Method for providing incentive to play gaming devices connected by a network to a host computer

Abstract

A method for providing incentive to players of networked slot machines includes a card reader associated with each machine and a card associated with each player. A player account accessible by a host computer on the network is created which associates the player's card with the account. A predetermined credit is applied to the player's account. In a complementary incentive, credit from the player's account is applied to the coin-in meter of a slot machine responsive to insertion of the player card into a card reader associated with the machine. In a matching incentive also implemented by the present invention, each time the player inserts a coin into the slot machine, an equal credit is debited from the player's account and applied to the coin-in meter of the machine. In both cases, the credit can only be used by the player to play the machines and cannot be cashed out by the player.

Description

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 213,814, filed Aug. 6, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 832,425, filed Apr. 10, 2001 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,983 on Aug. 13, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 672,217, filed Jun. 25, 1996 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,958, on Jun. 12, 2001).BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention relates generally to gaming devices interconnected by a computer network and more particularly to a method of providing incentive to play such gaming devices. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Networked gaming devices are known in the art. Interconnecting a plurality of gaming devices, such as slot machines, via a computer network to a central computer provides many advantages. Such advantages include compiling and auditing data related to the amount of coins received by the gaming devices as w...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

It has not been, however, utilized to provide promotional incentives to selected players to induce them to play the slot machines.

There is a problem with both of the foregoing types of incentives, namely the casino cannot be assured that the free coins or tokens or those provided to match the player's contribution will be used to play the slot machines.

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