GB2419969A - On-line wagering system - Google Patents

Abstract

An online gaming system allows individuals to register with the service and establish a user account via, e.g., a credit card, over a distributed communication system such as the Internet. The user is permitted to request, and subsequently wager on, games with other subscribers. Winners of any game can opt to play further games, as part of the same wager, as long as the new games are played against other subscribers who have themselves previously won the same number of consecutive games. When the winner finally decides to stop, the appropriate amount of funds are transferred, from the accounts of the losers of all games that have contributed to the game series, into the winner's account to cover the predefined payout for that game. After operator's commission, the remaining money in the contributing loser's accounts is redistributed amongst them based on the number of games each has won.

Description

1 2419969

DESCRIPTION

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ONLINE WAGERING ON INTER-USER GAME

SERIES

Background of the Invention

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to gaming systems. More particularly, the invention is directed to; online electronic gambling systems which permit their users to wager between themselves; and online electronic games systems that allow users to interact though the playing of games.

2. Background of the Related Art

Gambling is a well-known variety of entertainment and may take many forms. For example, gamblers may place bets with one another on the outcome of an event beyond their control, i.e., a sporting event or the like. They may place bets on games of chance with other players such as poker.

They may wager against one another in these games, as with poker, or may play against a casino, as with blackjack and the like.

These betting events can take place on-site, e.g., a casino or betting club, where bettors congregate with one another to play the games of chance or place wagers with betting agents.

Some may also be adapted to use telephone networks, thereby expanding the area in which betting operations may take place (subject, of course to relevant laws and regulations). For example, a bettor wishing to make a wager can call a betting agent who is in another city, state or country to place the wager. Financial arrangements can be made to facilitate betting in a remote context such as this - for example, the betting agent may require the bettor to establish an escrow account from which bets may deducted and to which winnings may be paid, or betting transactions may be accomplished via credit card or the like.

The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has expanded the concept of remotewagering even further. While telephone wagering has generally been limited to non-interactive activities such as sports event wagering, the Internet allows participants to make such bets as well as participate in more interactive betting activities such as casino-type gaming, e.g., blackjack, craps, roulette, etc. A wide variety of betting games have been implemented over the Internet, including "play against others" games such as poker and "play against the house" games such as blackjack.

Until the advent of Betting Exchanges betting all betting required significant involvement of a gaming authority or "house" i.e., an online casino or betting agent, in the process. For example, in online gaming activities the house can be an active player or participant, e. g., blackjack, or may provide the setting or regulate play activity, e. g., roulette and poker.

Although the Betting Exchanges are an adequate way of allowing users to win moderate amounts of money at reasonable odds it does not cater to players who wish to win large amounts of money, even when betting pools are used. The aggregating effect of the house gone, no one player can, or group of players will, stake the enormous sums necessary to pay the winner. Also Betting Exchanges lack the non-betting-related entertainment appeal of an actual game such as poker.

This invention is driven by the desire to create a system where it would be possible to win huge amounts of money at optimum odds, and relatively small amounts of money with very good odds, all within the same entertaining game, and with insignificant house involvement.

It is believed that a number of potential bettors who would have otherwise participated in the online gaming experience have been turned away by the lack of flexibility of conventional gambling sites and the lack of high payouts and game entertainment in Betting Exchanges.

Summary of the Invention

In view of the above problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an online gaming system which permits play of, and wagering on, games between pairs of bettors who have previously won the same number of consecutive games.

It is another object of the invention to provide an online gaming system which enables pairs of users to place symmetric win bets at fixed payout odds on games they play together and to enable losers to join the pool of players sharing the remainder of the total wagers [less commission] left over when the winner collects his winnings.

it is still another object of the invention is to provide an online gaming system which allows users to make eligible requests to other users of the system to play games upon which they can wager.

It is yet another object to provide an online gaming system which permits bettors to make wagers with other bettors while providing a minimal amount of identifying information to the other bettors.

it is still another object of the invention to provide an online gaming system which allows bettors to transact a wager with minimal involvement from the house.

