Method and arrangement for providing a jackpot prize

Abstract

An electronic casino table game is provided with the ability to enable players to elect to participate in a jackpot once they have made a standard wager on the electronic casino table game. The players are provided with player terminals 602 , which are connected to a central controller 608 . The controller maintains a record 610 of the jackpot pool and the active wagers placed by the players. The player terminal includes a touch screen which displays a player input field 504 for the standard game inputs by the player, and a jackpot input field 510 to enable the player to elect to participate in the jackpot. The player terminals are connected to the controller by a communication link 604, 606 to enable the player wagers to be communicated to the controller and to permit the controller to control the player screens.

1 . A method of providing a jackpot feature for a table game in a gaming arrangement having a central controller and a plurality of player terminals communicating player wagers to the controller, the method including the steps of: 
 enabling at least one player terminal to participate in the jackpot by placing a jackpot wager via a player terminal;    adding at least a proportion of each participating player's jackpot wager to the jackpot pool;    determining the result of the jackpot;    identifying the or each winner.    
   
   
       2 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , including the step of detecting whether a player has placed a standard wager on a standard game, and enabling each player who has placed a standard wager to participate in the jackpot.  
   
   
       3 . A method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the standard game is a non-jackpot game.  
   
   
       4 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , including the step of communicating jackpot result information to the player terminals of the or each player who won at least a portion of the jackpot pool.  
   
   
       5 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , including the step of communicating the result of the jackpot game to the player screens of all participants in the jackpot game.  
   
   
       6 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , including the step of displaying the jackpot pool on a large display screen while the jackpot feature is active.  
   
   
       7 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , including the step of displaying the jackpot pool on each player terminal eligible to participate in the jackpot game.  
   
   
       8 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the player terminals are electronic interfaces.  
   
   
       9 . A gaming arrangement including a controller and a plurality of terminals each linked to the controller via a communication link, the arrangement being adapted to implement the method of  claim 1 .  
   
   
       10 . An electronic gaming arrangement having two or more or player terminals connected to a central controller via a communication link, wherein each player terminal is adapted to receive dedicated player inputs to permit the player to participate in a jackpot game.  
   
   
       11 . A gaming arrangement as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the dedicated player inputs can include a dedicated jackpot wager.  
   
   
       12 . A gaming arrangement as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the player terminals can communicate information indicative of the dedicated player input to the central controller which maintains the jackpot pool.  
   
   
       13 . A method of providing a jackpot feature for a table game substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
   
   
       14 . A gaming arrangement substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.