Gaming Method, System and Apparatus Incorporating Personalized Guaranteed Prize Structure

Abstract

The present invention facilitates new gaming opportunities by providing a personalized guaranteed value prize structure tied to a gaming player identifier. The identifier is associated with one or more virtual books of tickets, wherein the book(s) of tickets include a guaranteed prize structure that can provide a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets therein. In one embodiment of the present invention, the prize structure implements a losing run limit such that no more than a pre-determined number of losing tickets in a row are experienced by the player. Once a virtual book of tickets is assigned, the player can reveal the results using various different terminals, including, for example, retailer terminals, home computers and mobile communications devices. The tickets and their values can be populated in each book in advance or dynamically as the user plays each ticket.

1 . A system, comprising:
 a gaming player identifier; and   a lottery data processing system having a lottery host with a gaming processor associated therewith, with the gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined maximum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the low-tier tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the high-tier tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the gaming player identifier can be read by a reader apparatus in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with a lottery system account associated with a player entity. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the gaming player identifier is a multi-purpose transaction card having indicia thereupon for initiating lottery and non-lottery transactions. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the transaction card indicia includes first indicia for initiating a lottery transaction and second indicia for initiating a non-lottery transaction. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the first and second indicia are the same. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a plurality of tickets that can be played on a plurality of terminals such that every ticket within the plurality of tickets is not played on the same terminal. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the virtual gaming ticket book is built dynamically as tickets are played. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the virtual gaming ticket book encompasses multiple games such that the guaranteed prize structure remains intact when tickets from multiple games are played. 
     
     
         14 . A system, comprising:
 an apparatus for detecting a gaming player identifier; and   a lottery data processing system in communication with the apparatus, with the lottery data processing system having a lottery host with a gaming processor associated therewith, with the gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure comprising one or both of a guaranteed value prize structure or a losing run limit.   
     
     
         15 . A method for guaranteeing a prize structure to an individual gaming player, comprising:
 issuing a gaming player identifier to an individual gaming player, wherein the identifier identifies a lottery system account associated with the gaming player;   associating, by a gaming processor associated with a lottery host, a virtual gaming ticket book with the gaming player identifier, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure that provides a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined maximum value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the low-tier tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure tiered into at least high-tier, low-tier and non-winning tickets, and further wherein the guaranteed value prize structure provides a pre-determined minimum value of winning prize tickets among the high-tier tickets within the ticket book. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the gaming player identifier identifies a lottery system account, and wherein the identifier can be read in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with the lottery system account. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit. 
     
     
         22 . A card-reading terminal, comprising:
 a reader element capable of reading a barcode from a transaction card;   a reader element capable of reading a magnetic stripe from the transaction card; and   a communications component for communicating with a lottery host, with the lottery host having a gaming processor adapted to associate a virtual gaming ticket book with the transaction card, wherein the virtual gaming ticket book includes a guaranteed prize structure comprising one or both of a guaranteed value prize structure or a losing run limit.   
     
     
         23 . A method for establishing a guaranteed prize structure in online instant lottery tickets, comprising the steps of:
 providing a pool of online instant lottery tickets; and   dividing the pool into multiple books of virtual gaming tickets, with each book having a guaranteed prize structure.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22  wherein the guaranteed prize structure is a guaranteed value prize structure for each book that provides a pre-determined value of winning prize tickets among all of the tickets therein. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23  wherein the guaranteed prize structure includes a losing run limit. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24  wherein each book of tickets is associated with an individual gaming player identifier. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25  wherein the gaming player identifier identifies a lottery system account, and wherein the identifier can be read in order to initiate a lottery transaction in connection with the lottery system account. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 23  wherein each ticket book includes a plurality of tickets that can be played on a plurality of terminals such that every ticket within the plurality of tickets is not played on the same terminal.