made by the patrons and a respective electronic gaming machine, the wager data including a device type associated with the respective gaming machine, an electronic gaming machine identifier, the theoretical hold percentage associated with the respective gaming machine, and an amount of the respective wager; and

,

receiving the wager data associated with the one of the patrons and the respective gaming machine and storing the wager data in a database;

receiving transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the patrons use of the non-gaming devices and storing the transaction data in the database; and

,

establishing a player rating associated with each player as a function of the wager data and the transaction data.

12. A method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the transaction data includes a device type of the non-gaming machine, an identifier of the non-gaming machine, and the estimated profit of the non-gaming machine,

13. A method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the wager data and the transaction data are stored in a table in the database.

14. A method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the wager data is stored in a first table in the database and the transaction data is stored in a second table in the database.

15. A method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the wager data includes a player ID and a date/time stamp and the transaction data includes a patron ID and a date/time stamp.

16. A method, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the step of establishing the player rating, includes the steps of:

(a) establishing a first percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a first predetermined time period in each of a plurality of criteria, and

(b) establishing a first valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and a plurality of predetermined weighting factors.

17. A method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein the step of establishing the player rating, including the steps of:

(a) establishing a second percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a second predetermined time period in each of the plurality of criteria, and

(b) establishing a second valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and the plurality of predetermined weighting factors.

18. A method, as set forth in claim 17, including the step of combining the first and second valuation numbers into an overall valuation number.

19. A method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein the criteria includes recency, frequency, monetary value, and profit margin.

20. A method, as set forth in claim 17, wherein the first predetermined time period is a previous month and the second predetermined time period is a previous 3 months.

21. A system, for tracking patron events at a plurality of devices, the plurality of devices including electronic gaming machines and non-gaming machines, each game device having a value associated therewith, the value associated with the electronic gaming machines being a theoretical hold of the respective electronic gaming machine, and the value associated with the non-gaming machines being an estimated profit of the respective non-gaming machine, comprising:

a plurality of player tracking devices, each player tracking device being associated with one of the electronic gaming machines, the player tracking devices for identifying patrons interacting with the system, for tracking wagers made by the patrons on the electronic gaming machines and for recording wager data associated with each wager made by the players and a respective electronic gaming machine, the wager data including a device type associated with respective gaming machine, an electronic gaming machine identifier, the theoretical hold percentage associated with the respective gaming machine, an amount of the respective wager, player ID and a date/time stamp; and

,

a server in communication with the player tracking devices and the non-gaming machines for receiving the wager data associated with the one of the patrons and the respective gaming machine from the player tracking device and storing the wager data in a database and, for receiving transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the patrons use of the non-gaming devices and storing the transaction data in the database, wherein the transaction data includes a device type of the non-gaming machine, an identifier of the non-gaming machine, the estimated profit of the non-gaming machine, a patron ID and a date/time stamp, and for establishing a player rating associated with each player as a function of the wager data and the transaction data, wherein the server, in establishing the player rating, performs the following steps (a) establishes a first percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a first predetermined time period in each of a plurality of criteria, wherein the criteria includes recency, frequency, monetary value, and profit margin, (b) establishes a first valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and a plurality of predetermined weighting factors, (c) establishes a second percentile ranking for each patron relative to the other patrons as a function of the wager and transaction data for a second predetermined time period in each of the plurality of criteria, (d) establishes a second valuation number as a function of the percentile rankings in each of the plurality of criteria and the plurality of predetermined weighting factors, and (e) combining the first and second valuation numbers into an overall valuation number.