The above objects arc achieved according to a first aspect of the present invention by providing an online gaming system which, using a distributed communication system such as the Internet, allows individuals to register with the service and establish a user account via, e.g. a credit card. The user is the permitted to make and accept game requests to/from other subscribers thus beginning or continuing a series of one or more games upon which they wager. The wagered amount is set by the house. Winners of any game can opt to play further games, as part of the same wager, against other subscribers who have themselves won the same number of consecutive games [as long as the wager has not ended] and this process can be repeated up to a house imposed limit. When the winner decides to stop, or the limit is reached, the appropriate amount of funds are transferred, from the accounts of the losers of all games that have contributed to the game series, into the winner's account to cover the payout defined by the fixed payout odds for that game. The money remaining in the contributing loser's accounts - less the operator's commission - is redistributed amongst them based on a house defined schedule that takes into account the number of games won by each eventual loser and the total number of games in the series.

BriefDescriprion of the Drawings These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are better understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. I is a diagram of the major components in a gaming system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a simple database diagram showing database entities and relationships from the database (5) illustrated in FIG. I. according to the preferred embodiment; FIG. 3 shows a representation of a typical series of games referred to as a game- set, as per the preferred embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 shows the outcomes of a series of four games played between five players according to the preferred embodiment; Detailed Desc4ption of Presently Preferred Exemplary Embodiments A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown generally in FIG. 1. Here, users (1) communicate with the gaming system (2) via the Internet (3). The users (1) are most likely private individuals who use personal computers (PCs) to communicate on the Internet via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) via a telephone modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or the like.

Implementation using equivalent technologies, e.g., connected Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Interactive Television (ITv), Short Messaging Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Java 2 Mobile Edition O2ME) enabled GPRS mobile phones and the like are also contemplated as being within the scope of the present invention.

Also communicating with the Internet is a gaming system (2) implemented on an appropriate server system as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, which is configured to communicate with the users (1) using communication software and corresponding application protocols. For example, in the preferred embodiment each user runs a World Wide Web browser which is capable of displaying, audio, Flash objects, web pages generated by the gaming system (2) in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the like, and delivered to the users (1) via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), as is known in the art. An appropriate technology should be selected so that a secondary connection between the user (1) and the gaming system (2) would be possible for use in the transmission of control messages and real-time status information. For example a Terminal Connect Protocol (TCP) socket, could be opened to the gaming system (2), using a downloaded Flash object running in a Flash virtual machine in the user's (1) browser. Use of this secondary connection use will be described in greater detail below.

The gaming system (2) is itself connected to a credit system (4) with which it performs financial transactions with a financial agency or banking institution regarding betting activities of the users (1), as will he described in greater detail below. Preferably, the communication link between the gaming system (2) and the credit system (4) is over a dedicated or non-distributed connection, i.e., a dial-up telephone connection; however, this link also may be implemented over the Internet with appropriate security measures (such as a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or similar form of encryption in place. Also, it should be noted that for purposes of simplicity only one credit system (4) is shown here; however, the gaming system (2) may in fact be connected to a number of different credit systems (4) to accommodate different payment systems preferred by various ones of the users (1).

Similarly, the credit system (4) need not correspond to a single institution and may in fact be a network of such institutions or the like.

Finally, the gaming system (2) is connected to a database (5) whose characteristics and use will be described in greater detail below.

The database may be resident within gaming system (2), may be nodes on a Local Area Network N) or similar network to which the gaming system (2) is connected, or may be resident on servers more remote from the gaming system (2) and connected to it by a dedicated or distributed communication link as with the credit system (4). Preferably, when the database (5) is remote from the gaming system (2), communication therebetween is protected by appropriate security measures such as encryption.

General Operation in the preferred embodiment users (1) register with the gaming system (2) and create an account in the user table (10, Fig. 2) in database (5). If they intend to wager with the gaming system (2) they create an additional record in the user detail table (20, Fig. 2) in database (5). They may then make a request for an initial game (71, Fig 3) with another user (1) of the gaming system (2). At the same time they may opt to wager on the series of games (75, Fig 3) or game-set of which this may be a part. If the game is accepted and played one between a plurality of users (1) the winner (81, Fig 4) may then opt to play further games against other users (1) who have game-sets (75) in which they have won the same number of games. Play continues like this until the maximum number of games (74, Fig 3) is reached or the user reaches his desired number of games (73, Fig 3). His account is then credited with the points, payout value or other currency as appropriate as defined by the payout schedule stored in payout table (60) in the database (5). At the same time each of the accounts of other losers (82, Fig 4) of the game-sets contributing to this winning game-set arc reversed a consolation prize or points or some other currency as appropriate as defined by the payout schedule stored in payout table (60) in the database (5).

