Progressive Prize Allocation for Gaming Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gaming systems face challenges in providing progressive or jackpot prizes that offer varying expected returns to players based on different wager options, leading to unequal contributions and player dissatisfaction.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where multiple progressive or jackpot prizes are maintained, each associated with distinct wager options, with contributions to these prizes based on the probability of occurrence and value of wagers, ensuring that each wager option provides a different probability of winning and reducing the difference in expected return to player across options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single progressive prize is offered for all wager options, then the gaming system is simple to operate, but the expected return to player varies significantly across different wager options, causing player dissatisfaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides a single progressive prize into multiple separate progressive prizes, each associated with a specific wager option. This segmentation ensures that each wager option has its own dedicated progressive prize pool, creating a direct relationship between the wager amount and the progressive prize eligibility, thereby ensuring fairness in expected return across different wager options.
2Ease of operation
If the progressive prize winning event is based on a fixed symbol combination, then the game rules are simple and easy to understand, but the contribution to expected return is higher for single credit wagers than multiple credit wagers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the progressive prize contribution rate dependent on the specific wager option selected. Different wager options have different contribution rates to their associated progressive prizes, with higher wager options typically having higher contribution rates. This ensures that the expected return contribution is proportional and fair across all wager options while maintaining simple fixed symbol combination winning events.
Data Source
AI summary
Gaming methods and apparatus are described for providing a plurality of progressive prizes for a gaming system. Separate progressive prizes are maintained for each of a plurality of different wager options for a game playable on the gaming system. The progressive prizes can be maintained so as to reduce the difference in contribution to the expected return to player between the wager options.