Method and system for player group sharing and redistributing gaming awards

A gaming system comprising:

• a communication interface;
• a processor coupled with the communication interface;
• and
• a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor causes the processor to:
• form, using a set of group initiation rules, a multi-player group to play a gaming session comprising multiple games to be played on multiple electronic gaming machines by the multi-player group, the multi-player group comprising multiple player members;
• receive first game play information for a first game in the gaming session played by a first player member of the multi-player group;
• determine the first game play information comprises a first winning outcome;
• in response to determining that the first game play information comprises the first winning outcome, update a group electronic record associated with the multi-player group to reflect the first winning outcome;
• receive second game play information for a second game in the gaming session played by a second player member of the multi-player group;
• determine that the second game play information comprises a second winning outcome;
• in response to determining that the second game play information comprises the second winning outcome, update the group electronic record associated with the multi-player group to reflect the second winning outcome;
• identify an occurrence of a group ending event;
• in response to the identified occurrence of the group ending event, terminate the multi-player group and gaming session in accordance with a set of group ending rules;
• and
• update the group electronic record and separate electronic records of the first and second player members to reflect an allocation of the first and second winning outcomes between the first and second player members.

A gaming system comprising:

• a user interface;
• a network interface;
• a processor coupled with the user interface and network interface;
• and
• a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor causes the processor to:
• receive a group formation request from a first player member to form a multi-player group comprising the first player member, the group formation request comprising an invitation code to be input by each invited potential player member;
• send, via the network interface to a gaming device associated with each of a plurality of potential player members for the multi-player group, a join request comprising an invitation to join the multi-player group;
• receive, via the network interface, a plurality of join request responses;
• validate each join request response by confirming, for each join request, that a sequence of characters in the join request response matches the invitation code;
• when the join request response of a selected potential player member is validated successfully, cause the user interface to notify the first player member that the multi-player group has been formed;
• receive first game play information for a first game in a gaming session played by the first player member of the multi-player group;
• determine that the first game play information comprises a first winning outcome;
• in response to determining that the first game play information comprises the first winning outcome, update a group electronic record associated with the multi-player group to reflect the first winning outcome;
• receive second game play information for a second game in the gaming session played by a second player member of the multi-player group;
• determine that the second game play information comprises a second winning outcome;
• in response to determining that the second game play information comprises the second winning outcome, update the group electronic record associated with the multi-player group to reflect the second winning outcome;
• identify an occurrence of a group ending event;
• in response to the identified occurrence of the group ending event, terminate the multi-player group and gaming session in accordance with a set of group ending rules;
• and
• update the group electronic record and separate electronic records of the first and second player members to reflect an allocation of the first and second winning outcomes between the first and second player members.