The operation of the preferred embodiment will be explained in more detail in terms of the functionality displayed during the course of registering a new user and performing various game playing and wagering transactions for that user. At the outset, it should be noted that throughout this document, the terms "bet" and "wager" and variants thereof, e.g., "betting" and "wagering", are used interchangeably and no particular distinction is intended by the use of one word in place of the other.

New User Registration The gaming system (2) provides a wagering service and may optionally provide a community service.

Community service features include; playing games within non wager gamesets, i.e. game-sets upon which users cannot wager; communicating with other users (1); and playing games within non wager game-sets against software robots (Bots). The wagering services allow users (1) to play games within wager games-sets. In order to use the community services uniquely the data requirements of registration are not stringent, requiring only a unique usemame (12, Fig. 2) and password (13, Fig. 2) and other information as per the user table (10, Fig. 2). I-Iowever when wagering services are required more information and validation, as described below is required.

In order to use uniquely the community services of the gaming system (2), a user (1) must go through the simple registration process. This process would typically be initiated by an unregistered user (1) using his web browser to display a system check screen generated by the gaming system (2).

This web page would typically verify that the user (1) has the necessary software installed on their PC to access the gaming system (2), including, for example, the availability of Flash. Once this is established and before the user (1) has had a chance to see the system check screen it would typically be replaced by a welcome screen. The welcome screen, preferably in Flash, identifies the gaming system (2), and includes among other things a "Play" button. On clicking the Play" button users (1) may be presented with a dialog box containing form fields which registered users (1) can actuate to log in to the system, and also an I Forgot my Password" button which registered users (1) who have forgotten their password can actuate to reset their passwords. Also in this dialog could be a log in to the system, and a "Sign up" button which unregistered users (1) could use to begin the registration process.

When the "Sign up" button is actuated, the gaming system (2) generates a screen prompting the user (1) to choose a username (12, Fig. 2), password (13, Fig. 2), and the answer (16, Fig. 2) to a secret question (15, Fig. 2) such as the user's mother's maiden name and to enter an optional electronic mail (email) address (14, Fig. 2). Preferably, the gaming system (2) accepts only usernames (12, Fig. 2) which are a string of alphanumeric characters between, e.g., four and eight characters in length, and passwords (13, Fig. 2) having the same characteristics.

The user (1) must also accede to the terms of use of the site before being allowed to register. These terms may include detailed conditions for all wagers that the user (1) may carry out if he decides to extend his registration to permit the use of wager services. He is bound by these terms whenever he accepts a game request or wager game request, described in more detail below, and when he makes a shot also described below.

The gaming system (2) then checks to see if the selected usemame is already used in the user (10,, Fig. 2) table in database (5) to identify another subscriber. If SC), the user (1) is directed to choose another username. If not, the gaming system (2) registers the user by creating a record in the table user (10, Fig. 2) in database (5) including the user's username (12, Fig. 2), password (13, Fig. 2), secret question (15, Fig. 2), secret answer (16, Fig. 2), and the email address (14, Fig. 2) if provided.

Transmission of the username(12, Fig. 2), password(13, Fig. 2), secret question (15, Fig. 2) and secret answer (16, Fig. 2) to the gaming system (2) is preferably encrypted using strong encryption methods appropriate to the implementation which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Also, it should be noted that although in the preferred embodiment the user database (5) includes user (10, Fig. 2), user detail (20, Fig. 2) and user account (30, Fig. 2) information fir each registered user (1), this information may be distributed in several databases and organized according to a common index. For example, users' personal information (20) can be stored in one database, with their financial information (30) stored in another and their user account information (10) stored in another. The records for a particular user (1) may then be indexed according to, e.g., the user_id (11) as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Extended Registration for wagering services In order to use the wagering services of the gaming system (2) the user is required to go through the extended registration process where his eligibility to wager based on prevailing laws and his supplied personal information is ascertained, full user details (20) required by prevailing law are input to the gaming system (2) and an email address (14) that was hitherto optional is now required.

