Interactive financial transactions

• US 9,165,428 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2013
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LNW Gaming Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Costello, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre E
• Application Number:
  US13/860,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20130274003A1
• Time in Patent Office: 922 Days
• Field of Search: 463/25
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• 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 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking

Abstract

An interactive financial transactions systems and methods are disclosed for providing gaming activity using funds located at a financial institution. Prior to initiating gaming activity, the player indicates the amount of funds the player would like to wager in a session. The financial institution is contacted to block the player funds from being used for another purpose while the player is placing wagers on the interactive gaming system. As the player completes wagers, the results of wagering activities may be passed to the financial institution. When the player completes the gaming session, the financial institution is instructed to release the blocked funds. In one embodiment, the interactive gaming system contacts an intermediary business which performs the account blocking and financial transactions with the financial institution.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing wagering games, comprising:

receiving, by a processor-based device, a request from a user device to engage in a wagering activity, wherein the request specifies a session wagering amount,

transmitting, by the processor-based device to an intermediary business system, the session wagering amount and a request for a block on a financial account of a user of the user device, the intermediary business system being communicatively coupled to a financial institution that maintains the financial account,

initiating, by the processor-based device, a wagering session with the user device, the wagering session including at least one wagering game,

receiving, by the processor-based device, an indication from the user device of a wager in the at least one wagering game,

verifying, via one or more communications between the processor-based device and the intermediary business system, availability of an amount no less than an amount of the wager in the at least one wagering game,

responsive to the verifying of the availability of the amount no less than the amount of the wager, providing, by the processor-based device, a gaming activity to the user device,

determining, by the processor-based device, a wager result based on the provided gaming activity, and

providing, by the processor-based device and via one or more additional communications between the processor-based device and the intermediary business system, the wager result to the intermediary business system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ending the wagering session and providing a notification to the intermediary business system reflecting an end of the gaming activity.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an interface to the user device for entering financial institution data.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

passing the financial institution data to the intermediary business system as a pass-through.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wager result is determined after the user commits funds to the at least one wagering game.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein committing the funds to the at least one wagering game comprises making the funds available for wagering over a course of several wagering decisions in the at least one wagering game.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institution that maintains the financial account is a system of record for the financial account.

8. A computer-implemented method for providing wagering games, comprising:

receiving a request from a user device associated with a user, wherein the request specifies a desired wager amount,

requesting a financial block from a financial institution on a financial account associated with the user, wherein the requested financial block specifies the desired wager amount,

responsive to receiving a notification from the financial institution that the financial block was successful, beginning a wagering session, wherein the wagering session includes at least one wagering game with the user device,

responsive to a wagering result from the at least one wagering game, reporting the wagering result to the financial institution, and

settling a transaction with the financial institution responsive to the user ending the at least one wagering game, wherein the settling includes releasing the financial block on the financial account associated with the user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the settling with the financial institution is performed in substantially real-time with the user ending the at least one wagering game.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the wagering result is reported to the financial institution for each wagering result created by the at least one wagering game.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one wagering game creates the wagering result after the user initiates a wagering activity, which commits user'"'"'s funds to the at least one wagering game.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein committing the user'"'"'s funds to the at least one wagering game comprises making the user'"'"'s funds available for wagering over a course of several wagering decisions in the at least one wagering game.

13. A computer-implemented method of authorizing a use of player funds, comprising:

receiving a request associated with a player to designate an amount of funds to make available for wagering at an interactive gaming system,

sending a request to a financial institution associated with the player to block the amount of funds in a financial account associated with the player,

receiving an indication from the financial institution that the amount of funds is blocked,

setting a wager balance based on the amount of funds blocked,

receiving a request to authorize a wager for a wager amount,

responsive to the request from the interactive gaming system, providing an authorization for the wager amount when the wager amount is less than or equal to the wager balance,

receiving a wager result indicating a win or loss,

receiving an indication of an end of a play session,

transmitting the wager result to the financial institution, and

responsive to receiving the indication of the end of the play session, sending a request to the financial institution to unblock the funds in the financial account associated with the player.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

calculating an updated wager balance by updating the wager balance with the wager result,

receiving a second request to authorize a second wager amount, and

responsive to receiving the second request, providing an authorization for the second wager amount if the second wager amount is less than or equal to the updated wager balance.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein a plurality of wager results is received, and wherein the plurality of wager results is transmitted to the financial institution as a batch.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein a plurality of wager results is received, and a net result of the plurality of wager results is transmitted to the financial institution.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request from a user device operated by the player to associate the player with the financial account, and

associating the player with the requested financial account.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request from an interactive gaming system to associate the player with the financial account, and

associating the player with the requested financial account.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein sending the request to block funds in the financial account associated with the player comprises a request to place a plurality of blocks in the financial account.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein sending a request to unblock the funds in the financial account associated with the player comprises a request to unblock a plurality of blocks in the financial account.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating a player'"'"'s account associated with the player.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the player'"'"'s account is generated responsive to a request received from an interactive gaming system or a user device operated by the player.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the financial institution is a record holder for the financial account associated with the player.