Method and System for Push Marketing

Abstract

Hotels and casinos often offer both gaming and shows or attractions, meals, accommodation, etc. This invention allows for show tickets, spare restaurant capacity, and other elements which may have a time critical lifetime, to be offered via the gaming infrastructure, such as slot machines or other wired or wireless terminals, before the time critical window closes, e.g. the show starts and the tickets become worthless. Acceptance of the offer may be through the gaming terminal itself, or through the use of wireless phones or PDAs either connected via the Internet or via short SMS message. The gaming systems may produce barcode slips that can be redeemed for tickets, vouchers, restaurant coupons, etc. Otherwise, payment may be tied to a patron's account via reward points, credit card on file, will-call, phone billing or other means.

1 . A casino network comprising:
 (A) a marketing system configured to:
 (a) identify a spare capacity at a venue associated with a casino; 
 (b) generate an offer in relation to the spare capacity; 
 (c) select at least one patron within the casino; and 
 (d) provide the offer to the at least one patron. 
   
     
     
         2 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising a plurality of gaming devices, wherein the marketing system is configured to:
 (a) determine a gaming device on which the at least one patron is active; and   (b) cause the gaming device to display the offer to the at least one patron.   
     
     
         3 . The casino network of  claim 2  wherein one or more of the plurality of gaming devices comprise an interface that is configured to receive an acceptance of the offer from a patron. 
     
     
         4 . The casino network of  claim 3  wherein one or more of the plurality of gaming devices comprise a printer for printing a ticket in respect of the acceptance of the offer. 
     
     
         5 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising a patron database that stores a value of gaming credits of a patron, wherein the marketing system is configured to deduct a value of the offer from a patron's gaming credits if the offer is accepted by the patron. 
     
     
         6 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising a patron database that stores a value of reward points of a patron, wherein the marketing system is configured to deduct a value of the offer from a patron's reward points if the offer is accepted by the patron. 
     
     
         7 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising:
 (A) a patron database that stores identity information for a plurality of patrons, the identity information comprising an identity of a mobile communications device of the respective patron; and   (B) wherein the marketing system is configured to determine a mobile communications device of the at least one patron and to provide the offer to the mobile communications device of the at least one patron.   
     
     
         8 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising:
 (A) a mobile device location system that determines the location of a mobile phone device of a patron within the casino; and   (B) wherein the marketing system selects at least one patron dependent on the location of the patron relative to the venue.   
     
     
         9 . The casino network of  claim 1  comprising a venue ticketing system that manages ticket sales to one or more events at the venue, wherein the marketing system interfaces with the ticketing system to determine the spare capacity at a time prior to an event at the venue and to generate the offer if the spare capacity meets a threshold requirement. 
     
     
         10 . The casino network of  claim 9  wherein the marketing system is configured to receive an acceptance to the offer and communicate an offer acceptance to the venue ticketing system. 
     
     
         11 . The casino network of  claim 1  wherein the marketing system is configured to select at least one player based on the player's game play history at the casino. 
     
     
         12 . The casino network of  claim 1  wherein the marketing system is configured to select at least one player when at the at least one player cashes out from a gaming device of the casino. 
     
     
         13 . A method for managing capacity at a venue comprising:
 (A) determining a spare capacity at the venue;   (B) generating an offer to attend the venue;   (C) selecting one or more players of a gaming network; and   (D) providing the offer to the one or more players.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein generating an offer comprises generating an offer for a discounted attendance at the venue. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  comprising providing the offer to at least one player when the at least one player cashes out from a gaming device of the gaming network. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  comprising converting a value of the offer to a value of gaming credits of the at least one player. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  comprising converting a value of the offer to a value of reward points. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  wherein providing the offer comprises displaying the offer on a gaming device of the gaming network being played by a selected one of the one or more players. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13  comprising receiving an acceptance of the offer from one or more of the selected players. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  comprising receiving at least one acceptance of the offer from one or more of the selected players through one or more gaming devices of the gaming network. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  comprising:
 (A) receiving a plurality of offer acceptances greater than the spare capacity;   (B) selecting one or more players from the accepting players.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 13  comprising determining a spare capacity for an entertainment event at the venue. and 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13  comprising determining a spare capacity of a restaurant associated with a casino comprising the gaming network. 
     
     
         24 . A method for marketing an entertainment event at a venue associated with a casino comprising:
 (A) determining a spare capacity at the venue for the entertainment event;   (B) determining if the spare capacity of the venue for the entertainment event meets a threshold requirement at a predetermined time prior to the entertainment event;   (C) if the spare capacity of the venue meets the threshold requirement:
 (a) generating an offer for attendance at the entertainment event; 
 (b) selecting at least one patron within the casino; 
 (c) selecting a device associated with the at least one patron; and 
 (d) pushing the offer to the device. 
   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  wherein selecting a device comprises selecting a mobile communications device of the at least one patron and wherein pushing the offer to the device comprises pushing the offer to the mobile communications device of the at least one patron. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  wherein selecting a device comprises selecting a gaming device on which the patron is currently active and wherein pushing the offer to the device comprises displaying the offer on a display of the gaming device. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  comprising receiving an acceptance of the offer from the at least one patron through the gaming device. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  comprising printing a ticket for the entertainment event at the gaming device. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27  comprising:
 (A) generating a value associated with the offer; and   (B) deducting the value from a value of gaming credits on the gaming device in response to receiving an acceptance of the offer.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 24  wherein selecting a device comprises determining a region of the casino in which the at least one patron is located and selecting a display device within the region, and wherein pushing the offer to the device comprises displaying the offer on the selected display device. 
     
     
         31 . A method for marketing an offer to a player of a gaming device at a casino, the method comprising:
 (A) determining a cash out event at a gaming device;   (B) determining a spare capacity at a venue of the casino; and   (C) offering one or more tickets to the player for the venue through the gaming device.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  comprising determining if the player qualifies for an offer. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  comprising receiving an acceptance of the offer from the player through the gaming machine. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32  comprising printing one or more tickets at the gaming device in respect of the accepted offer. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31  wherein determining a spare capacity at a venue of the casino comprises determining a spare capacity of an imminent event at the venue. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35  wherein the imminent event is within one hour of the detection of the cash out event. 
     
     
         37 . A marketing system comprising:
 (A) means for identifying a spare capacity at a venue associated with a casino;   (B) means for generating an offer in relation to the spare capacity;   (C) means for selecting at least one patron within the casino; and   (D) means for providing the offer to the at least one patron.