This process would typically be initiated by a user (1) who has undergone simple registration actuating either the "deposit money" button or the "play" button for a wager game request. The gaming system (2) will recognize that the user has not yet fully registered and will start the process automatically by displaying the extended profile dialog box as detailed below.

The extended profile dialog box contains form fields and the like enabling the user (1) to provide personal information about himself, and this information is used verify that the registering user (1) is not part of a class of individuals who are prohibited from using the wagering services of the gaming system (2). For example, the gaming system (2) may use this information to verify that the registering user (1) is not a minor. Additionally, given the worldwide nature of the Internet it may be necessary to verify that the user (1) is not accessing the system from a country where wagering activities such as those facilitated by the preferred embodiment are legally restricted, e.g., the United States of America. For this, the user's IP address cannot generally be relied upon, since a user in one country may have an address assigned to a different country. However, alternative means such as electoral rolls and the like can be used. This also provides an expedient mechanism for confirming the user's age and address.

Additionally, the system preferably asks for the user's full name (22, Fig. 2 and 23, Fig. 2); home address (24, Fig. 2), telephone number (25, Fig. 2) and e-mail address (14, Fig. 2); the information may be entered via web page form blocks or the like as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

If the unregistered user (1) appears to be a member of a class prohibited from using the system, e.g., minors, etc., the gaming system (2) provides them with a rejection screen explaining that their registration has been declined. Preferably, the screen also provide a telephone number or email address for subscriber assistance personnel who can be contacted if the user (1) believes the rejection was made in error.

Deposits to user's escrow account If, on the other hand, the gaming system (2) determines that the user (1) is eligible to register with the system, it provides him with a web page or the like prompting him to provide financial information which can be used to establish a user account (30) in user database (5) as will be described in greater detail below. The financial information can be, e.g., a credit card number, billing address and expiration date; similar information for a debit card; or another financial device through which money may be electronically withdrawn to establish the minimum required balance for the user account. To this end, it should be noted that FIG. I shows credit system (4) merely for ease of explanation, and debit systems and the like are also intended to be included in this designation.

The financial information provided is confirmed by, e.g., querying credit system (4) to determine that a charge sufficient to cover the minimum required balance, e.g., 10, can be made against the specified account. Then the charge may be made to establish a user account in the user database (5).

However, the financial information is preferably confirmed by actually making the charge and determining whether the credit system (4) accepts or rejects it. If the charge is rejected, meaning the user (1) does not have sufficient credit (in the case of a credit card) or sufficient funds in his account (in the case of a debit card), then the user will not be allowed to use the wagering services of the gaming system (2.

Users may also make deposits into the account by check. Furthermore, special promotions may offer a fixed amount per user account which is available after the user's credit verification.

Log in and the Main Dashboard During log in the gaming system (2) sends the user (1) the symmetric cryptographic key that is required to code the choices he will make while playing games. This key is sent encoded using asymmetric encryption methods such as an RSA algorithm using public and private keys. The use of this symmetric key is described in more detail during Game Play below. The procedure necessary to accomplish the key transfer process will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

When the user (1) is logged in he will be presented with the dashboard screen. It is preferred that the users (1) of the gaming system (2) remain logged on permanently in order to be notified of game requests as they come in. As a consequence it may be advisable to include a "sleep mode" that would be activated by clicking on a "sleep" button or after the mouse has not been clicked in the interface area during a certain timeout period. During sleep mode the amount of local processing would be kept to an absolute minimum so as to not slow down the user's (1) PC while maintaining connection to the gaming system (2) to ensure that all game request notifications are still received.

To exit from the "sleep mode" the user (1) may click anywhere in the interface at which point he will be prompted for the username (12, Fig.2) and password (13, Fig.2). This is validated locally in the user's (2) PC where possible and the screen is returned to the dashboard.

