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AssigneeWalker Digital, LLC
InventorsJay S. Walker, James A. Jorasch, Magdalena M. Fincham, Stephen C. Tulley, John M. Packes, JR.
Estimating the term…
Systems and methods are provided for operating a lottery gaming system. In one embodiment, a player playing an electronic instant lottery game on a player device accumulates occurrences of a bonus symbol during a duration comprising at least two outcomes. The occurrences of the bonus symbol may be tracked by means of a running count. The running count may be increased with each occurrence of a tracked bonus symbol and the player provided with a bonus if the running count is at least equal to a predetermined number. The accumulated occurrences of the bonus symbol may also expire in some embodiments of the present invention. Expiration of an occurrence of a bonus symbol may occur, for example, after a predetermined time period or a predetermined number of outcomes from the time of the occurrence of the bonus symbol.
A method of facilitating play of a lottery game, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
A method of facilitating the play of a lottery game, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
A method of facilitating play of a lottery game, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
A method for facilitating the play of an instant lottery game on an electronic lottery game terminal, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
A method of facilitating play of a lottery game, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
A method of facilitating play of a lottery game, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services: for games, toys, sports, or amusements
Wherein the operator is informed: about the performance of a gaming system, e.g. revenue, diagnosis of the gaming system
For games, toys, sports, or amusements: payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
Type of games: regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards
Term end not estimated
The present invention relates generally to lottery games, and more particularly to electronic instant lottery games.
Instant, or “scratch-off”, lottery games are well known and widely practiced. Such instant lottery games are games that allow a player to purchase a chance to win one of a set of prizes. For example, for $1 a player may purchase a chance to win $10,000, $1,000, $100, or two (2) extra chances to win a prize. Such games typically involve the sale to a player of a paper or cardboard game ticket. A typical instant lottery game ticket includes a background section and a play section. The background section typically includes the name of the game, instructions for playing the game, information describing the game, and information describing how to win an award. The play section of such a ticket typically includes one or more play areas which contain an outcome. The outcome comprises a combination of symbols (e.g. alphanumeric characters or icons) that are initially hidden from the player. The outcome is typically hidden by an opaque covering material, such as a layer of latex. The player reveals the outcome by scratching off (such as with a coin) the covering layer over the symbols.
Certain outcomes or combinations of symbols in instant lottery games correspond to respective prizes. Which combinations of symbols correspond to which prizes is typically displayed to the player on the background area of the ticket. Thus, a player that purchases such an instant lottery ticket knows whether or not he has won a prize as soon as the covering layer is scratched off. If the outcome revealed by the player matches a combination of symbols that corresponds to a prize, the player may exchange the ticket with the winning outcome for the prize corresponding to the combination of symbols revealed on the ticket. For example, if the player purchased the instant lottery ticket from a convenience store and the corresponding prize is $25, the player may return to the convenience store and exchange the winning ticket for the $25. The convenience store may then turn in the exchanged ticket to the authority administering the lottery to recoup the $25 provided to the player. For larger prizes the player may need to turn in the ticket directly to the authority administering the lottery game.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram overview of a lottery gaming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block schematic diagram of a player device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of a lottery server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for tracking a number of occurrences of a symbol in a lottery game within a duration comprising at least two outcomes and causing a bonus to be provided to a player if the number is at least a minimum number. That is, as a player plays a lottery game by revealing outcomes of the lottery game, the occurrence of at least one predetermined bonus symbol is tracked and counted. Once the player obtains a predetermined number of occurrences of a bonus symbol, the player is provided with a bonus. A player is potentially rewarded for playing a lottery game multiple times by receiving a bonus for accumulating a minimum number of occurrences of a symbol over the course of at least two outcomes of the game. Thus, even if the outcomes revealed by a player do not correspond to an award, such outcomes may lead to the obtainment of a bonus by the player if they contain at least one bonus symbol, the occurrence of which is being tracked.
As used herein an outcome may be a series of symbols or alphanumeric characters. Certain outcomes correspond to respective awards while other outcomes do not correspond to any award. A bonus symbol, as used herein, may be a symbol the occurrence of which is tracked for purposes of determining whether the number of occurrences qualifies for a bonus. A bonus symbol may comprise a symbol that comprises an outcome of a lottery game. Alternatively, a bonus symbol may comprise a symbol that is associated with an outcome of a lottery game. For example, a bonus symbol may be revealed essentially at the same time as an outcome but not be part of the outcome. An outcome is revealed to a player when the player can determine the symbols that comprise the outcome. For example, an outcome may be revealed to a player on a player device such as a personal-digital-assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone when the player actuates a predetermined button on the player device.
A bonus symbol may be associated with a specific lottery game (e.g. a “cherry” may comprise a bonus symbol in a “casino” theme instant lottery game). In other embodiments of the present invention a bonus symbol may be associated with more than one instant lottery game. For example, a “cash” symbol may comprise a bonus symbol and appear in all lottery games administered by a given entity. In yet another embodiment each lottery game may be associated with a different bonus symbol, but each respective appearance of each of the bonus symbols in the various games for a respective player is counted in one running count. In such embodiments a player may thus collect a number of occurrences of a respective bonus symbol by playing various lottery games.