GAMING APPLICATIONS

Horse/Dog Racing

Horse / Greyhound racing and pari-mutuel have always gone hand in hand.  Race tracks utilize a totalizator system that aggregates the bettors’ wagers into pools.  The tracks take their commission from these pools and the remaining money goes back to the bettors holding winning tickets.  Aspects of the invention will allow a racetrack / OTB / ADW operator, to offer their customers an opportunity to bet into those same common pools at a reduced take-out rate.  

For example, an ADW can give their customers Multiplier points that they can use to lower the take-out rate on races at any track the ADW offers.  In one embodiment, the modified take-out rates might be varied by the actual track host or OTB/ADW, such as by lowering the take-out at traditionally slow periods to entice additional wagers.  This would be a gamblers version of "happy hour."

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An example:

Say there is $209,886 in a $1 exacta pool. After deducting a 20% track imposed take-out it leaves a net pari-mutuel pool of $167,909.  Assume there are 2,761 winning $1 exacta tickets making each ticket worth $60.81 or $60.80 after breakage.  Now, in accordance with the invention, an OTB or ADW can literally give their customers the opportunity to manually adjust the take-out on their own personal wagers.  If a customer betting into that same exacta pool lowered his take-out to only 5% his pay would be $72.21.  The host of the pool ( the racetrack ) can also do this for their select customers.  The difference in the amount of money used to pay the customer comes out of the OTB or ADW's pocket.  The host still gets their usual signal fee.  If the customer utilizing the invention lowers his take-out on bets and doesn't cash the ticket, then that customer wasted his Multiplier points.

Lotteries

This invention also applies to inter- and intra-state lotteries.  In this example, a lottery operator can offer a multi-state lottery in which lottery tickets are sold in different states (where each state becomes a distributor selling through various locations).  Each ticket might comprise, for example, a $1 wager.

In this example, ten states each sold lottery tickets.  The total of all tickets sold was $300M (i.e. the "total wagers" or GPMP).

The host (lottery operator) applies a take-out of 32% of the total tickets, or $96M.  The host keeps 2% of the total tickets sold, or $6M as an administrative fee, and returns the remaining $90M to the states (based upon the net 30% take-out rate) in proportion to the total tickets sold in each state.  In this manner, each state is incentivized to sell as many tickets as possible, as each state is returned a percentage of its lottery ticket sales.  

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After application of the $96M take-out, the return pool or NPMP to be paid to the one or more winners is $204M.  Thus, for example, in this base configuration if there were a single winner, that winner would be paid $204M.  In accordance with the invention, one or more of the states might offer their bettors a modified payout based upon a modified take-out rate.  For example, Iowa might offer one or more bettors who purchase lottery tickets in that state a payout which is based upon a take-out rate of 25% rather than 30% (in one embodiment, the state or non-host distributor might set the altered take-out rate, and in others, the bettor might be permitted to select their own take-out rate).

Of course, losing lottery tickets are not paid.  If the winning lottery ticket were purchased in Iowa at the modified 25% rate, the winner would be paid an extra 5%.  The modified or extra winning amount may be offered to the bettor based upon the total pool or the state's sub-pool.  For example, if Iowa offered to pay the increased winnings based upon the total pool, the bettor would be paid and extra 5% of the total pool or 15M.  Thus, the total payout to the bettor would be the base payout of $204M plus $15M, or $219M.  On the other hand, if Iowa offered to pay the increased winnings based upon the Iowa sub-pool, the bettor would be paid an extra 5% of Iowa's contributed handle ($18M), or $0.9M.  Thus, the total payout to the bettor would then be the base payout of $204M plus $0.9M or $204.9M

Poker

This invention also applies to poker.  In accordance with the patent, a poker room operator can offer the ability to their bettors to modify the take-out rate on tournaments being offered to their customers.

For example, say a poker tournament costs $100 to enter, and 80 people enter the tournament which creates a pool of $8,000.  The poker room operator takes 10% from this pool ($800) which leaves $7,200 to be distributed to the winning players in the tournament.  The base prize pool will now look like this, with the percentages representing the amount of the net pool to be paid to each winner.

• 45% 1st place =  $3,240

• 20% 2nd place = $1,140

• 15% 3rd place =  $1,080

• 8%   4th place =  $576

• 5%   5th place =  $360

• 4%   6th place =  $288

• 2%   7th place =  $144

• 1%   8th place =  $72

By utilizing this invention, a bettor can adjust the take-out rate which will increase his prize pool if he cashes in the tournament.  The percentages assigned to each spot in the tournament is the same, but by lowering the casino's take-out from 10% to 5% the new modified pay table for that individual poker player would look like this.

• 45% 1st place =  $3,420

• 20% 2nd place = $1,520

• 15% 3rd place =  $1,140

• 8%   4th place =  $608

• 5%   5th place =  $380

• 4%   6th place =  $304

• 2%   7th place =  $152

• 1%   8th place =  $76

You can see the dramatic difference in the pay scale for this particular player by reducing the base take-out rate to his new customized 5% take-out rate.  Of course the player must "cash" in the tournament to realize the modified pay-out rate.  If the customer spends "multiplier" points on a tournament and doesn't cash he will have wasted his multiplier points. 

The poker room operator is accustomed to giving their customers comps and other rewards.  This is another way for a poker room to reward their customers based on their "live" play.  The operator can determine the amount of points they award based on the amount of time the customer plays in their live cash games.  For example, 10 hours of live play at a 1-2 NL Hold-em game might equal 1 Multiplier point to be used in a tournament.  The poker room operator can be as aggressive as they like with this promotion.  If they educate the customer to see how much more value they get by lowering the take-out on tournaments, it will encourage more live play.  

What is great for the poker room operator is that the customer will be playing more live cash games to accumulate more multiplier points for tournaments, which will also encourage them to buy into tournaments more often.  If the customer does not cash in the tournament the reduction in his take-out is at no consequence to the casino.  

The end result for poker room operators is more live play and more tournament buy ins.