System and method of providing wagering opportunities based on invitations

• US 9,489,798 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2015
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Game Play Network, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Game Play Network, Inc.
• Inventors: Fine, Russell M., Selby, Jamison
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Milap
• Application Number:
  US14/810,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20150332554A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3209 Input means, e.g. buttons, touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3211 Display means
• 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 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• 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 17/326 Game play aspects of gaming systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3262 Player actions which determine the course of the game, e.g. selecting a prize to be won, outcome to be achieved, game to be played
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3288 Betting, e.g. on live events, bookmaking

Abstract

The invention relates to systems and methods of placing real-world wagers, obtaining outcomes of the real-world wagers, facilitating user interactions with various interactive media, and revealing the outcomes of the real-world wagers based on invitations to give an appearance that the outcomes of the real-world wagers resulted from the invitations even though the outcomes resulted from the real-world wagers and were determined before the invitations. The system may provide an invitation to participate in a reveal opportunity. For example, the system may invite the user to play a specific game (e.g., “play this game to claim five dollars”), interact with multi-media content (e.g., “watch a video to win ten dollars”), challenge one or more other players (e.g., “challenge another player to win two dollars”), engage in some other objective, and/or otherwise accept an opportunity to reveal at least a portion of a payout that has not yet been revealed.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of providing one or more invitations to a user that, when accepted by the user, cause at least a portion of a user account balance to be revealed to the user, wherein the user account balance is based on outcomes of wagers placed on behalf of the user, the method being implemented in a computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the computer system to perform the method, the method comprising:

causing, by the computer system, a wager to be placed on behalf of the user through a real currency wagering system;

obtaining, by the computer system, an outcome of the wager;

updating, by the computer system, the user account balance based on the outcome;

causing, by the computer system, an invitation, from among the one or more invitations, which is disparate from the outcome of the wager, to be provided to the user, wherein the invitation invites the user to perform an action such that the portion of the user account balance, when revealed to the user, appears to have resulted from an acceptance of the invitation;

determining, by the computer system, whether the invitation was accepted by the user via one or more physical input devices;

responsive to a determination that the invitation was accepted by the user via the one or more physical input devices, causing, by the computer system, at least the portion of the user account balance to be revealed to the user; and

responsive to a determination that the invitation was not accepted by the user via the one or more physical input devices, not revealing the portion of the user account balance to the user such that the portion of the user account balance is saved for a later reveal opportunity for the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to interact with an advertisement, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, an interaction with the advertisement, indicating that the invitation was accepted; and

revealing, by the computer system, the portion of the user account balance to give an appearance that the portion of the user account balance resulted from the interaction with the advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to challenge another player, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, an acceptance of the challenge such that the invitation is accepted, wherein determining whether to reveal the portion of the user account balance comprises determining whether the user has defeated the other player.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to challenge another player, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, an acceptance of the challenge such that the invitation is accepted, wherein determining whether to reveal the portion of the user account balance comprises determining whether the user has defeated the other player.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to complete an objective, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, an acceptance of the invitation, wherein determining whether to reveal the portion of the user account balance comprises determining whether the user has at least partially completed the objective.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to interact with video content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to interact with audio content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to download interactive media.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to stream interactive media.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user account balance is associated with a first balance representative of a revealed portion of the user account balance and a second balance representative of an unrevealed portion of the user account balance, and wherein updating the user account balance based on the outcome comprises incrementing the second balance based on the payout.

11. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising:

responsive to a determination to reveal the portion of the outcome, causing, by the computer system, an indication to be provided to the user that indicates the user has won the portion of the user account balance to provide an appearance that the user won the portion based on acceptance of the invitation even though the user is entitled to the portion based on the wager.

12. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

decrementing, by the computer system, the second balance based on the revealed portion.

13. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:

incrementing, by the computer system, the first balance based on the revealed portion.

14. The method of claim 10, the method further comprising:

determining, by the computer system, an amount in the user account balance; and

determining, by the computer system, whether to provide the invitation based on the amount in the user account balance.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the real currency wagering system comprises a third party wagering system, and wherein causing wager to be placed on behalf of the user comprises:

causing, by the computer system, the wager to be placed on behalf of the user through the third party wagering system via a network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the wager is associated with a plurality of potential events, at least one of which corresponds to a winning outcome of the wager, and wherein causing the wager to be placed comprises:

selecting, by the computer system, a first one of the plurality of potential events on behalf of the user.

17. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

obtaining, by the computer system, location information from a component, of a user device, for detecting a location of the user, wherein the wager is caused to be placed on behalf of the user based further on the location information.

18. A system of providing one or more invitations to a user that, when accepted by the user, cause at least a portion of a user account balance to be revealed to the user, wherein the user account balance is based on outcomes of wagers placed on behalf of the user, the system comprising:

one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, cause the one or more physical processors to;

cause a wager to be placed on behalf of the user through a real currency wagering system;

obtain an outcome of the wager;

update the user account balance based on the outcome;

cause an invitation, from among the one or more invitations, which is disparate from the outcome of the wager, to be provided to the user, wherein the invitation invites the user to perform an action such that the portion of the user account balance, when revealed to the user, appears to have resulted from an acceptance of the invitation;

determine whether the invitation was accepted by the user via one or more physical input devices;

responsive to a determination that the invitation was accepted by the user via the one or more physical input devices, cause at least the portion of the user account balance to be revealed to the user; and

responsive to a determination that the invitation was not accepted by the user via the one or more physical input devices, not reveal the portion of the user account balance to the user such that the portion of the user account balance is saved for a later reveal opportunity for the user.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the invitation comprises an invitation to complete an objective, and wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

receive an acceptance of the invitation, wherein determining whether to reveal the portion of the user account balance comprises determining whether the user has at least partially completed the objective.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the user account balance is associated with a first balance representative of a revealed portion of the user account balance and a second balance representative of an unrevealed portion of the user account balance, and wherein updating the user account balance based on the outcome comprises incrementing the second balance based on the payout.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

responsive to a determination to reveal the portion of the outcome, cause an indication to be provided to the user that indicates the user has won the portion of the user account balance to provide an appearance that the user won the portion based on acceptance of the invitation even though the user is entitled to the portion based on the wager.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

decrement the second balance based on the revealed portion.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

increment the first balance based on the revealed portion.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

determine an amount in the user account balance; and

determine whether to provide the invitation based on the amount in the user account balance.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the real currency wagering system comprises a third party wagering system, and wherein to cause the wager to be placed on behalf of the user, the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

cause the wager to be placed on behalf of the user through the third party wagering system via a network.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the wager is associated with a plurality of potential events, at least one of which corresponds to a winning outcome of the wager, and wherein to place the wager, the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

select a first one of the plurality of potential events on behalf of the user.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more physical processors are further programmed to:

obtain location information from a component, of a user device, for detecting a location of the user, wherein the wager is caused to be placed on behalf of the user based further on the location information.