Methods and arrangements for realising betting with off-line terminals

A method for handling, within a terminal arrangement that belongs to the distributed domain of communications system including a distributed domain and a central domain, electronic records that contain predictions of the outcome of a certain incident, comprising:

• locally generating a clock signal, the locally generated clock signal also being used for syncrhonising at least one operation belonging to a category of Media Access Control operations;
• locally generating an electronic record that contains a prediction of the outcome of the incident and transmitting the electronic record to the central domain;
• and
• furnishing the electronic record, before transmitting the electronic record to the central domain, with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic record by using the locally generated clock signal, the locally generated electronic record and a cryptographic algorithm to generate a time-stamped electronic record, the cryptographically protected proof configured to indicate that the record was created prior to an entry deadline, the deadline being earlier than the time the outcome of the certain incident is known.

A method for handling, within a computer system that belongs to the central domain of a communications system including a distributed domain and a central domain, electronic records that contain predictions of the outcome of a certain incident, comprising:

• receiving from the distributed domain a multitude of electronic records that contain predictions of the outcome of the incident;
• after the outcome of the incident is known, determining which of the electronic records contain correct predictions of the outcome of the incident;
• and
• accepting only those of the electronic records received from the distributed domain as valid for which a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic record shows that said certain moment of time was not later in time than an entry deadline before the outcome of the incident is known;
• a) transmitting a preliminary announcement of an oncoming begin signal;
• b) as a response to game registration messages received from the distributed domain and indicating willingness to take part in a certain same the beginning of which is to be marked by said oncoming begin signal, registering each user who transmitted a game registration message as a participant in said game;
• c) transmitting the begin signal announced by said preliminary announcement;
• d) transmitting an end signal;
• e) transmitting an outcome signal;
• f) transmitting a game closed signal;
• g) receiving a plurality of transmissions from the distributed domain;
• h) determining which of said transmissions from the distributed domain were electronic records that contained validly placed predictions of the outcome of the incident;
• i) of the received electronic records that contained validly placed predictions of the outcome of the incident, determining which of them contained successful predictions;
• j) debiting the price for participating in said game from certain user accounts of those registered participants in said game from which there were received electronic records that contained validly placed predictions of the outcome of the incident;
• k) crediting certain profits to certain user accounts of those registered participants in said game from which there were received electronic records that contained successful and validly placed predictions of the outcome of the incident;
• and
• l) transmitting a final results signal that represents the debiting and crediting operations performed in j) and k).

A terminal arrangement for handling electronic records that contain predictions of the outcome of a certain incident, comprising:

• bet record generation means for generating an electronic record that contains a prediction of the outcome of the incident;
• transmitter means for transmitting the electronic record to a central domain;
• and
• a protected integrated circuit having a memory for storing an algorithm for furnishing the electronic record, before transmitting the electronic record to the central domain, with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic record, the cryptographically protected proof configured to indicate that the record was created prior to an entry deadline, the deadline being earlier than the time the outcome of the certain incident is known,
• a transceiver means configured to communicate with a device belonging to said central domain, said transceiver being arranged to perform operations belonging to a category of Media Access Control operations and said transceiver means being coupled to said protected integrated circuit and providing said protected integrated circuit with a clock signal that said transceiver is also arranged to use for synchronizing at least one operation belonging to said category of Media Access Control operations, and
• within said protected integrated circuit, means for using said algorithm to cryptographically combine a clock signal received from said transceiver means to an electronic record that contains a prediction of the outcome of a certain incident.

A method for handling electronic wagering records that contain predictions of the outcome of a certain incident, comprising:

• within a distributed domain, furnishing each of a plurality of electronic wagering records with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic wagering record by
• receiving an external clock signal into a protected integrated circuit,
• receiving an electronic wagering record into said protected integrated circuit,
• receiving a local real time clock signal into said protected integrated circuit, the local real time clock signal being used simultaneously for syncrhonising at least one operation belonging to a category of Media Access Control operations, and
• furnishing said electronic wagering record with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time through the application of an algorithm read from a storage location in said protected integrated circuit and using both said external clock signal and said local real time clock signal;
• outputting the electronic wagering record furnished with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time from said protected integrated circuit;
• and
• within the central domain, accepting only those of the electronic wagering records conveyed thereto as valid for which the cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic record shows that said certain moment of time was not later in time than an entry deadline, the entry deadline being a time before the outcome of the incident is known.

A terminal arrangement for a wagering system, comprising:

• an input device configured to receive a player's prediction of the outcome of an incident;
• a processor in communication with the input device, the processor configured to receive from the input device the player's prediction of the outcome of an incident, and further configured to generate an electronic wagering record that contains the player's prediction of the outcome of an incident;
• a transmitter in communication with the processor and configured to transmit the electronic wagering record to a central domain;
• a protected integrated circuit in communication with the processor, the protected integrated circuit configured to furnish the electronic wagering record, before the electronic wagering record is transmitted to the central domain, with a cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment in time associated with the generation of the electronic wagering record;
• and
• a transceiver configured to communicate with a device belonging to a central domain, said transceiver configured to perform operations belonging to a category of Media Access Control operations, said transceiver being coupled to said protected integrated circuit and configured to provide said protected integrated circuit with the clock signal, said transceiver also being configured to be used in synchronising at least one operation belonging to said category of Media Access Control operations, wherein the protected integrated circuit is further configured to cryptographically combine the clock signal with the electronic wagering record that contains the prediction of the outcome of the certain incident;
• wherein the electronic wagering record will only be accepted as valid within the central domain if the cryptographically protected proof of a certain moment of time associated with the generation of the electronic wagering record shows that said certain moment of time was not later in time than an entry deadline before the outcome of the incident is known.