Linking gaming establishment fund management account with financial account associated with payment instrument

A gaming establishment fund management system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• responsive to an occurrence of a fund transfer event, cause a transfer of a first amount of funds from a gaming establishment account to a credit balance of a electronic gaming machine,
• responsive to determining to restrict access to funds associated with the gaming establishment account, interface with a server of a credit card issuer to communicate data that results in a restriction of access to use of a credit card maintained independent of the gaming establishment account, and
• responsive to an occurrence of a credit card payment event following an issuance of a credit card statement:
• determine if a second amount of funds associated with the gaming establishment account at least equals a qualifying portion of an amount of funds owed in association with the credit card, and
• responsive to the determination that the second amount of funds associated with the gaming establishment account at least equals the qualifying portion of the amount of funds owed in association with the credit card, interface with the server of the credit card issuer to automatically cause a transfer of at least the second amount of funds from the gaming establishment account to an account associated with the credit card that is maintained by the server of the credit card issuer independent of the gaming establishment fund management system and independent of the gaming establishment account.

A method of operating a gaming establishment fund management system, the method comprising:

• responsive to determining to restrict access to funds associated with a gaming establishment account, interfacing with a server of a credit card issuer to communicate data that results in a restriction of access to use of a credit card maintained independent of the gaming establishment account, and
• responsive to a receipt, from the server of the credit card issuer, of data associated with a request for payment of at least a portion of an amount of debt incurred in association with the credit card:
• determining, by a processor, whether to authorize the payment of the amount of debt incurred in association with the credit card, the determination being based on a balance of the gaming establishment account,
• responsive to the determination being to authorize the payment of the amount of debt incurred in association with the credit card, automatically initiating, by the processor, a transfer of an amount of funds from the gaming establishment account to an account associated with the credit card maintained by the server of the credit card issuer independent of the gaming establishment fund management system and independent of the gaming establishment account, and
• responsive to the determination being not to authorize the payment of the amount of debt incurred in association with the credit card, interfacing with the server of the credit card issuer to communicate data associated with a denial of the request.