Method and System to Conduct a Lottery Game Having a Televised Bonus Game Component

Abstract

A system and related method for conducting a lottery game having a televised bonus game component calls for establishing a primary lottery game wherein players are issued lottery tickets. The primary lottery game has a bonus game component and the lottery tickets have a bonus game symbol thereon. For entry into the bonus game, the players are required to collect a predefined set of the bonus game symbols. Periodically, a bonus game drawing is conducted such that at least one of the players entered in the drawing is selected as a winner in each bonus game drawing and becomes eligible for further participation in the bonus game. The bonus game component is coordinated with a televised game show so that contestants in the televised game show are the selected winners from the bonus game drawings. A prize is awarded to winning contestants who competed in the televised game show.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for conducting a lottery game having a televised bonus game component, comprising:
 establishing, by one or more processors, a primary lottery game wherein players are issued lottery tickets for play of the primary lottery game, the primary lottery game having a bonus game component and the lottery tickets having a bonus game symbol thereon;   for entry into the bonus game, requiring the players to collect a predefined set of different ones of the bonus game symbols;   periodically conducting bonus game drawings such that at least one of the players entered into the bonus game is selected as a winner in each bonus game drawing and becomes eligible for further participation in the bonus game;   coordinating with a televised game show so that contestants in the televised game show are selected from the winners of the bonus game drawings; and   awarding a prize to winning contestants who competed in the televised game show.   
     
     
         2 . The method as in  claim 2 , wherein the contestants in the televised game show are drawn from an audience assigned to the televised game show, wherein the audience is composed of the winners from the bonus game drawings. 
     
     
         3 . The method as in  claim 2 , wherein the primary lottery game is conducted in a plurality of different lottery jurisdictions, each jurisdiction conducting a respective bonus game drawing and having a defined minimum number of winners from their respective bonus game drawing present in the audience, and the contestants are randomly drawn from the entirety of the audience. 
     
     
         4 . The method as in  claim 2 , wherein the primary lottery game is conducted in a plurality of different lottery jurisdictions, each jurisdiction conducting a respective bonus game drawing and having a group of a defined minimum number of winners from their respective bonus game drawing present in the audience, and at least one of the contestants is randomly drawn from each of the groups. 
     
     
         5 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein the primary lottery game is conducted in a plurality of different lottery jurisdictions, each jurisdiction conducting a respective bonus game drawing and having a group of a defined minimum number of winners from their respective bonus game drawing, wherein at least one of the contestants is randomly selected from each of the groups such that at least one contestant is selected from each jurisdiction. 
     
     
         6 . The method as in  claim 5 , wherein the jurisdictions are assigned non-contestant audience member spots as a function of their respective jurisdictional participation in the primary lottery game. 
     
     
         7 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein the televised game show has an audience and the jurisdictions are assigned non-contestant audience member spots as a function of their respective participation in the primary lottery game. 
     
     
         8 . The method as in  claim 8 , wherein the audience is composed of the non-contestant audience members and winners from the bonus game drawings, and the contestants in the televised game show are drawn from the winners from the bonus game drawings present in the audience. 
     
     
         9 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein the players are awarded a defined number of entries in the bonus game drawing upon collecting the predefined set of bonus game symbols, the number of entries being multiplied as a function of a multiplier symbol earned by the player. 
     
     
         10 . The method as in  claim 9 , wherein the multiplier symbol is earned by the player in a second primary lottery game. 
     
     
         11 . The method as in  claim 1 , further comprising providing players with a bonus game board that tracks status of the bonus game symbols acquired by the player. 
     
     
         12 . The method as in  claim 11 , wherein the bonus game board has a MONOPOLY game theme, the bonus game symbols identifying sets of property locations on the MONOPOLY game board. 
     
     
         13 . The method as in  claim 12 , wherein the bonus game board is a virtual game board provided to the players via a website accessible by the players. 
     
     
         14 . The method as in  claim 13 , further comprising establishing individual player accounts that are accessible by the players via the website, the accounts including the player's virtual game board updated with a status of the bonus game symbols accumulated by the player.