To aid in understanding the following description it would help to define some terms.

In the preferred embodiment there will be a parameter of the system that defines the maximum number of games allowed by the gaming system (2) in a game series. This maximum number (74, Fig.3) is may be unique to each implementation of this invention and allows payouts (60, Fig.2) for both winning and losing users to be fully expressed before play takes place.

A level (72, Fig. 3) as referred to in this description refers to the possible state of game-set (75, Fig. 3). FIG. 3 shows a game-set (75, Fig. 3) at Level 3 (72, Fig. 3). A game- set (75, Fig. 3 can have just begun i.e. no games have been played yet. In this case the game-set (75, Fig. 3) is said to be at the entry level (71, Fig. 3). A game series may have had one game played in which case it is said to be at level 1. A level therefore refers to the number of games that have been played in a game-set (75, Fig. 3). The dashboard shows the summary status of all the game-sets (75, Fig. 3) at each of the levels.

At the heart of the gaming system (2) is a dashboard style display that shows in real-time the following key bits of information.

a. An indication as to the mode (61, Fig. 2) of the game - either in "fun mode" where no wagers are possible but games are entered into purely for entertainment value or in one or more "for money" modes.

b. A simplified representation of the state of all game-sets (75, Fig. 3) in the gaming system (2) - the dashboard. Including the total number of active games-sets (75, Fig. 3); the number of these whose winning user (1) is currently logged in; and the number of games currently being played.

c. For each level in the dashboard an indication of the number and state of game-sets at that level. States can be "not logged in"; "logged in"; "requesting a game" with the currently logged in user (1); and in "the process of playing".

d. For each level in the dashboard, an indication of by how much the user's (1) account (30, Fig. 2) will be credited if he decides to immediately terminate the game-sets he has at that level.

e. For each level in the dashboard an indication of the payout if a user (1) decides to continue a wager and play another game to try to get to the next level and succeeds.

f. For each level in the dashboard an indication of the payout if a user (1) decides to continue a wager and play another game to try to get to the next level and loses. This may be presented in one of three or more ways; - a range or list of payouts from the minimum to the maximum; - the mean of this range; and - the average consolation payout so far.

g. For each level in the dashboard an indication of the payout if a user (1) decides to continue a wager and play another game to try to get to the next level and succeeds.

h. For each level in the dashboard an indication of the number of games the user (1) lost at that level that are still awaiting the end of the game-sets to which they have contributed, before being eligible to be paid.

i. It is envisaged that in some embodiments games could be automatically played for a user (1) by an artificially intelligent software robot (BOY). These BOTs could learn from the user's (1) playing habits to imitate the user's (1) strategy. In such an embodiment the number of gaines in auto-play mode at each level would be indicated and j. In cases where there is only one game-set at a particular level the username of the user (1) to whom it belongs is shown for all other user's (1) to see. That user (1) is referred to as the "king" of that level.

In order to make the dashboard work efficiently a permanent connection to the server must be maintained for each logged in user (1). A secondary connection, in the form of a Terminal Connect Protocol (TCP) socket, is opened from within the Flash virtual machine in the user's (1) browser to the gaming system (2) via the Internet, for the transmission of control messages and real-time status information.

Communication though this socket is one way - from the gaming system (2) to the user (1). Any request, responses and other status information from the user (1) to the gaming system (2) passes along the regular H1TP connection. In the gaming system (2) only one thread of execution manages communication along the thousands of open sockets required and messages are filtered to ensure that they are sent only to interested users (1) e. g. notifications of game requests at a particular level, described in greater detail below, are not sent to logged in users (1) who have no game-sets at that level. In this way the server does not become saturated.

Requesting a game To request a game a user (1) activates the appropriate button for the level he wishes to play at.

He may activate the "Start new game-set" button if he has sufficient credit in his account to cover the fixed bet amount for the wager game mode. Non wager games can be requested with no minimum account requirements. This will debit his account balance (32, Fig. 2) with the amount of the bet, add a game-set (75, Fig. 3) at the entry level (71, Fig. 3) to the game_set table (50, Fig. 2), and start a request to another player who has a game-set (50) at this level (53, Fig. 2) or sufficient credit in their account (32).

