Systems and methods for shared access to gaming accounts

Abstract

A web server provides a host website to receive user profile and financial information to establish user gaming accounts that are shared by a plurality of on-line gaming venues. Each gaming venue, operated by different entities, provides gaming activities on a respective website. The host website provides a plurality of links to the participating on-line gaming venues and each gaming venue has shared access to the same user gaming account to facilitate user participation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A shared user gaming account system, comprising:
 a processor; and   a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations to:   provide a user with electronic access to a plurality of online gambling venues, wherein each online gambling venue is associated with distinct gambling venue entity;   enable the user to electronically create a single user gambling account with login credentials that can be commonly used to log in to each of the plurality of online gambling venues;   associate financial information received from the user with the user gambling account; and   enable each gambling venue entity shared access to the user gambling account, such that each gambling venue entity is able to:
 (1) confirm the eligibility of the user to participate in gambling, and 
 (2) fund gambling activities on each respective online gambling venue from the user gambling account. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each gambling venue entity is further able to:
 (3) provide an incentive offer to incentivize the user to visit a physical casino venue based at least partially on tracked spending activity.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: enable each online gambling venue entity to update at least one of profile information and financial information in the user gambling account. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: track spending activity of the user at each of the gambling venues. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: enable each gambling venue entity view only the tracked spending activity corresponding to the respective gambling venue. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: generate an incentive offer for the user based on the spending activity. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: generate an incentive offer associated with a specific gambling venue based on the spending activity at the specific gambling venue. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: display incentive offers adjacent to links to each of the online gambling venues to which the user is provided electronic access. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: enable the user to log in to a website of each respective online gambling venue using a username and password associated with the user gambling account. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: confirm user legal eligibility to participate in gambling based on user-entered profile information. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , where wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: confirm user ability to fund gaming activities based on the financial information. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for establishing and sharing an online user gaming account, the operations comprising:
 providing a user with electronic access to a plurality of online gaming venues, wherein each online gaming venue is associated with distinct gaming venue entity;   creating, responsive to user-provided information, a user gaming account with login credentials that can be used to log in to each of the plurality of online gaming venues;   associating financial information received from the user with the user gaming account; and   enabling each gaming venue entity shared access to the user gaming account, such that each gaming venue entity is able to:
 (1) confirm the eligibility of the user to participate in gaming, and 
 (2) fund gaming activities on each respective online gaming venue from the user gaming account. 
   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein each gambling venue entity is further able to:
 (3) provide an incentive offer to incentivize the user to visit a physical gaming venue based at least partially on tracked spending activity.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise storing the user gaming account in a database in electrical communication with a server. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise enabling each online gaming venue to update profile and financial information in the user gaming account. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise tracking and storing spending activity at the gaming venues. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise enabling each gaming venue to view spending activity corresponding to the respective gaming venue. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise generating an incentive offer for the user based on the spending activity. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise displaying an incentive offer adjacent to a link to at least one of the online gaming venues to which the user is provided electronic access. 
     
     
         20 . An method associated with a user gaming account for online gaming activities, comprising:
 providing, via at least one computer server, a user with electronic access to a plurality of online gaming venues, wherein each online gaming venue is associated with distinct gaming venue entity;   receiving, via a client device in electronic communication with the at least one computer server, information from a user for creating a user gaming account that can be used to log in to each of the plurality of online gaming venues;   receiving financial information, via the client device, from the user;   associated the received financial information with the user gaming account; and   enabling each gaming venue entity shared access to the user gaming account, such that each gaming venue entity is able to:
 (1) confirm the eligibility of the user to participate in gaming, and 
 (2) fund gaming activities on each respective online gaming venue from the user gaming account.