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US 10,832,523 B2Granted
Casino beverage validation and payment systems
AssigneeArdent Progressive Systems and Games, LLC
InventorRobert Guinn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, systems, and devices are provided for validating player entitlement to a complimentary award or service (such as a complementary beverage), such as in a gaming establishment, and/or facilitating the patron's direct payment for such. A validation module at a gaming machine may indicate an award of a free drink or other comp to a player based upon meeting certain criteria, such as levels of wagering. A player might alternately purchase voucher at a gaming machine or kiosk and then use the voucher as payment for the drink.
Claims19
A casino beverage payment system comprising:
- at least one gaming machine, said gaming machine comprising a housing, at least one player input device, a display device, a voucher dispenser, a controller and machine readable code stored in a memory an executable by said controlled to present, based upon a wager placed by a player of said gaming machine, at least one wager-based game, one or more outcomes of said wager-based game comprising a winning outcome having an associated award;
- a kiosk, said kiosk comprising a housing, funds accepting device, a display device, at least one user input device, a controller and a voucher dispenser;
- a beverage voucher validation server, said validation server comprising a controller, a memory, machine-readable code stored in said memory and executable by said controller, and a voucher database;
- a beverage voucher validation station, said voucher validation station comprising at least one voucher reading device;
- at least one communication link between said at least one gaming machine and said voucher validation server, said kiosk and said voucher validation server and said voucher validation station and said voucher validation server;
- wherein in response to receiving at said beverage voucher validation server a player's input to said gaming machine to purchase a first beverage voucher, said beverage voucher validation server generates information regarding said first beverage voucher, stores said information in said voucher database and causes said voucher dispenser of said gaming machine to dispense said first beverage voucher to said player;
- wherein in response to receiving at beverage voucher validation server a patron's input to said kiosk to purchase a second beverage voucher, said beverage voucher validation server generates information regarding said second beverage voucher, stores said information in said voucher database and causes said voucher dispenser of said kiosk to dispense said second beverage voucher to said patron;
- wherein in response to receiving information regarding the reading of said first beverage voucher at said beverage voucher validation station, said beverage voucher validation server validates said first beverage voucher relative to said information stored in said voucher database for use in determining entitlement of said player to use said first beverage voucher as payment for a beverage;
- and
- wherein in response to receiving information regarding the reading of said second beverage voucher at said beverage voucher validation station, said beverage voucher validation server validates said second beverage voucher relative to said information stored in said voucher database for use in determining entitlement of said patron to use said second beverage voucher as payment for a beverage.
7 more elements
A method of facilitating service of at least one beverage to a player of a gaming machine comprising:
- verifying if said player is entitled to a comp beverage based upon a visual indicator at said gaming machine, said visual indicator configured to be activated when criteria are met which entitles said player to a comp beverage;
- when said visual indicator at said gaming machine indicates entitlement to a comp beverage, providing a beverage to said player at no charge;
- when said visual indicator at said gaming machine does not indicate entitlement to a comp beverage, receiving at least one beverage voucher as payment from said player for a beverage, said at least one beverage voucher issued to said player at a kiosk based upon payment for said voucher at said kiosk or at said gaming machine based upon payment for said voucher at said gaming machine, verifying said voucher by reading said voucher at a validation station which is configured to transmit information regarding said voucher to a voucher validation server for validation, wherein when said voucher is validated by said voucher validation server, providing a beverage to said player.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.