He may activate the "play" button on any level where he has game-set's available. This will start a request for another player who has a gameset at the same level. Nothing is deducted from the user's account (32, Fig.2) for any but the entry level.

Once a request to play has been made all eligible logged in users (1) arefirst contacted. The logged on users will see an invitation to play and will preferably hear a sound as well. They will be informed of the username (12, Fig. 2) of the user (1) who is requesting the game and the level.

The first user (1) to accept the request is immediately put in communication with the requesting user (1) via the gaming system (2) and the Game Play Process described below in more detail is commenced. In accepting a request for a wager game the user (1) also accepts the terms of the bet namely that the winner (81, Fig. 4) of the bet will proceed to the next level (one of 75, Fig. 3) and have the possibility of terminating the bet (72, Fig?2) and receiving the fixed payout (64, Fig 2) associated with that level; and that the loser (82, Fig. 4) will have to wait until the game-set is terminated and will then receive a consolation pri2e as indicated in payout table (60, Fig. 2) for his current level depending on the level at which the game-set is terminated.

If there are no logged on users at the requested level emails may be sent to users who have indicated their preference to be notified by email of game requests. It is envisaged that the gaming system (2) could be accessed by SMS or iTV, etc. and in these cases users of these systems are notified as well.

During the rime that no other user (1) has responded to the request the requesting user (1) waits until a timeout period expires upon which time he is given the choice to continue waiting or cancel the game request.

A user (1) may have many games-sets in progress and at differing levels (72, Fig. 3) at the same time.

For wager games he is limited only by money in his account but for other community services including games "fun mode' games there may be no limit.

Game Play Process Note that it is preferable to include a mode where the user can play against a software robot (BOT) to practice the game. This mode will not be described in detail here as it will be evident from the following description of the user-to-user game how this could be implemented to any one skilled in the art.

The preferred embodiment described in detail below is a simple example of the type of game that this invention supports but in fact any game that allows exactly one winner (81, Fig. 4) and one loser (82, Fig. 4) is allowed. It is preferable that the outcome does not depend on chance and is purely in the control of the plurality of players (81 and 82), for example a simple coin toss would be inadvisable because the plurality of players would have no control over the result. Also it is preferable that the game not require too high a level of sophistication such that no type of user (1) would feel at a disadvantage, for example a game of chess would be unadvisable. Finally the game should be of reasonably short duration. Implementation of other sorts of games would be evident from the following example to anyone skilled in the art.

Once a game request has been acccpted the game screen appears. FIG 5. shows the preferred embodiment of the game. In the preferred embodiment a user (1) is presented with two columns of radio buttons (91) with two buttons in each. The first column (91), on the left, represents his choice and the second (91), on the right, represents his opponent's choice. In each column there is a solid square (93) and an empty square (94). The user (1) must select one of the choices, solid or square, from his choices on the left and then guess what the opponent will select on the right.

Note: Each user has the same game interface but does not see what choices his opponent has made or is making until after the result is known.

When the choices are made the "go" button (92) is pressed. This sends a message to the gaming system (2) indicating that the choice has been made and locked in. The gaming system (2) waits until both choices have been made and locked and then sends a request to both users (1) for them to send their actual choices.

The users' (1) choices are then encoded with the symmetric cryptographic key received at log in from the gaming system (2) and sent to the gaming system (2). It is preferable that the encoding method used is synchronized with the gaming system (2) to return a different result for the same message text each time it is executed to avoid the possibility of decryption of the cipher text by unwanted parties.

The choices are subsequently decrypted on the gaming system (2) and the winner is then determined as follows; if the choices selected on the right for each user (1) both correspond to the choices selected on the left for the other user (1) or the choices selected on the right for each user (1) both do not correspond to the choices selected on the left for the other user (1) then a draw is declared and the users (1) must play again; and in any other case the user (1) who's choices on the right match those his opponent has chosen on his left is declared the winner and the opponent the loser.

This invention envisages that a single game may be composed of a series of such bouts with the first of the two players to win three, for example, being declared the winner of the game.

