SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONDUCTING ON-LINE TOURNAMENT CONTEST

• US 20140274347A1
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kizzang LLC
• Original Assignee: Kizzang LLC
• Inventors: Alexander, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/26
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3225 Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users
• 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 17/3248 involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3258 Cumulative reward schemes, e.g. jackpots
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3276 wherein the players compete, e.g. tournament

Abstract

Systems and methods for conducting on-line tournaments, and in particular such tournaments as permit participants to receive prizes without having to place wagers. Participants are permitted to enroll in an on-line tournament pool and submit tokens. The tokens act as each respective participant'"'"'s prediction regarding the outcome of one or more events associated with a sporting event or other contest. Tokens may be completed “brackets” representing a participant'"'"'s prediction of winners of all games in various rounds of a sporting event, or partially completed brackets representing the participant'"'"'s prediction of winners of only some games thereof. Cash prizes are awarded for top scoring participants but no wagers or entry fees of any kind are accepted from or required to be paid by the participants.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a server having a processor and a memory, the server communicably coupled to a network, the memory storing computer-executable instructions, which instructions when executed by the processor cause the processor to configure the server as a web site host that permit participants to enter tournament pools concerning outcomes of sporting events and to receive cash prizes for participation in the tournament pools without having to place wagers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to enroll the participants in the tournament pools and accept tokens from the participants, wherein the tokens represent each respective participant'"'"'s prediction regarding an outcome of one or more events associated with a sporting event.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the tokens comprise completed brackets representing each respective participant'"'"'s prediction of winners of various games in various rounds of a basketball tournament.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein a plurality of the tokens comprise brackets representing a respective plurality of participant'"'"'s prediction of winners of fewer than all games in fewer than all rounds of the sporting event.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein enrolling the participants comprises permitting the participants to register with a service offering the tournament pool and verifying registration information provided by each participant.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein enrolling the participants further comprises parsing each respective participant'"'"'s personal information, developing respective participant profiles based on the respective participant'"'"'s personal information, and then recommending to each respective participant one or more sponsors'"'"' advertising or other materials based on the profile.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein enrolling the participants further comprises, using a respective participant'"'"'s personal information, crawling one or more social network sites to identify existing personal profiles of the respective participant and using the social network profiles of the respective participant as a basis for making recommendations regarding the sponsors'"'"' advertising or other materials.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the cash prizes comprise prizes for a perfect bracket and for high scores associated with multiple rounds of respective sporting events.