Cashless Wagering Fund Tracking via Mobile Device Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gaming systems lack an efficient method for managing cashless wagering accounts across multiple funding sources, leading to complexities in tracking and transferring funds, which complicates compliance with regulations and player experience.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a mobile device to facilitate the transfer of funds to and from electronic gaming machines (EGMs) through a cashless wagering server, tracking funds by their source, and enabling players to place wagers using credits from various funding sources, ensuring that winnings are attributed and returned to the correct source.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a cashless wagering system supports multiple funding sources, then player convenience and wagering flexibility are improved, but tracking and managing funds across sources becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the funding sources into distinct categories (e.g., cashless wagering account, electronic gaming machine credits, promotional funds) and implements separate tracking mechanisms for each source. This segmentation allows the system to manage multiple funding sources independently while maintaining overall system coordination, resolving the complexity issue by organizing the multifaceted funding structure into manageable segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary funding source meter that acts as a mediator between the cashless wagering account and the electronic gaming machine. This intermediary component tracks the transfer of funds from the cashless account to the EGM and coordinates with the funding source tracking system, simplifying the overall management by providing a centralized point of control for fund transfers across multiple sources.
2Reliability
If the system tracks funds by source to ensure regulatory compliance, then compliance accuracy is improved, but system complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary tracking actions by assigning unique identifiers and metadata to funds at the point of deposit into the cashless wagering account. This preliminary tagging of funds with source information enables automatic tracking throughout the wagering process without requiring complex real-time analysis, thereby maintaining compliance accuracy while reducing processing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the funding source meter continuously monitors and reports the status of funds from each source back to the central system. This feedback loop ensures that the system maintains accurate knowledge of fund origins and current balances, enabling compliance verification without requiring overly complex manual tracking processes.
3Ease of operation
If the system automates fund transfers back to original sources, then player convenience is improved, but processing time and system resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service functionality where the funding source meter automatically identifies the original funding source and initiates fund transfers back to that source without requiring player intervention. This automation eliminates manual cashing-out processes and reduces processing time by enabling the system to handle fund returns autonomously based on the tracked funding source information.
Solution Approach 2:
By pre-tagging funds with source identification information during the initial deposit phase, the system prepares the data structure in advance for automatic fund returns. This preliminary action enables rapid identification and transfer of funds back to the original source, significantly reducing the time required for cashing out while maintaining player convenience.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates generally to a system that utilizes a mobile device to facilitate the transfer of funds from a cashless wagering account to an EGM while tracking the source of such funds in association with the transfer and in association with one or more events occurring on the EGM.