When the game is won by one of the parties the winning user's (81) gameset advances a level while the loser's (82) must wait until the winner's (81) game-set terminates to collect his consolation prize.

Cashing-out The user (1) can select any of his game-sets at any level in the dashboard screen and click on the "cash-out" button to terminate the game-set. This will immediately terminate the wager and using the payout table (60) will determine the exact amounts to transfer to his (81) and all the losers accounts (82).

Withdrawals from user's account Activating the "withdraw" button displays the withdraw money dialog.

The gaming system (2) displays the user's current balance and a form field for him to enter the amount to withdraw. A combo box is used to present choices of withdrawal method.

The implementation of this function is envisaged in a number of ways the most simple being a charge back to the credit system (4) however under certain circumstances, for example if the withdrawal amount is too high, this may not be possible. The user is always offered the choice to receive a cheque which is mailed to the mailing address (24, Fig. 2) stored for the user (1) in the user

details table (20).

Edit Personal Information By choosing the "Edit Personal Information" selection a user (1) can edit his personal profile in the user database (5). This personal information can include his address and the other additional information he provided during the registration process. This selection is used to ensure that mailing addresses and the like for the user remain current.

The present invention has been described above in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof however, this has been done for purposes of illustration only, and the invention is not so limited.

For example, although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in terms of an online gaming system (2) which allows users to place wagers using money, the invention is not so limited, and embodiments using non-monetary instruments such as products or "reward points" or "loyalty points" in the vein of frequent flyer programs, trading stamp programs and the like are contemplated as being within the scope of the present invention. Such variations of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and also fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims (6)

1. A system for conducting online wagering, the system comprising; a distributed communication network; a plurality of user's computer systems connected to the network; and a gaming system for receiving a game request and a request to wager on that game from a first one of the plurality of users over the nctwork, matching it to another one of the plurality of users, facilitating acceptance of the wager and game play between the plurality of users, allowing further matching and playing by the winning user with other users who have won the same number of games in their game series, and distributing funds between the users according to terms of the bet.

2. A system for conducting online wagering, the system comprising; a distributed communication network; a plurality of user's computer systems connected to the network; and a gaming system for establishing accounts for groups containing some exponent of two users who wager and play in a game series, receiving a matched bet on a game from each one of the users in the group, allowing further matching and playing by the winning users with other users who have won the same number of games in their game series and transferring funds from the accounts of all of the group of users who lost the bet to an account of the one of the group of users who won the bet.

3. A system for conducting online wagering, the system comprising; a distributed communication network; a plurality of user's computer systems connected to the network; and a gaming system for establishing accounts for groups containing some exponent of two users who wager and play in a game series, receiving a matched bet on a game from each one of the users in the group, allowing further matching and playing by the winning users with other users who have won the same number of games in their game series and redistributing funds between the accounts of all of the group of users who lost the bet according to terms of the bet.

4. A system for conducting online wagering, the system comprising; a distributed communication network; a plurality of user computer systems connected to the network; and a gaming system; wherein both of the plurality of user computer systems includes a software program enabling the users' computer systems to communicate over the network to the gaming system for the purposes of playing a game upon which they wager; the software program is for selecting between the games choices, sending the choices, and receiving game results; and the gaming system is for receiving the game choices, enforcing the game rules, regulating the outcome, and transmitting the results to both users associated with the plurality of user computer systems.

5. A system for conducting online wagering, the system comprising; a distributed communication network; a plurality of user's computer systems connected to the network; and a gaming system for providing a communication facility for the plurality of users to communicate with one another via the user's computer systems; wherein the communication facility includes, for each user, means for communicating with another user and means for playing a game with the another user.

6. A method for conducting online wagering, comprising: receiving a game request and wager request on that game from a first user over a distributed communication network; receiving a request to accept the proposed game and wager request from a second user over the network; matching the second user to the bet so that the first and second users make a wager according to the terms of the bet; facilitating the play of the game between the first and second user and determining the winning user based on its outcome; allowing further matching and playing by the winning user, with other users who have won the same number of games in their game series, to be considered part of the same wager; and distributing funds between the two or more users associated with the game series according to the terms of the bet.